Notes to be discussed in Session 5

The Adventure of the Hero/Heroine --

A Story of Personal Development

according to Joseph Campbell’s _Hero with a Thousand Faces_, a hero/heroine typically:

1) has curiosity, the desire to explore, go off the beaten track.
A) may lose something (due to a blunder, accident), have to search for it, enter relationships in the process.
B) may get lost.

2) crosses a body of water
(symbolic dissolution and reformation of self, transformation).

3) enters a “no-man’s land”.
region of the unknown (desert, jungle, deep sea, alien land).
comes upon things which are typical symbols of "the call to adventure" --

A) a dark forest,

B) a great tree,
C) water in stream/brook/well/spring,

D) a lowly underestimated creature.

4) demons, ogres, etc -- dangerous, and also bestowers of magic powers -- may be encountered by anyone who steps an inch outside the walls of his/her tradition.

5)

A) if he/she accepts the call to adventure -- a protective figure may appear.
B) if he/she rejects the call to adventure -- (due to ego, desire to hold onto current position and power, fixations on the past, fear), he/she

i) might fall asleep.
ii) might not be transformed, might not be able to enter next stage of life.

6) meets a guide, teacher, priest, guru, initiator (little man of the wood, in some folktales), who may give advice and/or gifts that may be useful later.

7) comes to a guardian of the threshold, gate, beyond which is the “sacred zone of the universal source” (p. 81) --
A) fountain of youth,
B) pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

C) (any suggestions?)

later chapters discuss
A) characters who help and hinder the hero/heroine,
B) winning the treasure/battle/etc,

C) the return to the community.

the above-mentioned characters, episodes, and symbols may apppear

A) in myths, epics, legends, folktales.
B) in one’s dreams (one’s personal unconscious, the collective unconscious).

types of journeys --
A) journey to other lands.
B) journey into one’s unconscious, one’s dreams (“we have two minds”) (fantastic beings may represent aspects of one’s self, one's wishes, fears, etc).
C) journey into the internet/cyberspace.

D) (any suggestions?)

please post any comments and questions.

Invitation to Session 5

The next session of the Seminar is Friday 28 Nov, 6pm, Classroom 3. Please come by even if you have not attended previous sessions.

As noted, a theme of the Seminar to date is:

Social media, also known as online social networking -- Facebook / Myspace / Orkut -- MEETS Second Life (avatars in virtual meeting places) MEETS Youtube (video recordings) MEETS Skype / etc (videoconferencing) -- with the option emerging of doing all this on mobile communication devices.

We have also begun considering chatbots (virtual assistants imbued with artificial intelligence).

But what might these technological possibilities have to do with the quest and journey of the hero and heroine, as discussed in Joseph Campbell's book, _Hero with a Thousand Faces_ ?

Integrating these two realms of thought seems to be our next mission.  We will be especially be discussing pages 50-60 of _Hero_ this coming Friday.  

- Prof E   

Invitation to Session 1

1 Oct

 

Story and Interactivity Seminar__invitation to 1st session

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED! --

ICAT Media Studies Dept presents

A Weekly Year-long Seminar on

“Story and Interactivity”

 

The first session of this seminar is

scheduled to begin at 2pm, Friday, 3 October,

in Classroom 3.

 

This seminar will feature discussion of two

classic books of the 20th century: _Hero with

a Thousand Faces_, and _Artificial Reality_.

 

_Hero with a Thousand Faces_, by Joseph Campbell,

concerns analysis of stories, especially folktales,

legends, epics, and myths from around the world.

George Lucas has credited this book as being an

inspiration for his Star Wars movies.

 

_Artificial Reality_, by Myron Krueger, concerns

interactivity, and considers ways that humans

interact with computers, and ways that humans

interact with each other through computers.

 

It is hoped that our thinking about these two

books together might help us 1) to develop new

ways of telling stories; and 2) to create new

characters and stories, and bring our old ones

into this, the Digital-Interactive-Cyberspace Age.

 

All members of the ICAT community are invited.

For further information, please contact

Prof. Eric Miller ,

, 98403 94282.

Report on Session 1

3 Oct

 

Story and Interactivity Seminar__report on 1st session

 

Dear ICAT Students,

 

The Story and Interactivity Seminar got off to

a splendid start yesterday (Friday afternoon)!

 

At 2pm, Prof. Jerry Dev at ICAT-Bangalore spoke

to us in Chennai via telephone to wish us and

cheer us on.

 

16 ICAT-Chennai students were in attendance in

Classroom 3 in Chennai.

 

Illustrated by projected video recordings, webpages,

etc, the conversation of this first session centered

around

 

*** Whole-body gaming (one’s body and movements

being picked up by one or more video cameras,

for example).

 

*** Whole-body gaming in videoconferences.

 

*** Using an avatar vs. using a live-action video

image of oneself, in a videoconference.

