Game Narrative

Story is very important to me, whether it be in a movie or a game. Most things rely on a good story as their foundation, and I also enjoy playing games that revolve around great stories.

I'll begin with the Legend of Zelda series. This is a great series of games that revolve around recurring themes and storyline. The world of Zelda has its own characters and lore that enrich the game play. The game itself is moved along by the plot, and while you play you feel immersed in the story of Link and Zelda. When I was little I started out with playing the Ocarina of Time. I was hooked to this great N64 game. I was pretty young (and sucked really bad at it) but I enjoyed it nonetheless. For me, I wanted to know the story of these great characters. I so desperately wanted to know how the story would end that I actually had my older cousin beat Ganandorf for me just so I could see the ending! I've been hooked on the franchise ever since, so I like to think that this proves how successful the narrative was in the case of the Zelda series.

A more recent series I have been playing is the Professor Layton Games. Created for the Nintendo DS, these games are set up as playable detective stories. While the gameplay revoves around solving puzzles with the Professor, narrative is the overall driving force of the game. Between each "chapter" of the game there are little movie clips that move the storyline along. The Professor also keeps a journal of his findings and his thoughts on the events throughout the story that you can read along with. Each game ties into the last to move the story along (aside from the most recent, which is a prequel story.) I really enjoy the Professor Layton games and it is currently my favorite series. I am currently playing Professor Layton and the Last Specter.

Another game I have recently started playing is Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon! I was obsessed with the original Luigi's mansion for the gamecube. It is a great combination of my favorite virtual plumber and haunted houses and spooky ghosts! So far Dark Moon has been a really great play. The narrative isn't as engaging so far as the original Luigi's mansion story...but I'm still pretty early in the game.

Comics!

Growing up I had little experience with comics. In fact, I had more experience with the characters themselves. I used to live and breathe Batman the animated series. Looking back, I'm surprised I never got into American comics sooner...especially with my love for Batman and the Justice League.

Honestly, my first experience with graphic novels was with Manga. I was in seventh grade at the time, and began reading series like Fruits Baskets, Saiyuki, Bleach and Yu-Yu Hakusho. They are still some of my favorite series to this day, having been a big influence on my art at the time. I'm not sure what it is about anime and manga, but it sure seems to influence a lot of people in middle school. I know there are some people who look down on manga and anime, but I still really enjoy it. I started reading some DC comics when I became a freshman here at Ringling. Since then, my comic collection has been growing!

In these past few years, I've began to see how vast of a medium comics have become. They are no longer contained by a few pages in thin paper books. They have grown and expanded into hardcover novels and exploded into different mediums like television, movies, games and the web comics!

Speaking of webcomics, they are my current addiction. They are easy to read, and can incorporate all different elements like animation and music! I truly believe that this will be the next big platform for the comic industry. I'm sure there are people pushing to get comics app friendly, but for now the internet is the best place for both new and professional comic artists.

Here is a taste from some of the successful web comics of the past few years:

xkcd

Homestuck

Nimona

Media Studies

      For class this week I have read both of the provided essays, Encoding/Decoding and Technology and Society. I found the first essay difficult to read and understand. I got a sense that it was about how people interpret the messages in media, especially television, and how these messages are influence by their own personal connotations and culture. The best example in my opinion was the sweater example. Seeing someone wearing a sweater can be interpreted by the audience that cold is coming or a feeling of wearing warmth depending on the situation. The actor is not literally saying "It's cold outside!" or "This sweater is keeping me warm" but as a viewer we can infer that immediately from the visuals.

      The second essay focused much more on television itself and how it has changed society since its introduction. For me, I have found the television discussion to be a very annoying debate. Personally, I really miss having a television when I'm at college. I watch available shows on my computer, but it isn't the same experience. I actually have less motivation to tune into shows if I don't have a television to watch it on.

