Week 4 - Lectures & Workshops

Monday, 19-9-16

This week started with a lecture by Sarah about Situated Scenarios. Planning vs being in the moment.
The main question was; how can we design a scenario, we cannot control?  For example, if you make an animation, it is all planned beforehand; you make concept art, create a storyboard, and then you animate. But what if you create a story that can only take place in the moment? Like an immersive theatre experience, or a subtlemob? How do you plan that?

How do you design for an immersive story, that is happening in the moment itself? 
What parts do we control, and what do we let go?
Do we need new models for this kind of storytelling?

Sarah also talked about the traditional ways of writing scenarios, and how these ways might actually block us during our creative thinking. (like writing a script, creating a flow chart, storyboard or a mindmap)
 The way you write your scenario affects the outcome of your project. How can we visualize an idea, before we start overthinking it, and completely plan it out? What if you let the moment/actors/users/decide the outcome of your project/story?

The tools/mediums we use influence our work and its meaning. "The medium is the message." - Marshall McLuhan
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Situated design:- "planning in a design context doesn't just have to be a set of rules you follow, but more like a set of instructions to be adapted to the situation that presents itself."
- something that can deal with the situation at hand
- can we learn from traditional/alternative models? (Traditional models being a script & storyboard, flowchart or mindmap)

alternative models:

Conditional Design (manifest by Studio Moniker)
- creating design conditions based on a set of rules
- relies on input from the user
- Process is the product!!

Improv theater:
- happenings.
- Invisible theater:"Invisible theatre is a form of theatrical performance that is enacted in a place where people would not normally expect to see one (for example in the street or in a shopping centre) and often with the performers attempting to disguise the fact that it is a performance from those who observe and who may choose to participate in it, thus leading spectators to view it as a real, unstaged event." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_theater
(This really speaks to me. Seems like a great way to do social experiments...)
 - Flash- or subtlemobs

And Alternate Reality Games.
 
So, there are many different models/formats we can borrow from(and transcend) to design stories/projects. 

And then we played some games (like Weerwolven, DiXit, Storycubes, etcetera) that had immersive storytelling qualities. Trying to understand why and how it immerses you. If immersion is done well, critical thinking tends to shut off.

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After Sarah's lecture we had a workshop with Nienke and Quirijn. We all came up with research questions for this minor, based on these given subjects: Statement/Vision, Immersion, Technology/Medium, Story, and Methodology.
And we mapped out how we normally do research for projects. What's always important to me during my process is that I ask questions, experiment, reflect, and then ask more questions. Action and reaction.


It was also nice to see how others do research. I saw some elements that I could definitely incorporate into my process.


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Wednesday, 21-9-16

Today we had a lecture by Nienke on Worldbuilding; it basically means you create and develop the world, before you create the story. First you think about the culture, inhabitants, economy, politics, rules, etcetera of the world you want your story to take place in. That way, while you're creating your story, you have all these rules to keep in mind, and so the story will fit perfectly into the logic of this world.
I've never really tried worldbuilding before, so this was all new to me! But it makes sense.


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Friday, 23-9-16

This day was really, really interesting. Marcel and Wander first talked about their backgrounds, and projects they had worked on. And then they talked about sense of smell, and what you can do with it. For example, with smell we can change our perception of an environment, control crowds, trigger memories, manipulate emotions, etcetera.

It's just really fascinating how we can manipulate our brains, by playing with our senses.
So what really sparked my interest was when they started talking about "Synaptic Theatre" -> "developing new authentic & meaningful story experiences by manipulating/stimulating the limbic & neural system."
Basically, using the brain as a medium! This sounds really, really fascinating!! and it's something I would actually love to try out too!
There was also a demonstration of the "Emotiv" headgear, which can "read" your emotions.

Afterwards, we all had to smell 16 scents that were on a table. Some smells were extremely disgusting (like the scent of a sewer) and others were vaguely pleasant (like the smell of soap) But we had to pick the one scent that triggered the most memories. The scent I chose was called "explosion", and yes it smelled like explosion, but it also reminded me of the scent of smoked fish. I remember as a young child being in the woods, and eating smoked salmon, during a holiday.