 

*** Ways in which Paramount Studios is designing

games based on three of their popular movies

(Pretty in Pink, Mean Girls, and Clueless).

 

*** 3-D HD (three-dimensional high-definition),

stereoscopic cinema technology, and other attempts

(or so it seemed to some of us) towards creating

stand-alone 3D images out of light.  Especially

the news --

   IBC2008: Jeffrey Katzenberg: “3-D HD Is Our Future”

   DreamWorks Animation SKG CEO shows off technology

   in 3-D HD live feed from LA to Amsterdam on 14 Sept

   2008 at the International Broadcasting Convention’s

   annual conference” --

   http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6596040.html

 

 

This coming Friday is a holiday, so the second

session of our projected year-long Story and

Interactivity Seminar is scheduled for two weeks

from now -- 17 Nov (same time and place -- 2pm

in Classroom 3).

 

In addition to discussing current events, we are

reading and discussing two classic books in this

seminar -- _Hero with a Thousand Faces_ (about story),

and _Artificial Reality_ (about interactivity).

We will be discussing the first 10 pages of each

of these books in the next session of the seminar.

Copies of these two books are in the ICAT-Chennai

library.

 

Also in the next session, we agreed that it might

be fun to hear ideas about how to make games based

on favorite Indian movies -- so if you might have

any thoughts about this, please be sure to attend.

 

- Prof E.

 

98403 94282

Media Studies Dept, ICAT-Chennai

http://www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com

http://www.storytellinginstitute.org

Invitation to Session 2

12 Oct

 

ICAT__Story and Interactivity Seminar__invitation to 2nd session

 

Dear ICAT Students,

 

Hello!

 

The second meeting of the year-long Story and

Interactivity Seminar is scheduled for this

coming Friday, 17 Oct, at 2pm.  In Classroom 3.

 

All are welcome, even if you did not attend the

first session, and even if you may not be able

to attend future sessions.

 

Regarding some of the topics we might be

discussing:

 

The other day, I sat in on Prof. Jai Naressh’s

class about “Interactive Storytelling in Game

Design and Play”, in the Media Production module

for Game Design students.  It was a wonderful

class -- with Prof J discussing and illustrating

many narrative practices, such as 1) flashbacks

(tracking backwards); 2) stories in which the

realisation of why a character is behaving in

a certain way is not clear at first); 3) multi-

line stories (parallel storylines); 4) multiple

points-of-view by various characters within a

story; 5) story branching (by which a story can

go in various directions); and 6) convergence

(by which a story ends in a pre-defined way,

regardless of what branches had been taken

earlier).

 

In addition to new stories for new games and

movies, I have realised that we humans now

have “on the shelf” over 100 years of movies,

and 50 years of TV shows.  (Plus 1000's of

years of oral and written stories.)  All of this

material can now be re-cycled into interactive

media experiences, in which participants could

be able to act out characters -- that is, to

place themselves in characters’ situations,

role-play characters, control characters, be

treated as characters, etc.

 

It seems that it is not enough for us humans

to daydream and fantasize with only our low-tech

brains, our imaginations, about “putting myself

in that position,” about “what it would feel

like to be that person and experience what he

or she is experiencing”.  We also seem to like

media experiences that enable us to further

project ourselves onto other characters and

into other situations.

 

Recorded movies and TV have been a good start:

now interactive media experiences are becoming

increasingly possible, as interactive technology

is becoming more available, and expertise in

working with such technology is also spreading.

 

A great question then is:  How can interactivity

be designed in media experiences?

 

There are many possible ways, and we need to

experiment with as many as possible.

 

I have been thinking a lot about games lately.

Or rather, I have realised, I have been thinking

about interactivity in media experiences in general.

For game-playing is just one type of interactivity.

 

Two types of play are: games and art.  Games have

clear rules, and one plays to win.  Art is engaged

in by the art-maker (and the art-observer if

there is one) just for the sake of experiencing

beauty, however beauty is defined.

 

So an interactive media experience need not be

structured as a game.  However, it seems that

it may be a little difficult to imagine and

design an interactive media experience that

would be something other than a game.  If an

interactive media experience would not be

structured as a game (with clear goals for

characters, and clear ways to achieve those

goals) -- how else could a media experience

be structured?  Could it be some kind of

audience-participation theatre?  What could

this look like?  How would people know how

to engage in such media experiences?  Ways of

participating would need to be easily intuited

by participants, for as we all know, people

generally don’t like to read manuals.

 

Any comments regarding any of the above would

be most welcome -- either online anytime (I

could pass some cmments onto the group), or

on Friday.

 

Also, if you might have any ideas about how to

make games (or other interactive experiences)

out of any movies, or out of any other stories

you might know or make up -- let’s also discuss

this in the Seminar on Friday.

