Matt Lee's Midterm

07IML346 Midterm - Matthew Lee

a) Title : "The Tempest: Shadows of Society" or "The Tempest: Rivenscyr (reading the divide/understanding separation)"

b) Abstract: short description that includes: genre, subject, format/presentation.

What is reality? How do we move through it, and how do games in themselves affect us in real life? For that matter, how do our expectations in these settings lead us to how our actions will affect us? I will be exploring this through a video game set in an interactive three-dimensional world, showing the very real consequences of choice. Why a video game? Because the video game of today is almost a throwback to the interactive media of the Renaissance...the theatre. Thus, I have selected the play called "The Tempest", by William Shakespeare, as the world in which I set this production, for it is perhaps the best for adaptation into a game, considering its adherence to the three unities. My audience is the layperson, ages 11-early 20s, who are RPG/FPS fans.

Some notes that I have considered in the production of this: “The Tempest” in its original form is very much overtly concerned with its own nature as a play, drawing links between Prospero’s use of magic and illusion as akin to the theatre. Even the shipwreck was a spectacle, eyelids being like curtains of a proscenium, and the airy spirit disguises herself as many figures from myth. Theatre in that sense is set up as both occupation and possible transformation, much like games have become in the modern day.

Granted, "The Tempest" Is a very complex play, and In attempting to adapt it and make more workable as a thesis project, there will necessarily be some (or many) modifications. Hence, I am focusing on only a few of the I am going to be cutting out a good many characters, centering on a few characters (major: Prospero, Ariel, Miranda, minor: Caliban, Sycorax), which I detail in the attached document.

Relativity, both moral and otherwise. Life as a great act, a theatrical tradition…all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. I am going to be exploring these questions by synthesizing and better presenting pre-existing ideas and viewpoints from multiple perspectives. Again, the Tempest is valuable here, as it deals with the issues of colonization, "justice", and other such from many different points of view, allowing one to better understand how issues do not tend to be single-ended.

This thesis will include a game mechanic involving levels and worlds of reality, as well as cutscenes to show the greater effectiveness in experiential exploration of a topic, not simply hearing about it. As such, some of the various “worlds” a character will find themselves in will be those completely of illusion, requiring puzzles to get out or to realize that there is something abnormal going on. The line between reality and fantasy is very thin sometimes, and in this sense, text alone is inadequate to describe it, just as it is in theatre.

c) Methodology

Without a doubt, much of the problems that I will be facing here lie in presentation, and how I am going to be able to address the questions of “what is reality” through what is, to some, dated material. Since I have somewhat of an amalgamated audience, knowing a great deal about the standard dynamics of a RPG, I will likely have to begin with something to draw them into the world I am creating. Of necessity will be the use of images and references to Alchemy and Old Magic, where many more arcane symbols can be found, as well as many of the concepts that we find in life today (and many motifs in movies).

I will begin with the usual “training” area, and a short introduction to what has transpired already, so that those unfamiliar with the context of “The Tempest”, or indeed, even those who know the play, will be quickly caught up to my version of the events.

Since, balance, unity, and almost breaching the fourth wall are so central to the project, woven into the foundation of the game itself (music derived from the music of the spheres, resonances, etc), there will have to be some areas where their presence is obvious (the Forest of Illusion comes to mind).

As one continues deeper into the world structure that has been created, one will be able to revisit the worlds of the past, and also to unlock information there that is built into each item. Each bit of “magic” acquired, each area cleared, unlocks certain elements in the accompanying database of information, which would not be too hard to access.

With this, the viewer would have to work at revealing information, but since in games, players are accustomed to sometimes doing repetitive or difficult tasks that they would not do in real life simply to get to the next level, why not take advantage of that? The user would already be immersed in the world of the game (which is based on the play), and much could be done to build upon that.

d) Media Presentation & Justification

Why: Video games target the same audiences that Theatre did many years ago during the Renaissance, and currently are dealing with many of the same issues (e.g. Video Game Violence, etc), as well as being a powerful medium that can be extremely thought provoking.

Chosen Medium: Video Game, RPG ® based on the FFXIII graphic engine (the Square Enix “White Engine” or some simulacrum thereof…well, I can dream. More realistically, Adobe Flash [ala a Dragonfable-esque game])

Working Title: “Rivenscryr” (reading the divide/understanding separation)

Overall Feel: Much darker than Shakespeare’s original work, this game significantly modifies elements of the play to make it more workable for purposes of game play. For instance, the ending is not a happy one for Prospero (who in this adaptation is more like a Sith Lord than anything else), and focuses more on the story of Miranda (whose character has been somewhat altered to give her more playability, and to make the story more interesting). Prospero is an unbalanced character to start with, as all powerful characters are not good in RPGs.

Language: Updated to a more crisp and fresh feel, though certain verse passages have been kept, such as Caliban’s description of the island.

A Note about weapons/armor/magic: As the characters are on an island, most weapons will either be created of what can be found there or are. Thus Miranda and Prospero will be spear/staff users, while any people new to the island (shipwrecked), will probably be using swords. In many cases, an “armor upgrade” will merely be an additional magical shell or enchantment on existing equipment.

A Note about limit breaks: There is a overdrive meter that increases when one takes damage, and when it is fully activated, one can perform a unique ability. There are four levels of overdrives, each of which is obtained a different way (begin with one, clearing forest of illusion grants another, unlocking a certain amount of memories a third, and defeating Caliban the fourth)

Major Characters:

Miranda (Mirian): The heorine of the game, Miranda is the daughter of Prospero, brought to the island at an early age. Thus, she is quite innocent about the outside world, and has never seen any men other than her father and Caliban, but she is not exactly sheltered either. She begins as naïve and non-judgmental, though this changes through the course of the game, when Prospero gets out of hand. Normally compassionate, and gentle, she can be surprisingly firm at times, especially when it is necessary for the greater good. She wields a long spear engraved with runes and is a spellcaster of element water, having grown up on the island.

Prospero: Twelve years before the events of the game, Prospero was the duke of Milan. Overthrown by his brother, Antonio, in concert with Alonso, king of Naples, he as forced to flee in a boat with his daughter. He arrived on the island and co-existed for a time with the witch Sycorax before a falling out in which he destroyed her utterly. Since then, he has spent his time on the island refining the magic that gives him the power he needs to punish his enemies. A very arrogant and vindictive individual, who can stoop to extremes of pettiness to show off his power. . .rather like a Sith Lord. As an Archmagus, he controls all elements equally and wields a twisted staff.

Caliban: A twisted beast, Caliban is the son of Sycorax (and of Prospero in this adaptation), who was born human, but had his memory erased and form twisted by Prospero in a fit of pique after Sycorax betrayed him. At present, he is treated as Prospero’s slave and seen as a monster by many other characters. Defiant and often unyielding, he desires freedom and the power that Prospero has over the island, as well as Miranda. In combat, he is extremely powerful physically, but has a weakness to magic, especially wind magic (and to a lesser degree water), as he is of the Earth Element.

Ariel: The “airy spirit” who serves Prospero, Ariel was “rescued” from a long imprisonment at the hands of the witch Sycorax by the magus. In return for this, he promised to be Prospero’s servant until Prospero decides to release him, but as Prospero has grown increasingly autocratic and defensive over the past 12 years, Ariel has become increasingly resentful and filled with a barely suppressed rage. While he cannot confront Prospero directly, he seeks a way that he might be able to overthrow his authority and obtain his freedom. Quite powerful, he is one of the main helpers you will have in the game, able to warp you to different places on the map at certain times, and to heal you or raise a stat, if you have the experience or mana to spare. Other than that, he is mischievous and ubiquitous, able to traverse the length of the island in an instant and to change shapes at will. His Element is Wind.