So then I teamed up with other people who also chose "explosion". (Tijmen, Mattyn and Bert)
We all discussed what memories this scent triggered, and then we developed a story we could tell, using this scent.
We decided to simulate the experience of a campfire, that gets out of control and leads to a forest fire, which is later extinguished (by rain).
Because our audience was blindfolded we had to focus on other senses to convey our story now. So we used touch, sound, and smell (obviously).
Our experience went like this:
- audience is blindfolded, we lead them to their seats.
- they place their hands on a sauna belt, which slowly heats up.
- they hear the sound of a forest, but later you hear the sounds of a forest fire.
- we spread the "explosion" smell with a fan to blow it into the audience's face.
- while the fire sounds get more and more intense we flash lights infront of their eyes to simulate the flickering of fire.
- and then, all of a sudden, we turn the forest fire sounds off, immediately take their hands off the belt and spray water on them. "The fire is extinguished."

Feedback we got was that the way the audience "enters" the experience/story should also be properly directed. Because we hadn't planned beforehand how we would lead them to their seats, it took way too long and it was quite chaotic.

Anyway, telling a story like this was really really fun, and I would like to try it more often!


Afterwards, we had to write another story. We were only allowed to use audio(recorded voice), and the listener was blindfolded.  We were going to test if cooling and heating the body, according to the heatmaps below, affects the experience, immersion, and the emotions felt while listening to the story.
So for example, if we wanted our listener to feel angry during the story, we would apply heat to the upper body and fists.

First the listener listened to the story without us applying heat or cold. Then they listened for a second time while we applied heat & cold, to see how different the experiences would be.

I also listened to another group's story and I did indeed notice that the temperature changes affected my mood and how I felt during the story.



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All in all, a very interesting week! I discovered a lot of things that I can try out again in the future.

Week 3 - Story Spaces - Connection found.

" Everything is a medium."

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Monday 12-9

So it was time to test out my little prototype.
I let people sit down, and told them to look into the binoculars, to stare into each other's eyes (for around 10 minutes, or as long as they could last. :) ) Hoping they would start to feel a mental connection at some point.... I also let them listen to random white noise, so they wouldn't be distracted by other sounds around them. 

But this prototype really didn't produce the effect I was looking for. It didn't create that deep kind of connection which I wanted people to experience and feel.
The feedback I got from Frederik is mainly that you are expecting something to happen, but nothing actually happens, and that's frustrating.

Maybe because my prototype lacked context. It wasn't clear what these binoculars were supposed to do, or what the experience was supposed to do. What the "story" was. And the fact that the audio only consisted of noise didn't give a clue either.
Then, I decided to just tell people what is supposed to happen (namely that their brain activity would synchronize after a while, and they would go into a sort of trance if they stared long enough. http://www.iflscience.com/brain/you-can-alter-your-mind-staring-someones-eyes-10-minutes/page-2/ , ).... But I shouldn't have to explain beforehand. Good immersive design should be self explanatory. I shouldn't have to tell people what is supposed to happen. They have to experience it for themselves.

Other reactions I got, is that looking this closely into someone's eyes (through binoculars), actually makes you forget you're sitting in front of a person, because the rest of the face can't be seen. And you can't see the other person's body language either, so you don't know what the other is feeling/thinking. So it's actually less confrontational. And I noticed that too actually, because after testing my prototype with someone, I actually found talking about the experience, more confrontational than the experience itself. Looking into someone's eyes, sitting opposite of them and talking about what we had just experienced, created more of a connection between us, than my prototype did. Even though we were physically closer while testing the prototype.

My conclusion was that talking, sharing (thoughts, feelings) with another, is essential to feel connected to someone. Eye contact comes perhaps second. Kind of obvious, now that I think about it...

At the end of the day Frederik left us with these words:
- There should be a defined endpoint (I didn't have that yet)

- What is the goal I want to achieve? Communicate this.
- Direct the experience/story
- The faster you dare to sketch/prototype, the more you liberate yourself.

So after today I knew that I should somehow incorporate -talking- into my project, because eye contact simply wasn't enough. But how would I incorporate this?! .. What should I let people talk about?

