Storytelling Evolution, Body and PhysicalityNelson Zagalo, University of Minho

Madeira, Portugal 5th December 2012

Future Perspectives on techniques for the design of narrative experiences, Madeira, 4th&5th December 2012

Nature is made of interdependency, the principle that rules all network systems.

In all these years, our brains co-evolved along with language, and with the process we now call storytelling, which probably is the most elaborated “technology” in transmission of information ever created by humans and for humans.

Storytelling is a communication model, and one the best ways of understanding the world around us, because it allows us to understand the Other, feel the Other, and feel for the Other, and thus enrich the power of the social web through a simple process of communication.

Story(author)

Fabula(reader)

Plot Style

Representation(oral, film, text, …)

A very simple structure, but a structure that fully activates our brain chemistry, activating the basic components necessary for the understanding and retention of information.

the minimalist aesthetic innovation models and anti-structure in various forms of artistic expression (literature, movies, etc.)… but what about the audience?

Mckee (1997)

The audience, and what about the reader?

audience

The reader and the cognitive interaction.

New layer for human communication in continuous mode.

InteractiveStorytelling

Story

Form

Chronological Events

Narrative

Style

LinearNon-linearMulti-LinearEmergent

Elements

Interactivity

Environments

Characters

(content)

(plot)

Shaping the new communication layer

creating new technologies that go beyond traditional means of expression as hypertext...

Choose Your Own Adventure (1970’s) Tree of exploding ends

Ico (2001)

Myst (1993)

creating new technologies that go beyond traditional means of expression as videogames...

interactivity with the representation

interactivity with the story

Response to the engagement problems in interactive narratives… a new technology to help creators designing for emotions.

Developed as a prototype, and at some point started to develop as plug-in for Blender but never finished and never released.

“empathy and sympathy start not in the higher regions of imagination, or the ability to consciously reconstruct how we would feel if we were in someone else’s situation. It began much simpler, with the synchronization of bodies: running when others run, laughing when others laugh, crying when others cry, or yawning when others yawn. Most of us have reached the incredibly advanced stage at which we yawn even at the mere mention of yawning - as you may be doing right now! - but this is only after lots of face-to-face experience.”

(De Wall, 2009:51)

the bottom line of storytelling

Pushing physicality boundaries can be a powerful approach to push experimentalism in the storytelling process. Not counting only on the single power of brain and imagination, but pushing for the use of full body in accessing the effects of storytelling.

engageBook prototype 01

engageBook prototype 02

engageLab now…

engageLab now…

Storytelling Evolution, Body and Physicality

Nelson Zagalo, nzagalo@ics.uminho.pt

Blog: http://virtual-illusion.blogspot.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/nelsonzagaloHome: http://nelsonzagalo.googlepages.com

Lab: http://engagelab.org

Universidade do Minho