narratology and genre in interactive tv drama janet finlay leeds metropolitan university...
TRANSCRIPT
Why look to the humanities?
• Shifts in focus in HCI– from work to leisure, entertainment, art, fun– from task/goal-orientation to exploration,
community, identity– from usability to user experience….
• HCI by nature multidisciplinary - humanities have long experience in these areas and seem an appropriate partner...
Genre
“Genres are not just forms…..Genres shape the thoughts we form and the communications by which we interact. Genres are the familiar places we go to create intelligible communicative action with each other and the guideposts we use to explore the unfamiliar.” Bazerman
• Guide user expectation
A key distinction...
• Autonomous genres– engagement through
quality of product
– process largely invisible
• novel
• play
• film
• soap opera
• documentary
• Participative genres– engagement is through
taking part
– process is key to enjoyment
• game
• virtual community
• improvisation drama
• interactive writing
• information service
Narratology• Narratology applies our understanding of
narrative to cultural artefacts in any medium
• Various narrative components:– Story - sequence of events - episodic– Plot - how the story is told - constructed– Character - agent or beneficiary of events – Narration - 1st/3rd person, overt/covert– Producer - Receiver
Narrative Levels
producer receiver
narrator addressee
character character
Level of action
Level of fictional mediation & discourse
Level of non-fictional communication
Narrative Levels• Shift between these levels (metalepsis) -
interrupts narrative flow
• Breaks “suspension of disbelief”
• Can be deliberate and self conscious (e.g. Brecht)
• Potential shifts– receiver also character– character interacts with receiver etc.
Narrative level shifts
producer
narrator addressee
character character
Level of action
Level of fictional mediation & discourse
Level of non-fictional communication
receiver
receiver
A model of dramatic narrative (Laurel on Aristotle)
Action (plot)
Character
Thought
Language (diction)
Pattern
Enactment (spectacle)
Mat
eria
l Cau
seF
ormal cause
And another...
• Murray (Hamlet on the Holodeck)
• Phenomenological view– key element: agency
• be able to act with intent
• action to have effect
– also• immersion
• transformation
Combine for interactive drama (Mateas)
Action (plot)
Character
Thought
Language (diction)
Pattern
Enactment (spectacle)
Mat
eria
l Cau
seF
ormal cause
Mat
eria
l for
act
ion
User intention
User action
Agency
• Agency is key to interactive dramatic experience
• Agency NOT equivalent to interactivity
• Agency is having an intentional effect on events - WITHIN the constraints of the narrative
• Agency requires balance of formal/material constraints
Reviewing interactive drama• Adding supporting
informational and game element e.g. CSI, Eastenders– mixing participative with
autonomous genres
– shift in narrative level
– no agency
• Keep separate
Reviewing interactive drama
• Narrative stops and invites viewer to act– mix participative and autonomous genres– shift in narrative level– limited agency - press the red button
• Viewer moves between narrative streams– autonomous genre– no shift in narrative level– limited agency
Reviewing interactive drama
• POV of a character– no shift in narrative level– maintains narrative structure– no genre conflicts - limited agency
• Following threads– moves narrative to sub-level– no genre conflicts - limited agency– no shift in narrative level
Reviewing interactive drama
• Viewer IS character (e.g. Façade - Mateas)– True agency - narrative structure guides what is
possible– Becomes participative only– All at action level
To conclude: suggestions for interactive drama
• Avoid genre type clashes
• Facilitate agency
• Avoid shifts in narrative level
• Support narrative structure
• Constrain action to material for action
• Enable closure - unified whole