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Tuesday 13-9

I told Marcel about the fact that my prototype actually didn't work, it was talking about the experience, that created more of a connection. So I felt lost, I didn't really know what to do anymore.

But he helped figure me out, and reminded me, of what exactly it was that I was hoping to achieve, with this project. What kind of feeling in the audience I was trying to elicit. Namely; the deepest kind of connection between two people; empathy; relating to; sharing; seeing (parts of) yourself in someone else. 

So in order to make people feel connected they had to share secrets, or personal stuff with each other. But how? Marcel came with the suggestion that maybe I should act as a character, who has a backstory and everything. I ask the audience personal questions, and hopefully they ask me things back in return, and through this ongoing conversation a connection will start to emerge.

While I found this idea really interesting and fun,  I later thought to myself that this wasn't right... I didn't want to come up with some story and act, because then the connection wouldn't be pure. It would be fabricated.

So now I felt stuck again.

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Wednesday 14-9

Still looking for a solution. Talking, talking, how will I incorporate this?!

I looked up some methods to create a mental connection. But then I thought to myself; I usually connect when I have a deep conversation with someone and really get to know them. A good, deep discussion can touch you, just like a good story or an artwork can. Talking with someone can be extremely immersive, if you connect. But making people talk to each other, just for my project, is kind of weird.

So then I had a new idea; I would ask people personal questions, and record their answers. Then I would look for similar answers in those recordings, pair those answers together, put them in 1 audiofile, and then let those people listen to each other's answers. As if they were talking to each other, or reading each other's minds.
And hopefully they will recognize parts of themselves in the other person, this way.

 The questions I decided to ask:
- What are your dreams?
- What have you been afraid of ever since you were a child?
- Do you feel lonely? Have you ever felt lonely? And how would you define loneliness?
- When do you feel like you have a connection with someone?

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Thursday 15-9

Nienke gave us a lecture on the medium film, and its development. And now that new mediums are starting to emerge, the way we tell stories has to change.

Some projects she showed us, that I found inspiring:
The Johnny Cash project

Fans could each draw 1 frame of the videoclip. It raises an interesting question: What if I extend my authorship to my audience?

Another work I really, really loved is a music video that Vincent Morrisset worked on. For Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains)
You have to dance in front of your webcam, if you want the music video to play. A dance activated video!! Really fun concept. 

And last but not least, Vincent Morisset's "Bla Bla" . an interactive film for computer.

Something that was also mentioned is that we need to think about how we want to bring our work out into the world. In what context, to whom, etcetera.
We as (art) students only learn the 3 stages of making work: development, production & post production. But we should also think about the steps that come after that, namely:
building a community/fanbase  // engagement design  // story world expansion // distribution /marketing // funding // collaboration // presentation (at festivals for example) // etcetera.

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So, after the lecture I interviewed some classmates, and I also answered the questions myself.

Later that evening I edited the audio. And now I just had to wait for tomorrow, to see if my newest idea would create that deep connection between people.

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Friday 16-9

Presentation day.

So it was time to test my idea.
No more binoculars.. People only had to look into each other's eyes and listen to each other's answers.

Two of my human guinea pigs, Annemaaike & Quintus, listening to each other's answers:

Because I also answerd my questions, I also paired myself up with a few people. And it felt really intimate, and confrontational. Hearing my own answers to such personal questions, and knowing that the other can hear them too.. it was kind of scary. But I also heard their answers, so it was also like I was inside their head. And because I had to look into the other's eyes the entire time, I felt very vulnerable too.. But, because we had similar answers, I recognized parts of myself in the other, so I did feel that connection that I was hoping to find. I also noticed that our blinking sometimes synchronized, and that's really creepy, but also really cool.

It was so beautiful to see other people "synchronizing" too. Really strange, but also really fascinating.  I was really amazed that this little experiment turned out so well. 

What I would do differently next time; create a much more intimate, comfortable setting. Because now bystanders could watch, but that was not my intention. This was really supposed to be a 1 on 1 experience.
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So how did I find this 2-week workshop? Well amazingly, because of the short amount of time we had, I dared to take steps faster, because I had less time to doubt myself.
And in the end I managed to achieve my goal. I'm very, very happy that I was able to touch others with my last experiment. And I was also really touched by everyone's answers, I recognized myself in a lot of people, and it reminded me that connecting with other people really isn't that hard, as long as you dare to open up.