Sycorax: A witch and mother of Caliban, she is long dead by the time the game begins, though like the others, she holds a grudge against Prospero. Of course, she doesn’t much care for Ariel either, having been the one to imprison him in a pine tree for disobedience. She ruled the island alone before Prospero, and for a time, alongside him when he arrived, but after having a child by him, they had a falling out, resulting in her death. She is still quite powerful, even in death, though she has been sealed into the area that her old hut used to be in. A former sorceress who held sway over Fire.

Boatswain: Once vigorously good-natured, he died in the shipwreck scene, going down with the ship and drowning. As a ghost he now haunts the shipwreck along with his fellow vengeful shades, trying to find out why all of this happened. In combat, uses a sword, and casts status effects.

Ship’s Captain: Unnamed and bitter over the loss of his ship, he is now a powerful spirit who swears his allegiance only to the sea. Like the boatswain, he wishes to find out why his ship was sunk, and he is now bitter and angry, waiting for someone from the island to step aboard so he can question them. Proficient with the sword, as well as water magic (gained after death)

Ferdinand: The Son and heir of the King of Naples, this is the comic relief character, a prime example of a fool in love, who alternates between being hypermasculine and emasculated, trying to impress her and failing. Miranda, not having seen any other men but her father and Caliban, completely misunderstands his intent and manages to show him up, thinking he needs her help.

Other Characters: These include the King of Naples, his brother, Prospero’s Brother, and the butler and fool, all of which are slain in Prospero’s lust for revenge.

Setting:

All the action takes place on or around the island physically, though some will occur on the spirit plane. So here are some of the various locations:

• Miranda’s Hut: A place where the main character can rest to restore HP and Mana, as well as obtain flowers that can be used to restore both, as well as items that may be able to temporarily raise a stat. A map of the island is located here, as well as a place where save data can be recorded, and an in game journal
  
  
• Shipwreck (water elemental area): Accessible by Ariel’s “warping” function or Miranda’s magic-based “waterwalking”
• Half-sunken remains of vessel run aground on a reef, hull is rotting
• Presence of ghosts and vengeful sea sprites (powerful magical attackers, physically resistant)
• “Boss” = Ghost of Captain, whose restless spirit is tied to his ship
• Contains items/knowledge from mainland in the armory and captain’s quarters, as well as the shades of those who knew Prospero as he once was.
• Sounds: BGM possibly a mournful cello piece, with the sound of waves
  
  
• Forest of Illusion (created by Ariel to hide himself away when he finally grows too tired of Prospero’s constant orders. Miranda must pass through here to the pine tree at its center to find out why he is being so discourteous and non-responsive):
• A forest of mists and shadows, where nothing is quite as it seems
• Magic abilities are cut to half-effectiveness, mana points regenerate more slowly
• Creatures drawn from legendary beasts, from humanity’s fears
• Slaying creatures will regenerate HP/SP
• Items may be found there that exist nowhere else on the island
• While passing through the forest, one will hear sound slips from “The Tempest”
• Guardians of the Wood: “mini-bosses” = magical/physical juggernauts, can be defeated only with difficulty. . .items and powerups will be important here. Slow and ponderous though, so this is a good time to use combos.
• “Boss” = Ariel: cannot be harmed by physical means, and is resistant to most magic. Not a true boss in that he does not need to be truly defeated. . .you simply have to survive for a few minutes before he relents and tells you his story.
  
  
• Sycorax’s hut (to where the spirit of the witch is now bound):
• Shadowy area where dark impressions of the past remain
• Contains several powerful fire-magic items
• Touching items will reveal traces of past memories
• Eventually, after fighting a “Keeper of Memory”, the ghost of the witch will appear in a burst of shadow and flame, and though you may try to attack her physical attacks are useless. She will disarm you, and then present to you a series of puzzles for you to solve before vanishing. Each one you solve will unlock more of her memories, and make more of her sealed power available to you.
  
  
• Caliban’s Cave (Earth Elemental area, where Caliban has gone to ground after one of Prospero’s fits of anger)
• Golems may rise from the ground to do his bidding (physically resistant and physically powerful in melee attacks, weak to magic).
• While waking along, clips of “The Tempest” can be heard, specifically those relating to Caliban and his relationship with Prospero
• A place of bad memories for Miranda, as it was there he tried to rape her long ago
• “Boss” = Caliban: With High HP and speed, and resistant to Physical attacks, the only real way to do damage to him is through magic, as he is weaker to it. One will need to be careful to heal though, as his attack power is quite impressive. Once defeated, he will no longer be an adversary, and will return towards the end of the game after handing over an orb of earth.
  
  
• Beach and Woods
• The general areas where one can go to train/level up, gaining experience by fighting rogue sprites.
• Also, beach is where you will encounter the shipwrecked people for the first time after leaving the Forest of Illusion. Ferdinand essentially falls head over heels for Miranda upon seeing her, and the other men proves themselves lechers who are instantly beaten away by her.
• Scene of Prospero’s final act of retribution of slaying all the shipwrecked people except Ferdinand
  
  
• * A Possible "World of Dreams"
  o Symbols of the past, recollections of the memorable moments from the game
  o Calling back old memories, and getting a sense of the "World" of The Tempest
  o Fragments of productions, almost a world within the air, from where the interface will be in the very beginning and end after beating the game.
  

• Prospero’s Cell (Place of the Final Battle):
• Magically neutral, a place where Ariel cannot enter.
• Austere, adorned only by the books of sorcery that he studies and by a curious magical symbol traversing the room

Significant Points in Plot:

• Opening: A cut scene with Miranda and Prospero looking out at the recent shipwreck
• Present: Miranda comments on the tragedy of the shipwreck and wonders about the storm
• Flashback I: Static and grainy view of men at sea in the mist of the storm (cinematic)
• Return to Present: Prospero talks of his true past and his thirst for revenge
• Flashback II: Simple, clear, vivid, with multiple stills flashing on the screen instead of cinematic, showing how Prospero, former Duke of Milan, was usurped by brother and forced to flee to island
• Return to Present: Prospero reveals that the shipwreck was his doing and casts a sleeping charm on Miranda, so all goes black.
• Beginning of Gameplay: Wake in Miranda’s Hut, begin your process of exploring (from here, it diverges with Shakespearian canon).
  
  
• Final Battle Ending: Rescue by a surprising savior
• Miranda and Prospero are fighting one another with all their skill and power, and when Miranda lowers Prospero to a fraction of his HP, a cut scene begins
• Now possessed by his magic and caring only about his own survival, he launches a powerful desperation attack towards Miranda, intending to end the threat to his person, once and for all
• Caliban rushes into the room and takes the hit instead, remorseful for what he has done in the past
• Prospero is drained and shocked, letting Miranda knock the staff from his hands and knock him to the ground and point her spear at his throat.
• He surrenders, and as his mind clears, he recognizes full well that he nearly killed his daughter in his thirst for rage, and that Caliban was not entirely inhuman.
• Miranda’s last and most powerful limit break activates, causing a ray of light to shine down from the heavens upon her, and a flare of light to erupt and fill the screen. All goes white.
  
