WORKING ON NON LINEAR NARRATIVES

After last weeks consultation, I decided to create my own interactive narrative tree, to get a better clarity of my idea. I started with noting the themes I would like to cover and the stories I would want to recreate under those themes.

Justice vs Mercy:
Individuality vs Society:
Freedom vs Resbonsibiltiy:

INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE TREE PLOT

The play begins in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. A group of young girls are caught dancing in the forest, and they claim to be possessed by the devil. The girls accuse several people of witchcraft, and a witch hunt begins. The crucibles by Arthur Miller.

VISUALISING THE INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE TREE PLOT:

I wanted to do a visual representation of the narrative in a small booklet format, but the more I did the harder it became to convert it into a booklet, so instead I did it on sticky notes :) Not the most ideal and apt but it gave me some clarity on the process.

VISUAL RESEARCH FOR NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES

After creating the narrative tree, I began conducting visual research on non-linear narratives to gather inspiration for my project. This was helpful as it exposed me to various tools and methods, providing valuable insights into existing projects in the field.

I found several projects particularly intriguing in the context of my own final year project. What caught my attention about these projects was their common thread of exploring non-linearity in narratives and offering a diverse range of interactions, including projection, games, and tangible interactions. Another compelling aspect was the agency given to the user within these interactions, often based on the various choices made by the user during the experience.

GETTING STUCK

Despite all my research efforts, I found myself stuck in a seemingly endless loop, making little progress towards my objectives. I was still unable to pinpoint the specific narrative I wanted to explore, and my experimentation was lacking in value for my final year project. While I was certain that I wanted to create something tangible, I was utterly lost on where to begin and how to craft a personalized tangible interactive narrative. These questions overwhelmed me to the point where I was no longer enjoying the process. This mounting pressure eventually led to a minor mental breakdown. Overall, I was plagued by anxiety, making it incredibly challenging to initiate any productive work, especially as I was also struggling with a creative block.

BACKTRACKING MY PROCESS

I reached a point where I felt like everyone around me was making significant progress while I struggled to find motivation even to be in the studio. Realising that I needed a break, I decided to listen to my brain and took a two-day break where I completely disconnected from work. After this break, I felt more motivated and decided to backtrack and start fresh by eliminating the aspects that were causing me distress. I often find myself taking the more challenging path, making it difficult to let go of certain ideas or concepts because it makes me feel weak or lazy. I've been actively working on unlearning this mentality since my second year.

During this process, I realised that I was getting too entangled with the idea of a personalised interactive narrative, so I made the decision to simplify things. Instead of focusing on personalisation, I honed in on the aspects of interaction and non-linearity. I also shifted my perspective on the narrative, emphasising how individuals interpret it in their own unique way, leaving room for an open ending. My focus shifted towards theater, specifically exploring how set design, overall aesthetics, sound, and lighting contribute to the theatrical experience. Within this context, I quickly identified my new objective:

to examine how these theater components complement the narrative and whether the intended message of the narrative can be conveyed without the presence of actors, dialogue, or text.

SHIFTING THE PERSPECTIVE OF MY RESEARCH

Once I identified my objective, everything started falling into place more smoothly. I decided to work with William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" as my narrative because it delves into themes such as: Greed, Ambition, Power and Betrayel These themes give rise to numerous moral, ethical, and social dilemmas that remain highly relevant today. They are issues we encounter in our daily lives, making "Macbeth" an intriguing choice to work with and enabling me to create a project that resonates with a broad audience.

EXPERIMENTING

With these new developments , I felt motivated to experiment and play around with TouchDesigner to create something interactive. I decided to concentrate on two specific aspects initially: "Movement" and "Colours"

Movement : my focus was on density. I aimed to create an effect where the closer and faster-paced the movement towards the camera, the more intense the visuals would appear on the screen.
Colour: I centered my attention on Macbeth's color palette, drawing inspiration from existing plays and set designs to understand the tones and hues commonly used in this context.

CLASS ACTIVITY

This was a fun little class activity where we divided into groups of four for a mini critique session . We provided each other with feedback using sticky notes, which was quite valuable. It offered a refreshing change of pace and allowed us to gain perspectives from peers who were encountering similar challenges and processes. Witnessing my friends engage with and enjoy my work was particularly gratifying. The primary feedback I received was that the interaction was fun, but there was room to explore different visual representations of Macbeth. I should look at different ways to visually represent macbeth, maybe also consider working with semiotics and symbolism.

I found these insights to be incredibly valuable and they provided me with a fresh perspective on my project. It was enjoyable to see what others had done, and I was particularly intrigued by Yishan's experimentation. She took a unique approach by using only craft materials and presented two different perspectives, which I found to be quite clever and innovative.