I'm also happy that I managed to immerse people just with audio and prolonged eye contact. I want to continue creating immersive experiences with the least amount of tools as possible. 
I also want to play more with human psychology, get inside people's heads, and engage the deepest parts of our psyche. How, I have not decided or figured out yet.
I also didn't really create a story for this project, I merely generated an experience. Or perhaps the people's answers created the story. However, I actually like working like this, and want to do this more often, that way the audience can take what they want from the experience and create their own story.

Week 2 - Story Spaces kickoff

Monday 5-9-16
We kicked off the second week with an intense brainstorming session, for our personal story development. We had a few minutes to answer every question, and some of the questions were extremely personal, so I felt really confused and tired after answering them.

Some of the questions were:
- What are you perceiving? (Smell, touch, etcetera)
- What are you thinking?
- What are you feeling? (emotions)
- Think about your intimate circles, who do you see, what are they doing.
- Describe the conflicts within each of these intimate circles.
-Analyse/dissect the dynamics within these conflicts and map them.
-Take the story -> conceptualise ideas how you can tell the story with the audience in a "micro space" This can be anything, a performance, installation, on a screen, etcetera. It was for us to decide.

-Take the story, think of ideas how you can tell the story as:

• a physical experience
• collective media experience
• interactive experience
  
  
  I'm not going to talk about my answers in detail, but in the end, the essence of all that I wrote down is that I have a hard time connecting with people, on an emotional/mental level, because of (mental) walls that I have built up around me. I automatically shut down when someone/I gets too close. But when I do connect with someone, it is the most overwhelming, rewarding, sublime, and rare feeling I can experience. And to me that's very beautiful, but also extremely scary. Because most of the time we all have this mask we put on everyday, for society. So, really opening up to someone leaves you feeling vulnerable. The mask is dropped, the walls collapse and someone sees who you really are. Really scary stuff.
 

Then I felt stuck the entire day because I really didn't want to make my story so personal, and cheesy. But my mind was apparently really fixated on this idea because I couldn't think of anything else for tomorrow, so I just decided to go ahead with this idea. And being afraid of making my stories too personal, in fear of being judged, was a dragon of mine, so this would be a good chance to slay it. 
But it felt really unnatural.
At St. Joost, we normally have a few weeks to develop our concept/story, and to do research, and now we had to be ready in a few days??! That was really rough and left me with quite a headache... but it also felt good to be challenged like this.
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Tuesday 6-9-16

So I have to create an immersive story, in a micro-space.
My brain was so fried after the first day, I just didn't know what kind of story I wanted to tell anymore. But then I thought back to a quote I once read, and I can identify with:
“....it's the ability to elicit or facilitate these sensations and emotions that drive my work. We take a lot of our daily lives and experiences for granted, letting internal thoughts and concerns stop us from fully engaging with experiences as they happen. If my installations can undo our autopilot and create an experience to engage with, then that's one of my major motivations.”- Elisa Artesero (artist)

That's exactly what I want to do too as a storyteller.
So then I thought to myself, what kind of experience makes me feel engaged with the moment, undoes my autopilot? It's feeling connected to someone. So, back to my first idea after all.

I want my audience to experience that sublime feeling(beautiful but really overwhelming at the same time) I get when I feel connected to someone.. It's a spark that can suddenly happen, like during a deep conversation for example. Connecting with someone is hard though... It requires you to be vulnerable. And that's scary, painful but rewarding too.

So I won't really be telling a story, as a traditional 3 act. I want to generate an experience, that leaves an internal transformation in my audience.
But how am I going to give the audience such an experience??!

So I talked to some people about this, and their feedback helped me: 

Basically I was left with these questions:
How do I create a setting/context where people will start to feel connected to each other??
How do I create a sublime experience for the audience to engage with?? To get them out of their autopilots?

Those were difficult questions. So I looked for inspiration. I mainly looked for artworks/installations that give me that sublime feeling. and I sketched some ideas:

but I just didn't think these ideas would create the connection that I was looking for. I didn't want people to be focused on the space they're in, I wanted them to be focused on each other.