  
• Game Ending: Specter of the Past, Revelations, and Broken Man
• The words “Several Days later” appear on screen as the scene fades in
• Day again, on the beach, Miranda and Prospero gathered together with Caliban, Ariel, and Ferdinand
• Prospero, old and defeated now, reveals the truth about Caliban, that he is really the son of Sycorax and himself, and that after his falling out with his former lover, he erased Caliban’s memory and warped his form so that he would not have any reminders of her nearby. Using the what magic he has left, he reverses the curse on Caliban, revealing him to be a handsome young man who can now remember everything. . .and who will become the Duke of Milan
• Ferdinand proposes marriage to Miranda, who turns him down again.
• Prospero makes one last request of Ariel, to make the seas calm for the journey back to the mainland, and then releases him from service.
• Miranda then takes Prospero’s staff, and shatters it into a thousand little pieces, and watches as the others go their separate ways.
• As for her tale. . .her adventures are only beginning. . .

Unlockables Extras:

• Caliban’s Side Story: What his life was like before Prospero’s fit of pique, and what his daily routine was like, as well as his take on the battle, and why he decided to take the blast meant for Miranda. Closes with him in Milan, assuming his place as the new duke.
• Sycorax’s Tale: Her life in Algiers and the events that led to her subsequent exile, with a mini-game involving the first taming of Ariel. Ends with a cutscene of Prospero coming to the island with a young Miranda.
• Ariel’s commentaries: Only one being saw the whole affair unfold from beginning to end, from Sycorax’s first coming to the island to all eventually leaving him in freedom once again, and that is Ariel, the spirit. With this, you have the option of hearing Ariel’s commentary on everything that happened, including the side stories.

Easter Eggs:

• I am a Sith Lord: After beating the game once, if one enters the special code, Prospero’s lines will be peppered with quotes form Star Wars (“At last, we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at least. . .we shall have our revenge”, “Fear is my ally”, “I am the master now”)
• The Bard-Tree: Within the Forest of Illusion, there is only one weeping willow, that if struck, will mournfully recite Jacques’ Speech, one of Hamlet’s Soliloquies, or one of Oberon’s speeches. If attacked with magic, will drop the “Shaking Spear”, which can do extra damage against ghosts and Prospero

Mike Allison's inital proposal

TITLE: Where have all the good bands gone?
Survival of the fittest in the music industry

Abstract

There is no doubt that the music industry is completely different in all respects than it was at its inception and even at its peak in the 1970’s. Record labels especially have changed the most and now many are failing, but why? What caused the steady recession in the industry over the last 10 years? A lot of fingers are pointed, mostly at illegal digital music pirating among other things, but the explanation cannot be reduced to singular causes. After comparing the business model of the modern popular music label to earlier versions, the evolution makes it clear that changed ideologies about music and business practices within the industry have vastly contributed to its current downfall.

Methodology

Over commercialization, over emphasis on the singles market, and a serious lack of artist development are the main factors causing the recession.
The first step is to introduce the reader to how the music industry operates. A basic knowledge of the industry will help greatly in explaining my point. Then I would probably have to show the reader how the old industry worked (probably during the time of its greatest success) and compare those practices to today’s practices. To make the point even more clear I want to have many points of view about the situation, because in this field your opinion of how things work changes dramatically depending on what side you are on. I need to solidify the way the information works but I have a general idea.

Media and Justification

The problem I am facing right now is the “why multimedia?” question. This topic seems like I can just as well write an essay, but my justification goes a little like this: I’m considering having an experiential game element run throughout my project in which the reader ‘takes part’ in different fields of the music industry. The reason the industry has evolved the way it has is because of the choices people have made, so I want the reader to experience those same choices and experience the outcome in their ‘music industry.’ The whole project would be a combination of these explorative game sections combined with interviews in a documentary style project. I feel people have many misconceptions about the industry’s inner-workings and I want to remedy that by giving them the information and relative perspectives.

Pskelly's slightly late update yo (Midterm Part 1?)

Title: "Cross-cultural comics create cohesion" (maybe, maybe something else...)

Abstract: Recently, in the past decade or so (really, since "Akira" came out back in the late 80s), interest in manga and anime has increased in the United States. While they, like comics and cartoons, carry the stigma of a child's fantasy interest in the United States, they are considered normal every-day readings in Japan. Additionally, people of all age ranges read manga in Japan, and anyone is able and willing to watch anime. If normal books can be read by all, why can't books with pictures? Both can be mature. In fact, with animated literature, they can be, no pun intended, much more graphic in nature. As both feature words, clearly the diction used is not what's preventing a larger adaptation to the medium.

My goal is to try and determine why people in the US refuse to view cartoons, comics, anime, and manga in a more serious tone, and as tools that can carry an assortment of meaning. Additionally, I wish to show that these media can be used to adult ways in a quality comparable to, if not more so than, standard literature.

Side note - What's hard about this topic for me is to actually pick a solid argument vs. just documenting the "phenomenon." While the above takes a stance on the adult and mature possibilities/nature of the animated media, it still feels like it's missing something, or perhaps it's that it takes too much of a focus on the US and not enough on Japan, despite manga and anime stemming from the country.

Methodology: This, too, can be tricky. My best hope would be to show various differences between the mediums, both animated and non. Through this, I can show the different meanings that can be derived from each, as well as highlight the different ways that a message can be portrayed.

One o fthe things I would like to do with this is to start by showing stereotypical versions of each medium (Lit: perhaps some Shakespeare, War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice, or 1984; comics: anything Spider-man, Batman, Superman, or maybe the recent Invincible; cartoons: Flintstones, Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, Batman The Animated Series; manga: Death Note?, maybe some original versions of animes; and anime: anything Miyazaki, Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, Dragonball Z, Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh). However, by displaying each, I wish to show the different ways that emotions are evoked from each, or at least that each one can be either serious or not.

I would also like to show the work that goes into and process of creating manga, anime, cartoons, comics and the like. Though how I can tie this in, I'm not really sure...

Problems: one of the problems I see with this is that I feel like I need to do some actual interviews in order to get base opinoins on the various mediums, otherwise I just assume what most people in the US feel about animated literature.

Media presentation and justification: Really, I suppose I can use just about any method we've seen thus far, from today's glorified PowerPoint/Flash hybrid that is Sophia (though don't get me wrong, it does look like an interesting tool) to a video game highlighting the work that goes into the animated mediums (I figure I could probably use a Grand Theft Auto PC mod to create a world where you need to accomplish missions in order to make the comic/manga/etc.) or I could even include an option for the reader to try and create their own few frames of art to show that it's not as easy as it looks.

I think something interesting would be to have viewers be able to contribute to this project somehow, perhaps by saying their opinion on the medium. If it's somehow possible, I think it may be interesting that perhaps the project opens with a question or questions asking their opinions on the media, then from their the project would guide them to another point that does something or other, eventually leading to something else that tries and proves something. Clearly this last part was rambling.

One thing I'd like to avoid is a rather standard documentary on the different animated media. However, brief interviews with various professors on the campus (from East Asian studies to Cinematic Arts to Fine Arts) could provide added insight and background. In fact, having occasional pop-ups or hyperlinks to activate the interviews could prove interesting and enhance the overall experience, perhaps it could even be a pop-up interview that would overlap another video showing something else, such as a time-lapsed (or not) drawing, or a scene from an anime, pictures from manga, comics, etc.

Final comment: I know I can/should make something good of this, but I feel like I'm missing some key piece, or perhaps my thoughts are askew/aloof at this hour in the morning/night.

MidTerm Part 2, Week 8

1. Great posts (almost ) everybody. If you haven't posted your draft yet, please do so ASAP!

2. Please read the dreary posting requirements below - it will help me find your posts. I had no idea blogger was so unwieldy.