    To me, television is just another form of entertainment. I find it not much different from listening to music or reading books. I spend just as much time doing those things as watching television shows. The main plus to television that appeals to me is that I can have it on in the background when I'm multitasking. It keeps my mind active, and inspires me with new ideas. I like to watch a lot of documentary style shows, fantasy/supernatural themed shows and cartoons. As an artist, I feel like these are all beneficial to my personal growth and inspiration, while also being a source of entertainment. I won't deny I don't have a few shows I watch solely for entertainment (Hell's Kitchen being one of them) but I watch it KNOWING its a staged show. It's basically watching a weekly play about crazy chefs.

   Aside from its entertainment purposes, I have first hand experience with knowing how disconnected you can become from the world without television/internet. A few years ago my Mom, brother and I had to live in a tiny cottage (the whole thing was about the size of a dorm room) that had no cable and the weakest internet connection (you were lucky to get on for an hour). I pretty much had the worst case of cabin fever. I didn't know what the news was, I had no clue what movies were coming out or what my friends were up to.

 It. Was. Awful.

When we were finally able to afford an apartment, the first thing we did was get cable and plug in the TV. I have a hard time believing it when someone scoffs at the idea of technology and prides themselves in being able to live a life without television, internet or a phone. I find it ridiculous when people struggle to live in the past (as if the past is always better then the present?)

I think that television is a great thing, as is the internet. I feel that all this technology, whether its invention was intended for scientific reasons or not, has made people even more connected then they were before and its for the better. Without this technology, without the creation of television or the internet, I would not have met other artists around the world on social communities like tumblr. I would be far less cultured then I am today, because I can read the articles about someone's life in a different country and their first hand experience.

Here's a great info graphic I found that I feel is relevant to this subject:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/cconnelly/the-world-without-the-internet-s3x

Wes Anderson

For the assignment this week, I chose to analyze three films by Wes Anderson: The Darjeeling Limited,  Bottle Rocket  and Moonrise Kingdom.  I watched Moonrise Kingdom over this past winter break and fell in love with the film. It's a quirky "first love" love story between a young boy at summer camp and girl. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend giving it a shot, its an excellent movie!

When comparing these three films together, the first most notable similarity that struck me was Anderson's use of specific actors. Owen Wilson and Bill Murray have played a part in two out of the three films I watched (and Bill Murray has played a role in every one of Wes Anderson's movie but Bottle Rocket.) These actors lend themselves perfectly to Anderson's film style that is a blend of quirky comedy and romantic drama.

Visually, these three films I watched all shared in a similar faded/warm color palette. Everything has a soft dated feel to it, and the acting feels very realistic (despite how unrealistic the plot line may be getting). Anderson also uses a lot of contrast in his camera work. A beauty shot can instantly cut to a wide shot. We could stay with one camera for a very long time, and then suddenly cut to several cameras in a row. In Bottle Rocket, there is a scene where one of the Owen brothers is on the phone, and as the phone rings, we cut several times to all different places in the motel where the phone is ringing.  He also uses a lot of quick camera pans to get from one part of the story to the next, and I also noticed that he likes to do extreme closeups of still objects (and many of these are top down angles.)

Here is an awesome compilation video that shows several examples of his iconic top down shots:


Wes Anderson // From Above from kogonada on Vimeo.


The majority of his staging is very flat and centered which lends to an exaggerated stiffness, and that we are up close and personal with the actors. During my concept class we were always taught to keep wary of the rule of thirds, and crossing the 180. Wes Anderson bends and breaks these rules throughout most of the films I watched! A lot of dialogue scenes are center stage, with the actors barely looking into the audience's eyes.

I feel that Wes Anderson's films have a very personal point of view. The subject matter of all the films I watched are focused on broken families and relationships and the struggles of getting through life together. I personally feel that his films are conveying a message that while life is a strange and bizarre struggle we are still able to find the comedy and romance in it.

Another point of view Anderson might be suggesting through his films is the importance of nostalgia. A lot of his films have this home video, 60s vibe (and the music definitely accentuates this.) Sometimes I feel like I'm looking through a time capsule into another person's life and watching their story

Whatever his true view point may be, I really enjoy Wes Anderson's films and I am excited for when The Grand Budapest Hotel is released.