 So I did a bit of research on how to get people to really connect.

And well, it seems that eye contact, prolonged eye contact, helps people to synchronize brain activity, and therefore form a bond.

Here are some quotes that inspired me:
"So many of us have fears and insecurities that we would like to keep hidden from other people, and there’s something about eye contact that can feel like we’re totally exposed. Naked, even.”
"For many people, prolonged eye contact at any time can feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. But allowing it, rather than avoiding it, can also be very bonding.”" - http://jejoue.com/blog/the-eyes-have-it.html

"Prolonged eye contact synchronizes brain activity between two people, according to a new study at the National Institute of Physiological Science (NIPS). This synchronicity is crucial in establishing and facilitating our face-to-face social interactions."
"The findings indicate that mutual eye contact might be a crucial component for human face-to-face social interactions, given its potential to bind two individuals into a singular connected system. The researchers would like to conduct further investigation to truly understand what is at work behind interpersonal communications.
“Based on the enhancement of behavioral and neural synchronization during mutual gaze, we now know that shared attention is hard to establish without eye contact,” said Norihiro Sadato, senior author of the study." - http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/12/19/eye-contact-synchronizes-brain-activity-between-two-people/96480.html


Based on all those articles I read, I wondered what would happen if people could only see each other's eyes. How intimate and overwhelming would that be? Would people start to feel connected quicker, as they can't be distracted by other things around them? So I quickly sketched this idea of a "looking tunnel":

Literally creating tunnel vision.

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Wednesday 7-9-16

I was quite nervous when I thought of making an object. I'm someone who loves drawing, and I'm terrible at making 3D objects. But, this was another challenge I decided to face.

So I made a (really shabby) prototype, based on my ideas and feedback from others.

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Thursday 8-9-16

We had a very interesting talk about science fiction today.

Science fiction: How can sci-fi stretch our imagination on what's possible in the future?
 Science fiction is a way
- to study society
- to reflect on our world views, then and now
- to make our own future scenario 

The 3 themes we talked about were:

• Utopia & dystopia
• Reality or simulation?
• The next body; trans- and posthumanism.

I was super happy when we started talking about the last theme because it's something I'm really passionate about. My last project at St Joost was also about trans- and posthumanism and the future of our evolution. Transhumanism is already present in our society. We're already altering our bodies through, for example, plastic surgery, but also by implementing technology into our bodies, like pacemakers, bionic bodyparts, etcetera. And this will only go further. Our evolution is now literally in our own hands. Am I a transhumanist myself? Would I alter my body or upload my mind? To be honest, I would alter my body. I'm also really curious about mind uploading but I wouldn't be the first one to try this out, let's see how others find it first... But in the end,  if mind uploading really is made possible and more and more people start doing it, it will be hard not to give in to the peer pressure. People who don't upload their minds could become social outcasts. Mind uploading will be the end of us as humans, and the beginning of the posthuman.

Some interesting films that were mentioned were:
- Videodrome, by David Cronenberg
(interesting quote: "There is nothing real outside our perception of reality. If you can control your senses, you can control your "reality")
- They live, by John Carpenter
- Uncanny Valley (2015) by Federico Heller. (it basically shows how VR will destroy us. People becoming addicted to virtual reality, because it has more and better things to offer than our reality)

Science fiction raises so many interesting questions, so I felt really inspired after this talk. :)
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Anyway, after that I tried out the prototype I made yesterday, with some classmates.

After hearing about their experience and receiving feedback, I adapted the design. So instead of a box, some type of transparent binoculars seemed like a better idea. Because the box is too dark inside. I also have to make the experience even more intimate, because the box still creates a safe distance apparently. 

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Friday 9-9-16:
So I made a new prototype:

When looking through the binoculars I can still see to my sides though , so I need to create something like horseblinkers to really create that tunnel vision. It also has to be put on a sort of pole/tripod, that is adjustible in height, so people won't get distracted by holding the binoculars all the time.
And the installation should be in a light, serene, empty room, free from distractions.


After testing out my newest prototype, I think this would be the most ideal to make: 

 

 I just hope I can create that setting where people will feel vulnerable and uncomfortably intimate at first, but leave them feeling like they developed a bond, in the end.