POSTING REQUIREMENTS:
NAMES 1
I've discovered a problem with BLOGGER. If your name doesn't appear anywhere in the body of your post, the search engine doesn't find it. i.e., Say I'm looking for Elissa's post. Even though Elissa has posted twice, if I type "ELISSA" into the search engine, it returns null. Several of you received emails while I was searching for your assignments.
So, please, to assist me in locating (and crediting) your assignments - from now on:
PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME IN THE BLOG POST TITLE:
i.e. pweil's midterm

NAMES 2
If you've signed up for blogger with some nickname (philosopher? zers?) don't assume I have a clue who you are. Please Include a recognizable name (the one on the class roster) for your clueless Professor.

3. Please commit to reading several of your classmates posts and commenting on 2 or 3 of them. If all of you do that, everyone should receive comments. Do that soon so that you can incorporate comments into your finished Midterm.

4. Think of the next week's delivery as a polish, or another iteration of this week's. Progress. Please post it AND either email it (with IML 346 in the subject line and the filename with the convention: pweilMT346.doc) and be prepared to deliver a short version of it in class. If everyone has read everyone's drafts, you shouldn't have to read the entire thing, but you should be able to deliver a short version to elicit comments. I'll accept paper, as well, from anyone willing to print...

Sonia's Proposal: Take One

Title: Theory or Theology: The Search for Truth in Science

Abstract:

For the past 35 years, physicists have been consumed by a problem that, if solved, would in essence be the “theory of everything”: string theory. After years of trials, experiments, and absurd mathematical calculations, the amount of evidentiary proof is at a resounding nothing. We have no data, no images, and no reason to believe it’s true; so why do we believe it’s true?

Has science become a religion rather than a science? Why would we believe something without any proof? My purpose in this project is to identify the two sides of the string theory argument. Is science relying to much on the dogma of its elders, instead of being revolutionary and breaking boundaries?

I would like to show my audience that the new face of science may actually be discouraging young students from pursuing a career in scientific research, because they do not see an opportunity to be the Einstein of the new era.

Methodology:

(I’m not really sure about this yet)
Because string theory is an excellent example of my argument, I will probably start by defining the bare bones of string theory. Once it has been clearly understood, the audience will be given the argument against the exclusivity of string theory. I will give the audience an opportunity to do an experiment in deductive reasoning, to make them understand how scientific theories are produced.

The next step is to show the reader other examples of how science is losing its empirical basis. Maybe include interviews with prominent scientists as well as journalists. Present the fact that many scientists who reject string theory cannot find jobs, and therefore we are effectively blocking the progress of science. From here, I will move to address science education, and why students are turning away from scientific study due to the stagnation of scientific research.

Media Presentation and Justification:

I haven’t really addressed media in full yet, but I don’t want the presentation to be a boring one-sided scientific “powerpoint.” The project would most likely be in DVD format, an interactive presentation with multi-path navigation, including interviews and maybe a game involving deductive reasoning.
After our discussion today, I was considering the possibility of allowing the viewer to add to the project, that way it is constantly changing. This might indicate that it will be an online project instead of a DVD. It really fits in with my topic, because I don’t want to be talking at the audience, I want it to be a dynamic conversation, where they can put forth their own ideas while responding to my own.

Matt Jung's Midterm Proposal

a) Title: “ Let’s Go To Jail! The Mashup and Beyond ”

b) Abstract
Topic: The Mashup Genre of Music (e.g. Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album")
Interface: DVD
Genre: Interactive Game with components of being Essayistic and Encyclopedic
Main Message/ Thesis: The mashup genre is important to music's future in our modern remix culture, as it becomes easier for the average person to become a participant. However, the genre will only be allowed to flourish so much as copyright enforcers allow it.

c) Methodology

The project would have two sections.

-An archive of other peoples' mashups for the user to listen to. The collection will introduce unfamiliar audience members to the genre. For familiar audiences, it will be an encyclopedic display of artistic works that are not publicly available. This collection also shows the increasing popularity of the genre and suggests it as an emerging, important art form.

-A display of my new creative work. I will create a mashup album and document my process. Since I am a music performance major, I feel this creative musical process will be a valuable learning experience in my academic field. This will also show how technology is allowing more people (like me) to become participants in our remix culture.

d) Media Presentation & Justification

-The whole DVD experience would be a game, in which every copyright infringement is counted in a video game type counter. Every time a copyrighted piece of music is heard, every time a copyrighted image is shown, and every time an instance of my new work’s infringement is displayed, the DVD will keep track in terms of a jail sentence. The more the DVD is used, the higher the jail sentence. This will hopefully show how limiting copyrights are to the genre. With all the creativity by myself and others showcased on this DVD, it will show how copyrights are hurting that creativity.

Hopefully, this project will then:
-Introduce and explore a new and rapidly growing form of music
-Allow me to create musically in the form of a new art piece (as musical creation is central to my major)
-Have a meaningful message and give a meaningful warning to society about the future of music
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Matt Jung

Deconstructing Viral Videos

Abstract:


I am attempting to deconstruct the elements which comprise viral videos that achieve a degree of internet noteriety/popularity. In doing so, I hope to help my reader understand how the average web user views, processes, and in turn propagates video media that he or she encounters.

I will postulate a theoretical "formula" for popular internet videos, and show a number of shared elements among previously established popular videos. The core of my project would be to then test the actual effectiveness of my theory by applying it to a number of self-created videos and tracking their popularity. As there is often an author/viewer correspondance present in these videos, I will also fabricate and assume the various personas behind each video, responding to the viewers. In this way, this might be considered an interactive video project, or more specifically, a series of short interactive video projects linked by a common thread.

While my audience is also an unwitting test subject, the real audience for this would be for the more academically minded, as they are aware of the fact that the video is constructed with the sole purpose of achieving a high degree of internet popularity.

I intend for my final delivery format to be both an interactive DVD as well as a website documenting my thinking and process.

Methodology:

To answer what makes an internet video popular, I will take commonly seen elements in popular videos, past and present, and distill them into generic formulas which I will then use as a blueprint to create videos of my own. Meanwhile, I will also document the making of process to yield insight into the thinking behind each decision. I intend to use the web video format as the primary way of presenting information, and necessarily will be also creating a webpage for the project as well. In addition, due to the amount of recompression present in web videos, I will also be creating an "offline" DVD version of the project as well.

My primary assumption behind this project is that the internet audience is, in fact, predictable, and while trends and general tastes are certainly mercurial, there exist common elements that are in fact shared by media that is self-propagated.

Media Presentation and Justification:

As noted earlier, I will be using the web video form with website to present this project. In this way, the form of the project will reflect the actual content.

Andy's Proposal

Alexander the Great: A Leader by Any Other Name
Or
How Many Faces for Alexander?

Abstract

Like I’ve said before, I’m exploring the many historical interpretations of Alexander the Great because I am trying to find out how ancient historians as well as other writers over the centuries have looked at him and interpreted him. Now this isn’t going to be only limited to writers (imagine how dry that would be!) but also sculptors, painters, and other artists as well. The goal of the project is to help whoever is experiencing the project understand how one of the most dynamic leaders in world history did what he did and was later seen. Moreover, there has even been recent work in the field of Alexandrian studies which calls into question many of the ancient sources and their interpretation of certain aspects of his life i.e. his mother, Olympias, interpretation of battles, the burning of the Persian royal palace of Persepolis, etc.. Simply stated, I want to produce a multi-perspectival project aimed for the academic reader (or any lover of history for that matter) that will have several elements of the documentary style as well. This would more than likely take shape as a DVD (much like what we saw with the Labyrinth project on Bobby Kennedy) which would engross the participant with information and different interpretations of the man, the world he lived in, what he did, how he was seen then, now, and so on ad infinitum. Ultimately this will force people to see how the sources are not in concordance and how even the simplest facts cannot be agreed upon. Moreover, while experiencing the project, people will learn what different scholars (ancient and modern) claim about Alexander, because, in the end, all that can be known about one of the most dynamic leaders in history is what we can glean from several contradictory authors.

