Question: is this model different from
the typical improv class situation? In these exercises,
students are put on stage perhaps in a stage set with props,
perhaps not, and the instuctors pose situations within which the
actor must improvise dialog and actions.
The model is good except for number of authors. It is
the actual instructions and the reactions that change the
plot, thus introducing feedback-mediated controls. That is
pretty much what any feedback based system does
(eg, a fractal generator). It is not the number of authors,
but the application of differentiable controls. Even if the
author/director(s) is/are changing each character
separately, if the relationships among characters
determine the NEXT action, it is still only indirection
in the controls. The problem of multiple controls is a
problem of coordination.
Uncoordinated input makes the act uncoordinated: muddy.
Given that:
How long can a story be sustained before it becomes
uninteresting or consumes the resources? IOW, is it
like a soap opera: it begins to repeat itself or kills off or
marries off all the characters.
Tension in a story is sustained not by creating a surprise at
each step, but by creating a set of anticipated potentials
where each potential creates an alternative
and conflicting or reinforcing emotion. The audience anticipates
alternatives simultaneously and that creates tension.
To use musical terms, cadencing among the
emotions/tensions creates the experience. What the
director/author(s) control is the actions/gestures/speech
which create the emotional steps towards these cadences.
Understanding how to move among the emotions (bhavas or
moods) is necessary. If you study Indian ragas, you will
find a very complex set of instructions for doing just that
based on time of day, the particular bhava, and the rag (mode)
and tal (time or rhythm).
Len
> Michael St. Hippolyte wrote:
>
> > I found the recent discussion started off by John's question ("What I
> still
> > grapple with is how to ensure that all possible outcomes lead up to an
> > equally satisfying story-telling experience..."). Piecing together
> ideas
> > expressed by John DeCuir, Miriam English, Stephen Matsuba and others in
> > various branches of the discussion, a taxonomy of digital storytelling
> > emerges, based (appropriately) on a three dimensional matrix: degree of
> > nonlinearity, degree of indeterminism and number of authors. These
> three
> > values, I posit, describe the forces which propel a story.
> >
> > number of authors
> > |
> > | nondeterministic
> > | /
> > | /
> > | /
> > linear --------+---------- nonlinear
> > /
> > /
> > deterministic
> >
> > FORCES PROPELLING A STORY
>