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In short: this week really tired me out, because all of a sudden my working process had to be done in a few days instead of a few weeks. But it also felt good to work this hard, like an exercise for the brain to work quicker. 

Another thing that was important to me was what Frederik and Marcel said about seeing the potential of your ideas. At first, ideas may seem stupid or not worth it, but if you just go along with it, the idea can grow and bloom. You never know what it can turn into.

Week 1 - Introduction

Monday, 29 August. The first day of this minor, and the first day of our introduction week.

I travelled to Antwerp Central station, with no exact idea of what we were going to do. But I was told in an e-mail to bring a tote bag with me and that I was called "Grace".

After arriving at the station I found a place to rest, just outside of one of the main entrances. Then at 10:30 AM I put in my earphones and played the audio-file we were told to listen.
A voice told me that my name was Grace. The voice also told me what I could see, what was happening around me, what I was thinking, and what I was feeling. And it started to make me feel like I was actually seeing things through Grace's eyes. That I was Grace. (In a way it was like almost being hypnotised.)

It was my first time taking part in a subtlemob (something like a silent role play, with multiple people in a public space)
What made me feel immersed in this audiostory was being completely aware of what was going on around me. It was almost like I had a heightened awareness of my surroundings, because I was really listening, and focusing on what I saw around me. (Normally I'm always somewhere with my head in the clouds) And because I was told what sounds I could hear, the things I could smell, what I was thinking, what passersby were thinking, I was actually also more focused on my other senses. The audiofile also made me do little tasks, like following random strangers, or mimicking their behavior. And that also helped to immerse me, because I was actually, silently (without them knowing) interacting with other people. (though it didn't always work, sometimes I hesitated, and then I got distracted)
 Anyway, all these little things made me feel like I was in the moment and engaged with the story, and therefore I felt immersed.
The sound/calm music also played a big part in keeping me focused.

But the things that prevented me from being completely immersed were for example not being able to find any of the other actors when I was told that I was "looking" at them, or when they were performing actions. That confused me, and distracted me as well.
But that's the risk I suppose, if you want to be completely immersed all the conditions have to be right? You can't have any confusion about what's going on. But it also depends on the person's willingness to immerse themselves. If you're shy for example, and the story tells you to follow someone, but you don't want to, it ruins the experience.

But in short, what I have taken from this subtlemob is that you don't need a lot of complex high-tech tools to immerse yourself in a story, just some audio can be enough. And I focus a lot more on my other senses too now, because I experienced that a story can also be delivered through the other senses.

Storify yourself:
What excites me about the coming semester is that I'll be able to discover how to "transport" others into my stories, giving them experiences and maybe touching them in a way. I really want to explore how I can tell a story via multiple mediums, and what effect that will have on my story, but also the audience's experience.

What makes me insecure is the fact that most of my stories are usually related to myself. So I'm afraid all my stories will be too personal and the "same", as in having the same themes. But I'm also quite insecure about using all these new technologies; like VR, Arduino, etcetera, as I've never worked with that before.
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Tuesday, 30 august

A workshop on the Hero's Journey by Paul Segers.

First we got information on what the Hero's Journey entails.

A hero has to go on an adventure, and go through great suffering, in order to come back transformed (usually this means a psychological transformation)
In order to transform, the hero has to overcome a lot of fears and challenges first, he has to slay his "dragons".
What I found quite beautiful was that "hero", doesn't necessarily mean a hero with superpowers. Everyone is a hero on their own journey. We are all the main character in our story. And we all have our own "dragons" to slay.
What is my so called "dragon"? What are my fears and challenges in storytelling during this minor?
After writing that down we had to find our "allies", to go on a hero's journey together. So I joined Quintus, Mark, Tijmen and Bert.
So my group's fears were; not being original enough, not being able to leave a mark in the field of storytelling, and a fear of being forgotten. Being afraid of what the audience will think of our work. We tend to keep the audience in mind when creating, and that's actually quite frustrating at times. After a lot of discussing we all agreed that the best, most well known storytellers probably don't really care about what the audience will think, they just do what they feel is right. So how could we challenge our fear of not being good enough? We should try not too think too much about other people's reactions. But that proved to be quite difficult because we immediately wanted to take control. No, we had to give up our control.