Methodology

As I stated above, and I believe this is worth repeating, Alexandrian studies are a paradox because nothing can truly be known about the man himself despite the corpus of works concerning him. Many of the sources disagree; what I would like to do is allow a participant to see what they disagree on and how little moments of disharmony add up over the course of the main narratives. I'd like to focus my project on answering what we, as scholars, can truly know about Alexander, and what are the different ways he has been re-interpreted through the years. Can we only know, as most academics believe, that all we can take from the histories are what the author says Alexander did, or can we say with any degree of certainty that he acted in that manner. The modern scholarship that does exist about Alexander is quite fascinating, and is worth contemplating alongside the ancient scholarship as well. I feel that the modern scholarship will give the project the extra component that will aid people in seeing just how many ways something can be reinterpreted, which is a major portion of what I'm attempting to do.

Media Presentation & Justification
First and foremost, I find that most people can't make their way through the ancient corpus of works about Alexander, much less make the distinctions between the different traditions that they hail from. Even academics find actively keeping that information in mind to be a challenge. Trying to guide most people through the visual representations is easier by far. I believe that combining the two elements would bolster interest in the subject. Moreover, by making the sources painfully obvious via tabs or citations of some sort, people could literally see the discrepancies side by side. I haven't decided how much of certain movies deserve to be spliced into the project proper, but some (like Oliver Stone's Alexander) do capture certain moments which are in concordance between sources. As I said before, I want to do this on a DVD somewhere in the same comprehensive, exhaustive method as the Labyrinth project we saw on Kennedy. I truly believe that this could be a fascinating experience that the viewer could learn a great deal from. Keep in mind though, that this knowledge wouldn't be presented as "this is what Alexander did"; it would be "this is what Arrian or Curtius said Alexander did". This needs to be done in a multimedia format because flipping through books to try and find events becomes tiresome and still doesn't let the scholar SEE the things side by side. I would attempt to arrange the project so that the person experiencing it would be able to guide their learning in fields that interest them.

Transnationalism Midterm Draft

TITLE:
Transcending Space: how Wong Kar-Wai depicts the relationship between local and transnational

(This is my title so far but I am hoping that I will be able to think of a better title that is more accurate, and that sounds more fun and less pretentious)

ABSTRACT:
Increasingly, the films have become a global commodity. Films are now being co-produced internationally, featuring transnational film stars and are distributed internationally.

I am interested in studying two of Wong Kar Wai’s films, Chungking Express (1994) and Happy Together (1997), because I am trying to find out how his works explore and express transnational qualities in order to show my audience how transnationalism is obscuring the idea of national or “local” identity.

The project will be primarily aimed at a peer audience, consisting of people, college aged and older, who have some, but not expert, knowledge of cinema. The audience will be able to engage in an interactive and experiential interface/space. In the main menu, the audience member will be presented with three different platforms. One platform will explore the absence of a national identity in Hong Kong, including the colonial history of HK and the events surrounding 1997. I will link this idea to WKW’s use of “borderless” spaces as well as his depictions of characters that have identity issues. Another platform will allow the audience member to maneuver around certain spaces around Hong Kong and will come across hot spots that will reveal the transnational elements present within Chunking Express and Happy Together, including WKW’s transnational influences and his use of transnational stars such as Takeshi Kaneshiro. The last platform will trace the international reception of his two films.

METHODOLOGY:
(I am a little bit fuzzy on this right now, but this is what I'm thinking about so far). Transnationalism is a relatively new concept that is linked to globalization or the loosening of national borders. The primary aim of this project is to discuss the idea of transnationalism and how it affects the concept of the local.

Transnationalism in film can be quite positive. It allows for a larger, international audience to receive the film. However, the downside is that the "local" or national qualities and themes present in the film are watered down in order to appeal to this larger audience. Wong Kar-Wai's films depicts these concerns. Both Chungking Express and Happy Together were lauded and distributed across the globe, making WKW an internationally recognized filmmaker and allowing for heightened interest in Hong Kong, Cantonese films. However, while WKW embraces his transnational audience, he also brings attention to the loss of national identity through his thematic depiction of "borderless" spaces and characters facing identity crises.

MEDIA PRESENTATION & JUSTIFICATION:
My thesis will be presented as a DVD-ROM. I will use programs such as DVD Studio Pro to create an exploratory and interactive space/interface in order to illustrate the ubiquitous transnational qualities present within a local space, in this project, Hong Kong.

The audience will be able to maneuver around and will be able to click on hot spots that will communicate information about transnational themes present in WKW's work, transational influences as well as transnational reception. Such hot spots may include text, using After Effects, images, music, and videos and narration, using Final Cut Pro.

Tiffany's Draft Proposal

IML 346 Midterm

a) Title Possibilities: Felicidad, HAPPINE$$, The Stark Reality of Our Decisions, Happy Together-- I don’t really like any of these, so I’ll keep thinking…

b) Abstract:
I am studying how everyday personal and social decisions affect one's happiness because I want to find out how economic principles can explain differences in people's self-reported levels of happiness. By doing so, I am trying to help the average person gain a better understanding of economic theory so that he is better equipped to make more informed decisions that will have a positive effect on his happiness. Hence, my goal is to help the average layman learn about how to use economic analyses to make better decisions. I want my project to be both interactive and informative, and since I want this tool to be accessible to everyone, I may design my project as an online website.

c) Methodology:
I am going about making the argument that the average person does not correctly forecast or backcast his experienced happiness by developing a tool or simulation that mimics the process of making a decision. This may be accomplished by a four-fold method: 1. Have the user complete a questionnaire relating to what is to be learned or decided upon. 2. The user will make an actual decision or complete a simple task similar to those summarized in textbooks. 3. The user will complete a post-task survey. 4. A results section will use economic analysis to explain their decision.

d) Media Presentation & Justification:
This thesis will include an interactive media simulation of classic experiments from the field of economics and social psychology in order to show the user how the principles of economic theory relate to happiness. Such experiences cannot be attained through traditional textbook learning and hence require multimedia.

Proposal - Anastasia

Potential Titles:
Stranger Madness. Anonymism. Effects of the Moon’s Reflections on the Sleeping Patterns of Strangers. (or something science-esque) The Waking Sleep. Burdens. Silence. Ossified Potentials. Bones and Visions. Self-Containment. Simple/Infinity Anonymous Vision. Death’s Half-Brother Sleep. Shackled.
Subterranean... Visualism. Burdens. The waking brain longs to sleep, the sleeping brain to never wake. Thoughts that are not acted upon do not die. Reaching. Amputated Exploration. Arcane gods... Phantasos, Phobetor, Morpheus (sons of Hypnos)

(Gee, I don’t know. These are terrible, they’re like the names of metal bands. I'll work on them.)


Abstract:

I’m interested in creating an interactive art piece that mixes the genres of documentary film, animation, gaming, and expressionistic/symbolic fine arts. I would like to explore the subject of imagined realities in disobedience of social constructs in this piece. I want to visually document situations in which people physically obey societal constructs and the norms of reality, but show through interactive options that the mind is given possibilities without the limits of reality and society. An interactive web-based art piece that combines flash animation with video and traditional animation would be an optimal presentation for this thesis.