Screenplay- Ed Wood

I chose to read the screenplay of Ed Wood specifically because it was directed by Tim Burton, and I am a huge fan of his movies. I haven't seen the movie before (or even knew anything about it) other then Johnny Depp played the role of Ed Wood. I avoided googling the book until I had finished reading. The screenplay was hilarious and heartfelt at the same time, and I really enjoyed reading it!

I took this assignment on as the role of an Art Director, and jotted down some quick notes/ideas as I read the screenplay (I'll further embellish these ideas tomorrow):

-Have the movie filmed in black and white, reminiscent of the old horror movies
  
   -Or have the movie filmed in color, but during the sequences where they are filming the movies or are on the sound stages, it would be in black and white.

-Ed Wood in drag, Bella and his friends other friends would be very dramatically costumed. Sequences with the group would be wild and fun, to contrast the static and dull everyday people and businessmen that surrounded Wood's life. When Ed Wood is wearing men's clothing, he would appear very monotone/static like the others. Contrast between these two "worlds" is important to show in the film stylistically!

-Any camera moves/cuts and transitions can call back to old film techniques. No CG!

(Will continue this list later...)

The Medium is the Massage

The Medium is the Massage was a really interesting collage of media messages and imagery. As I was reading through the book, what instantly caught my attention was the phrase, "Printing, a ditto device." When thinking about our assignment this week to give an updated page to the book, Tumblr was what came to mind. Reblogging is literally a "ditto device" and the backbone to the Tumblr interface.

The page I created is what I think of as "Tumblr in a nutshell". Walls of text posts, passionate reblogs of like-minded users, followed up by a sarcastic remark summed up with an image. And let's not forget the never ending tags where a user can get in their final two cents on the matter.

Lolita

" To an unsmiling blond bitch of a secretary I gave my daughter's age as "practically sixteen." 
  

After reading Lolita, I can see how Lolita has become such a popular, but controversial novel. The essence of Lolita is based around the ideal "nymphet"; the cherub-like child on the brinks of womanhood. His drive to find these perfectly aged nymphets girls stemmed from the relationship he had with Annabel as a child. Feeling unaccomplished, he continues to seek out for girls around the age of 12. To Humbert Humbert, the little Lolita is the epitome of nymphets. His fetish for young girls is constantly brought up throughout the story, and he is keen to remind the reader of what he sees as Lolita's age and the ages of other nymphets that strike his fancy. The age of a girl is very important to him and he wants to tell the readers of that every chance he gets.

So when I was reading through Lolita, and I got to this remark by Humbert to the nurse, it really struck a chord. Up until this point, in Humbert's mind, Lolita was perpetually a young child around 12-13 years old. Even though she was far from innocence and the subject to his sexual endeavors (and to of a boy's in summer camp) she remained a nymphet in his eyes. His obsession for Lolita was so great that it began to distort his perception of her age. Although he clearly knew she was naturally getting older and would describe her features as she aged- she was always his "child" or "darling."  He was attracted to her youthful childness afterall, so as long as he kept that alive in his mind- his attraction and obsession with Lolita continued. 

He also tries his best to prevent her from growing up- another effect based on his idealized version of Lolita. Humbert prevents her from being with boys and keeps a close eye on all of her friends. Even though he knows that Lolita has had experiences at the camp in the past, he takes great strides to prevent Lolita from reaching adulthood in society. When Lolita attended school and wanted to participate in the play, he made of point of only allowing her to join if there were no male actors.

I noticed that the few times Humbert were bring Lolita's true age to his own attention was if Lolita was acting rebellious towards Humbert or if Humbert was in an awful mood. The scene in the hospital is one of the best examples of his emotional state where Humbert has to admit to the nurse that Lolita is "practically sixteen" in a harsh and violent demeanor. Earlier in the story, he would keep pretending Lolita was still young around 12 years old.

The young age of the girls he pursued was an extremely important factor in Humbert's obsession and is most likely one of the reasons why Lolita is such an uncomfortable book to read. It's one thing to read about a character's obsession and passion for another, but the target of his deeds is a young girl. It was definitely a very interesting and well thought-out book, but I would probably not read it again in my spare time.