Because we couldn't direct our journey/film, we decided to make a game  out of it, with rules. We had 3 dices, and every turn of the street we would roll the dices, and that would decide which way to go, who would walk, etcetera. The dices would direct our story. And then we would film that.

the playing rules

after coming back from our "journey", we watched what we had filmed, and a few parts had filmic qualities, but most didn't. In fact, a lot of it was really, really bad. But it was interesting to hear from others that a story did seem to develop, without any of us actually directing it or knowing what was going on. Especially the parts that were filmed without thinking too much, looked interesting. Happy little accidents! :)



I also really enjoyed the presentations of the other people's "journeys". People challenging their fears created a lot of new experiences, and therefore stories. Some stories were also quite personal, and they intrigued me the most. So that kind of alleviated my fear of being afraid of making personal stories. Because other people's personal stories are actually what I find most interesting.
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Wednesday, 31 august
Today we watched a lot of movies.

Documentaries, but also fiction.

What I mainly took from that day is that storytelling is a mindgame. So we as directors/ storytellers, play with our audience's mind. We manipulate their minds and try to control what they feel and think.
Ways to do this are by giving the right information at the right moment,  as that can affect the emotional impact.
We can change the order of things (editing, montage) and that way the emotional impact is bigger.
And by playing with audience's expectations. Do things that break a pattern. The audience will remember abnormalities, and that way your story will be remembered.

The style of the director can also affect our state of mind. Like Tarkovsky, his films tend to have really long shots, and because of that his films put you in a dreamstate.

So structure, form and style influence storytelling, and the audience's mind.

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Thursday, 1 september.

Perspectives on immersion.

 

“People have always wanted to in some way inhabit the stories that move them. The only real variable is whether technology gives them that opportunity.” - Frank Rose

This day helped me to find out what immersion exactly means to me.
To me, immersion is indeed a deep mental involvement with something. It's being completely engaged.

But when do I become immersed? It's mainly when something touches me emotionally, when something elicits an emotion from me, when I feel empathy, or can relate to the (characters or the situation in the ) story. Or when I am completely focused on something and feel like I'm in the moment. How do I reach this?
A lot of other interesting questions were also raised;

• "Does research into and application of human psychology in the creative process conflict with the autonomy, intention & integrity of the artist/storyteller?"So you have to know more about your audience to engage them in your story. You have to understand their psychology. Personally I think you have to balance this. If you only think about the audience you're selling yourself out. But I think artists naturally want to communicate with people through their work. And it's impossible to appeal to everyone, but if you just do what you think is right, the right audience will come to you. So the artist should stay true to himself.
• Immersion = to get into one state of mind/being to another. Why do we like this immersive experience? Is it escapism?

•  Why is storytelling in VR so problematic? For example, how will exciting moments work if the user looks away? Should we make new ways of storytelling to combat this?
  
• Looking at -> being there -> being it. How can we manipulate our senses so directly that we become "it"?

• I also really liked the question: Is immersion a means to an end or has it always been part of our aesthetic experience? I definitely agree with the last part of the question. When we see something that touches us, we already become immersed in it. That is just the effect the object has on us. Immersion can come naturally. So it's not necessarily something we have to strive for. We can become immersed by so many different things, it all depends on the person, and their personal interest I think.
  So while virtual reality is really cool and new, I think that more direct ways of immersion, that are still connected with our reality, appeal to me more. Like immersive theatre, music, role playing, installation & performance art, but also paintings/drawings. So I would actually prefer experimenting with these things more.

Also, isn't it more interesting when some things are left to the audience's imagination?
My main question after this day was; aren't simple tools just as effective, or maybe even more effective to reach immersion? This is something that I would like to research in the coming weeks.
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in short; this week made the meaning of immersion clearer, and helped me form my own definition of what it means to me. This week also raised a lot of interesting questions and showed me that immersive storytelling doesn't necessarily have to be done with virtual reality or other "high-tech" tools. It can be done in a more direct way, in our own reality, which appeals more to me. Engaging other senses is also interesting, and something I want to try in the future, because so far I've only really focused on the visual aspect of my work.