Audience:

I would like this piece to reach a more diverse audience than a gallery-style installation video would. By putting it on a website, I hope to make it possible for anyone to look at it and get something out of it. The concept is universal, and I feel that the presentation should allow for universality, as well. The interactive format will help a great deal in accomplishing that goal. Website-based projects democratize art and interactivity allows for a fluid and nonlinear narrative thread.


Methodology:

I am making the argument that the pressures of normality and the constrictions of physical reality are escapable through dreams and fantasies and imagined scenarios. With that in mind, humans have more freedom to impact their own real lives through utilizing their “waking dreams” and learning not to fear them.

By using a creative approach that mimics the decisions to conform or not conform that everyone faces constantly, I hope to show that it is unnecessary to live in your head. To make the impossible real is a worthy goal.

I feel that life is very restricted, and that many or all of these restrictions are self-implemented and can be overcome. Connections to other human beings are feared, shared consciousness is considered impossible, exploration is considered odd, and silliness/whimsicality and imagination are considered childish. I’m personally very tired of these restrictions, and I’d like this project to reflect how things could be different. This project is about personal revolutions, and through the interactivity, I hope to show people a set of new and accessible possibilities for life and inspiration.

Media Presentation and Justification:

Optimally, the thesis will be presented as a website-based piece that includes flash animation, video, and traditional animation. Since the project requires interactivity to give the viewer choices and to let one explore the project on one’s own, it is necessary to have it in this multimedia format. A film would be too passive. The piece argues that the “imaginary” (unreal images that create new meanings in reality) must be explored by the individual. The project’s whole philosophy is built on curiosity and choice, so this medium is perfect. The paths of the project will give the audience choices that have the potential to create a world where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable from one another.

Beth's Proposal

TITLE
From the Laboratory to the Mainstream: Understanding the Importance of Public Support in the Advancement of Basic Research

ABSTRACT
The general consensus regarding science seems to be that it is some mysterious, untranslatable entity – a body of knowledge inaccessible to the general public and meant only for the select few whose brains are wired in just the right way for boring, complex gibber jabber. This stigmatization makes science a subject that most shy away from, and not for lack of ability or intelligence but because of the perception that something that requires the understanding of complex mathematical equations or mechanisms is inherently too difficult for the average person or too boring to be of any interest to anyone but a nerd. However, science is in fact very accessible to the lay person, and nearly every person has at least a cursory understanding of basic scientific principles that he or she uses on a daily basis, whether or not he or she realizes it. For instance, when you heat up leftovers in the microwave, you unconsciously add water, because without the extra water, the food will dry out and harden. While one may not know that mechanistically, a microwave operates by exciting the electrons in water molecules to allow for a phase change from liquid to gas that releases heat and warms up the food, there is at least a basic understanding of what’s going on (as water evaporates, food heats up), if only of because experience.

Addressing this barrier between the scientific community and the general public will be a central theme in my project. The majority of the population looks at science with the belief that it is for researchers to worry about, but this is far from true, because without the support of the general public and the government, science cannot advance. It is inherently important that the public take an active interest in basic scientific research and support the endeavors of researchers, because advancements in the basic sciences directly influences advancements in the applied sciences that lead to technologies that make our lives easier. To elucidate my point, I will be using my own research as an example: in all reality, my work with cell death in the bacterium Escherichia coli has little application to the general public, but it is an important project nonetheless, as what we learn about this cellular mechanism will aid in the development of better treatments for diseases that have a basis in cell death, or lack there of (e.g. cancer).

The format of this project will be a documentary database that describes the various aspects of research involved in the current project, and explores the importance of public interest and involvement in the advancement of basic scientific research.

METHODOLOGY
The specific aim of this project is to show the importance of public interest and involvement in the advancement of basic scientific research. The most important element of this project will involve a large quantity of laboratory work to generate data on the current research project, as it will be the basis for which the advocacy of basic research will be derived. (This research is focused on explicating the mechanism underlying cell death / cell survival in E. coli due to gene pairs that are situated at various locations along the bacterium’s genome.) As this research project is still in its early stages, and science is immensely unpredictable, the project probably will not be complete by next May. However, enough data will have been generated to begin an exploration of the importance of scientific research to the general public, and to explain why it is so important for people to care about basic research.

MEDIA PRESENTATION & JUSTIFICATION
Science is an inherently experiential subject – research is an active process that requires both knowledge of the subject and the ability to carry out various experiments. This is why students of science, regardless of whether they are studying biology, chemistry, or physics, attend laboratories in addition to attending lectures. Because the aim of this project is to persuade the public to take a more active interest in and support the endeavors of research institutions, and to show how important basic research is, the audience should be actively exposed to science and the research process. It is impossible to set up a movable laboratory exhibit that would allow audiences to conduct their own experiments to discover the importance of supporting basic research. However, a database documentary that would allow the audience to explore various facets of the scientific process and the inherent connection between the public, the government, and research institutions is a feasible and appropriate format.

On Time and Ready to Go

Title: Art Dripping on Itself

Abstract:

I am focusing on the little studied art of cinematography in critical studies. Any given film has a rich and complex text of its own that can be drawn by simply isolating the visuals. Cinematography is a complex semiotic language using such elements as color, grain, exposure, latitude, contrast, composition, shot angles, and depth of field to tell a story or create an emotion. First, I wish to expose and decode this language and complexity to the student, lay-person, or even scholar not already willing to actually materialize the subconscious interpretations of the text. Secondly, I wish to show how this encoded language appears throughout other media in specific relation to a given text. I plan to do so by choosing at least one film from within the last decade with significant use of the elements that I will define, and tracking both the influences that that film has had since its release on other films and on other media, as well as backtracking to all of the influences on it, back to the influences on its influences, and so forth. One example could be the extremely unique style of Tony Scott's film, Man On Fire, as it is clearly influenced by the Director of Photography's experiments on the BMW film Beat the Devil which can be seen as an extension of the styles used in Swordfish and Gone in Sixty Seconds, which are arguably influenced by the type of standout cinematography seen in Traffic, which not surprisingly came shortly after Three Kings, one of the more notable uses of the now well known “skip bleach” process. After Man on Fire came works like Last King of Scotland, Jarhead, and even Babel that used similar styles, influenced likely by the most recent as well as that which influenced the most recent and so forth. The similarities in style will, in the actual project, be broken down into more specific elements, and definitive examples of each element being compared will be given as each connection is drawn.

The project will be pedagogical in that it teaches its users how to look at cinematography as a cultural art. The concept explores the layered effects of the influences on the subject film and the film's influences on other media, therefore is also multi-layered. The interface design will combine still photos (screen shots) with video clips, and with text as various means of exploring the concepts, therefore it is also comparative. The project is interactive to the extent that the user decides how he or she wishes to explore the multi-layered content through the interface. The project is visualization both in how it shows the material of the subject media, as well as visualizes the theories. In a straight forward way, the project is also annotation, as it combines images and moving images with textual explanations.

I will probably do the entire project in Flash and allow the user to navigate it.

Methodology:

I am going to solve the scholar's conundrum of discussing cinematography as a critical and theoretical aspect of film. Often we study the cinematography of one film, or even of certain genres, but never in depth, and never are those concepts of cinematographic theory applied to the entire study of film. I hope to take cinematography from a film to film context into the broader context by connecting cinematography among different films, and perhaps even among other cultural products that relate such as advertising, commercials, print design, web design, music videos, book covers, etc. If this is going to far, it is enough for me to just bring out patterns and contexts among films for distinct styles of cinematography that are weakly discussed and defined as of yet. The use of an interactive multimedia platform like flash will allow the user to explore at their own pace the information that I can present to them, and hopefully it will by in the order that makes the most sense to them and best satisfies their curiosity.

Media Presentation and Justification:

Because the terminology that exists to describe cinematographic theory is so limited and or so poorly known, using media to visualize and exemplify every part of the thesis will no doubt make possible what would otherwise be a tedious and confusing mixture of description and definition. So rather than writing a paper that would force the reader to look up information to figure out what the author is talking about, using a multimedia interface, the author can provide that information as he goes.

work in progress...

Title(s)
Internet Killed the Radio Star: The transition of marketing mediums in the music industry or How's It Going to Be: the future of music marketing or Carry On My Wayward Son: the transition of marketing mediums in an ever-changing music industry

Abstract
Music marketing was a static issue until the digital age. I will be exploring how it has evolved over the past 50 years and the avenues the field must take to be successful in the future. This is important because standard marketing and promotional techniques need to continue to adapt to the digital market and not rely so much on traditional methods like radio and print. While these are still viable mediums, they should no longer be considered the primary avenue of music marketing. In researching this topic, I will uncover types of marketing that are effective in reaching unique market segments and demographics, and demonstrate methods that could be effective in targeting these groups in the future. This will be based upon market research and interviews with professionals in both the music and business fields. The best way to present both the past, present and future of this field is to use an experiential format, where the "reader" can travel through a sample marketing campaign using both old and new methods, and decide at the end which was more effective to them. This project will be useful to both artists interested in promoting their music and to companies who represent music and other media.

Methodology
This project is making an argument that music marketing needs to get more creative in order to reach its target audience, and suggesting ways in which it can succeed in this endeavor. I want to speak with those that currently work in the marketing field to get their opinions on how marketing has changed since they began working, and also uncover their marketing processes. I would also like to speak with those that work in related business fields such as advertising, public relations, and artist management to see what they feel are the best ways to adapt their contributions to ensure that new music marketing is successful. Obviously the most important aspect of this project however will be market research on various market segments - consumers and musicians alike and their respective demographics. I also want to research and do some case study-type work.

Media Presentation
I am seeing this project as an interactive "click and learn" journey through the history of music marketing, and then have it turn into a visualization of a discussion about where the industry is today, and the results of the market research into current techniques. Then I want to have the user experience some marketing techniques and at the end, judge which were more effective to them, and once they choose, have that lead into an explanation of the positives and negatives of each way, going from the oldest model to the newest idea for the future of marketing. Then at the end I would like to present again a visualization of a summary of ideas for the future. The project will flow much like a paper but will have varying ways of using multimedia in each segment (interactivity, visualization, experiential, etc.) to keep it interesting. Marketing is itself not a subject that can be adequately described on paper, as very little marketing is done on paper. You must have multimedia to show the complexity of the subject, and especially in that this project relates directly to music, which obviously can only be heard in order to experience it.

Speaking in Tongues

I emailed Steve on the 12th, but still haven't had a reply...maybe I had the wrong email? Does anyone know what his current email is?

In the meantime, I came up with more ideas and was hoping maybe I could do something like this:

I am exploring the film score as a universal language in cinema and American culture/because I want to show how it has developed from ignored background music high art to a postmodern artform with the ability to create time and space/ in order to explain the aesthetic impacts between film scores and popular culture.

(here is a blurb with more background info to clarify the above statement)
I am studying the "neglected" art of film scores in cinema. Film music is so embedded in American culture that even the lowest lay-person can understand the musical language. It was not always this way, however. When underscoring began with the silent films, it was thought of as simply "background music" and followed a more high-art style like that of classical music. As films evolved, so did scores, integrating other forms of music, creating themes, integrating motifs, etc. across three eras: golden, rock fo 60s/70s, postmodern. Film scores slowly moved toward music that is viewed among scholars as a more low-art, however, it is more connected with American culture than ever.

Title: Your Second Language: The Film Score

Abstract: This project charts the evolution of film scores from silent films to the postmodern era in order to show key developments and eras that lead to the creation of musical color and how reliant American culture and the film industry are on it. This project is targeted for any American film viewer. It is pedagogical, multi-layered, comparative, and interactive game.

Methodology: The user will be carrying out interactive missions. The user will begin with a film score language dictionary that has audio definitions they can hear. They will have the option of venturing into three different worlds - the eras of film score evolution: golden, rock 60s/70s, postmodern. The user will receive a quest - for example "go to Scotland" - but there will be no visuals, only scores. Each new layer they click into has a new score. When they find the appropriate place via sound, they will select that layer and click ok. Then they will have their next quest. In the golden age world, the tasks may seem almost impossible - because scores had not developed themes/motifs the way they did in the postmodern era. So on that token, the postmodern tasks will be as clear as English - just listen for the bagpipes! This game proves to users their own knowledge of musical color and also educates about the evolution of the film score in cinema. I also plan to integrate a function to integrate the relationship between popular media and scores in the postmodern era...am still thinking about this.


Media Presentation & Justification: This thesis will include a flash website with film clips, sound clips, visual images, and game devices to allow decision making in order to allow the user to declare their own connotations when they hear score motifs. This project should be in multimedia because film scores are a language that is heard, not written. Also, this project requires the allowance of users to make decisions in a way that cannot be done in an essay.

The Tempest: Shadows of Society

What is reality? How to we move through it, and how do games in themselves affect us in real life? For that matter, how do our expectations in these settings lead us to how our actions will affect us? I will be exploring this through a video game set in an interactive three-dimensional world, showing the very real consequences of choice. Why a video game? Because the video game of today is almost a throwback to the interactive media of the Renaissance...the theatre. Thus, I have selected the play called "The Tempest", by William Shakespeare, as the world in which I set this production, for it is perhaps the best for adaptation into a game, considering its adherence to the three unities. My audience is the layperson, ages 11-early 20s, who are RPG/FPS fans.

I am going to be exploring these questions by synthesizing and better presenting pre-existing ideas and viewpoints from multiple perspectives. Again, the Tempest is valuable here, as it deals with the issues of colonization, "justice", and other such from many different points of view, allowing one to better understand how issues do not tend to be single-ended.

This thesis will include a game mechanic involving levels and worlds of reality, as well as cutscenes to show the greater effectiveness in experiential exploration of a topic, not simply hearing about it. Text alone is inadequate, just as it is in theatre.

Finally!! i figured out how to blog!!

so my reworked sentance is a little narrower and more precise.

please let me know if anyone feels this is interesting:

I am exploring the evolution of the record label because i'm trying to find out how mainstream music became so terrible and why record labels are failing in oder to demonstrate to my reader that the over-commercialization of music has lead to/caused the current recession in the music industry.

i am producing this for the average music listener.

i have no idea of what to do for an interfae yet, but i know that it will probably have to be mostly a documentry genre with flavors of multi-perspective and potentially a game....why not....

Weeks 5 (and 4!) Assignment and....

Although I have had many other ideas that I would have preferred, I have abandoned them all in hopes that I finally find something that might possibly fit into the IML defenition of Critical Studies which seems to exclude anything beyond film theory and study, neither of which actually interest me at all.

I have landed on the cop-out solution of simply editing together a set of clips from a ton of movies from the same genre, in order from old to new, in such a way that exposes the myths, conventions, and iconography of the genre as well as the evolution of technology and the changes from classical hollywood style to today's post-modern style. This happened to be the only suggestion that anyone, Steve to be precise, responded positively to, so I will do it, unless anyone else has more direction because I'd rather do something more creative than this.

So,

I am focussing on the evolution of a film genre,

to show the audience how the myths, conventions, and iconography have remained the same even as the style of film has evolved,

and am doing so in the film medium.

btw- sorry that my first post has been so long in coming, I just had high hopes that something great would come out of each of those weeks up until now so that I could just go with that new idea, but nothing happened and I have finally just let it go.

Getting This Out There

Ok guys, let me know what you think about how this sounds. I'm going to tweak it a little more and elaborate on it near the end of the weekend, so your comments are appreciated.

I am exploring the many historical interpretations of ALexander the Great because I am trying to find out how ancient historians as well as other writers throughout time have looked at him and interpreted him in order to help my reader understand how one of the most dynamic leaders in world history did what he did and was later seen. I am producing a multi-perspectival project aimed for the academic reader or any lover of history for that matter.

Rambling

My nonexistent statement from last week:

I am using the bacterial model organism Escherichia coli to study gene pairs thought to be associated with cell death mechanisms. We are trying to elucidate the role these gene pairs play in cell survival and/or cell death, because explicating this mechanism will help us to better understand those processes that underlie programmed cell death, an important process that is altered in many diseases, including cancer.

In all honesty, very few outside of microbiology - probably very few outside of my specific area of research - will actually care about what I'm studying. If this is the case, why should we even consider doing research?

Science is such a multifaceted entity, that it would be nearly impossible to broaden one’s research focus beyond one or two specific questions, without completely losing sight of your purpose. We have been shown over and over again that despite the enormous amount of understanding we have gained about how the universe works, we really know very little. There is still an infinite amount of information to be learned and re-learned.

We often take basic research for granted, waving off the research endeavors undertaken by universities and governmental institutions like the National Institutes of Health, in favor of a new way to do a home self-genetic test or that new anti-aging supplement promised by the biotech industry. But without basic research, applied science would never be possible. It’s like trying to build a skyscraper from the top down – the building won’t stand without a firm foundation.

So, to finally get to the point, what I’m proposing is an advocacy project for the general public that shows the necessity of basic research facilities and how the information we obtain from these endeavors can be advantageously utilized in the applied sciences, using my own research as an example. I can’t go into more detail right now, as my ideas are all over the place, but this should cover the gist of what I’m trying to do (hopefully). It seems, though, that some sort of documentary would be most appropriate for the purposes of this project - maybe a small database documentary.

Wow I've been out of it!

Hey kiddos. I've done a quick 180 tailflip McTwist Boneless Indy Grab around on my topic and now it is:

I am exploring the viral video phenomenon because I am trying to find out whether there is a common "formula" that can be applied to actually create a viral video in order to help my reader understand how the average web user views/propagates video media.

I will postulate a theoretical formula and test the actual effectiveness of my theory as to what makes a good viral video by actually making several such videos and tracking their popularity. In a way this might be considered an interactive video project.

While my audience is also an unwitting test subject, the real audience for this (that is, the audience that might actually benefit from this project) would be for the more academically minded, as they are aware of the fact that the video is constructed with the sole purpose of achieving a high degree of internet popularity.

the word awkward has WKW...and other revelations

Focusing my sentence:

My sentence from last week:

I am studying the works (or perhaps a specific work) of Wong Kar-Wai because I am trying to find out how his works explore and express transnationalism in order to show how film is more and more shifting from a local to a global product.

Although my conclusion is pretty weak as of now, I think that after I complete my transnationalism cinema class and after I start to analyze WKW's works more, I will arrive at a stronger concluding statement.

I have narrowed the films I want to focus on:

Chungking Express (1994)
Happy Together (1997)
2046 (2004) (Probably not but maybe if I have enough time and find it appropriate)

Audience:

As of now, my project is directed to peers, college age to late 20s perhaps, who have some, but not expert, knowledge of cinema.

Format:

I guess I was pretty inspired by Prof. Kinder's Labyrinth presentation because I want to make a interactive project where the audience gets to explore a interface/space. I think this works really well because a lot of WKW's themes deals with space and time. Hot spots will present information that relates to WKW and transnationalism.

My thoughts so far:

Audience can maneuver around certain spaces in Hong Kong. For example, a HK movie theater. On the marquee it will have a WKW film and a French New Wave film. If you click on the marquee you can compare clips of, say, Chungking Express to Breathless. Or a HK bar where the audience gets to browse the juke box and listen to music which help characterize WKW's movies (Latin, American rock, Chinese covers, Reggae, etc)you

However, I am trying to find a creative, non essayistic, probably multi-layered approach to discussing the transnational themes present within WKW's work.

I am exploring the power of spaces to incite fear or fantasy.
Because I am trying to find out how fantasy disobeys reality.
In order to help my audience understand that imagination is our inner reality, we live inside our minds.

I am producing an interactive net.art video/animation piece aimed for everybody/anybody.

Scenario: Video of people in public spaces- escalators, trains, street, etc. similar to a security camera feed. Viewer can zoom in or click to activate animations that add layers of imaginary circumstances onto the video of everyday life. No protagonists. A virtual tour of inner space. Some layers sound/time based.

I've been watching a lot of these for ideas:
http://pleix.net/films.html

Happiness Revisited

I am trying to learn about studying.... how everyday personal and social decisions affect one's happiness

because I want to find out... how economic principles can explain differences in people's self-reported levels of happiness

in order to... help the average person gain a better understanding of economic theory so that he is better equipped to make more informed decisions that will have a positive effect on his happiness.

That's my basic sentence, for now at least. In terms of the interface for my project, I was thinking along the lines of maybe having a map of the Los Angeles Area and then the user could complete various activities--like attending college, going to church, commuting to work--and relating how those activities influence one's happiness. Maybe?

A New Idea

I was in a creative mood and got an idea.
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Topic: The Mash-Up Genre of Music (e.g. Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album")

Main Message/ Thesis: The mash-up genre is important to music's future in our modern remix culture, as it becomes easier for the average person to become a participant. However, the genre will only be allowed to flourish so much as copyright enforcers allow it.

Title: “Let’s Go To Jail! The Mash-Up and Beyond ”
Interface: Interactive DVD

The project would be in three parts.
-An archive of other peoples' mash-ups for the user to listen to. The collection will introduce unfamiliar audience members to the genre, and for familiar audiences, it will be a display of artistic works. This will also show the increasing popularity of the genre and suggest it as an emerging, important genre.

-My new creative work displayed. I will create a mash-up album and document my process. Since I am a music performance major, I feel this creative musical process will be a valuable learning experience in my academic field. This will also show how technology is allowing more people (like me) to become participants in our remix culture.

-The whole DVD experience would be a game, in which every copyright infringement is counted in a video game type counter. Every time a copyrighted piece of music is heard, every time a copyrighted image is shown, and every time an instance of my infringements is displayed, the DVD will keep track in terms of a jail sentence. The more the DVD is used, the higher the jail sentence. This will hopefully show how limiting copyrights are to the genre. With all the creativity by myself and others showcased on this DVD, it will show how copyrights are hurting that creativity.

Hopefully, this project will then:
-Introduce and explore a new and rapidly growing form of music
-Allow me to create musically in the form of a new art piece (as musical creation is central to my major)
-Have a meaningful message and give a meaningful warning to society about the future of music
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Matt Jung