 

Many thanks,

 

- Prof E

 

Media Studies Dept, ICAT-Chennai

 

98403 94282

http://www.storytellinginstitute.org

http://www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com

 

"Tamil Nadu in 2020", an essay --

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~emiller/Tamil_Nadu_in_2020__in_English.pdf

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~emiller/Tamil_Nadu_in_2020__in_Tamil.pdf

Report on Session 2

20 Oct

 

ICAT__Story and Interactivity Seminar__report on 2nd session

 

Dear ICAT Students,

 

The second session of the year-long Story

and Interactivity seminar yesterday (Friday

at 2pm in Classroom 3) rocked on.  About

10 people attended and took part in a

lively discussion about the video recordings

and newspaper articles that were projected,

and the ideas that were presented.

 

Beginning with consideration of the human

imagination, by which we so often enjoy

putting ourselves in the places of others,

and imagining what it would be like to

experience the world from that person’s

perspective, we had a good discussion

about Lucid Dreaming -- the ability to

be aware that one is dreaming while one

is dreaming, and to partially control

what happens in one’s dream as one is

dreaming.  We began to discuss some

similarities and differences between

Lucid Dreaming, and Virtual/Artificial

Reality (in which one’s body movements

can affect the graphic environment in

which one can seem to be immersed).

 

We discussed “interactive media experiences”

in general, and it was suggested that

“role-playing improvisational audience-

participation activities” need not

necessarily be organised as games.  We

have not yet come up with any alternative

to the game model for such play, but we

are working on it.

 

We were very impressed with the real-time

avatar manipulation (“performance driven

facial animation”, by which one can

“transfer an actor’s performance directly

onto any digitally-created character”)

demonstrated at http://www.image-metrics.com .

 

It seemed to us that avatars that people

will be able to use in “role-playing

improvisational audience-participation

activities” (game and other) are becoming

more realistic.

 

It was shocking to some of us that it seems

that a man could represent himself with a

very realistic moving female avatar, a woman

could represent herself with a realistic

moving male avatar, and likewise regarding

age, ethnic group (including skin color),

body size and shape, etc.

 

We discussed the possibilities of a husband

and wife amusing each other by representing

themselves with realistic moving avatars

that might look different from how they

look in real life.  Some of us expressed

the concern that people could become addicted

to such fantasies, and they might not

afterward be able to be content with how

each other looked in reality.

 

A number of the newspaper articles we read

mentioned Second Life, which confirmed our

sense that this website is in the leadership

position when it comes to setting up virtual

interactive social environments on the

Internet.

 

It seemed to us that “online social networks”

(an example of “social media”, featuring

“user-generated content”) -- such as Orkut,

Facebook, and Myspace -- might also go in

the direction of offering users the option

of representing themselves with avatars,

and that these avatars might become ever-more

realistic moving ones -- which could be used

1) in videoconferences; and 2) on “mobile

communication devices” (also known as mobile

telephones).

 

The question was posed:  Do people using

social media just want to interact with each

other directly (by audio, video, and text),

or do they also want some content, or some

structured activities, provided by entertainment

professionals (including designers of various

types)?  It was agreed that the option of

being able to observe, and possibly play with,

material supplied by entertainment professionals

should always be available, in case people get

bored interacting with each other directly.

 

The next session of the Story and Interactivity

seminar will be this coming Friday (Oct 23),

2pm in Classroom 3 (as usual).  There is no

need to attend each session of the seminar --

and we will bring those who have not attended

any previous sessions up-to-speed in no time.

To increase one’s enjoyment of the seminar,

one could read (and be ready to comment upon

and ask questions about) that which is written

on pages 10-20 of both _Artificial Reality_

(about interactivity), and _Hero with a

Thousand Faces_ (about story).  Copies of

these books are in the library.  Also,

beginning with any story (personal experience,

made-up, from a movie, etc), seminar

participants are invited to describe any

sort of “interactive media experience” and

“role-playing improvisational audience-

participation activity” (game and other)

that could be made based on that story,

or on any section of that story -- and we

might try out that activity.

 

Many thanks,

 

- Prof E

 

Media Studies Dept, ICAT-Chennai

98403 94282

http://www.storytellinginstitute.org

http://www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com

 

"Tamil Nadu in 2020", an essay --

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~emiller/Tamil_Nadu_in_2020__in_English.pdf

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~emiller/Tamil_Nadu_in_2020__in_Tamil.pdf

Report on Session 3

            

Oct 25

 

ICAT__Story and Interactivity Seminar__Report on 3rd Session

 

Dear ICAT Students,

 

The 3rd session of the “Story and Interactivity”

Seminar proceeded yesterday, on a rainy afternoon

before Diwali.

 

The story of Pygmalion was told and discussed.

Pygmalion was a sculptor who lived in Cypress

(an island in the Mediterranean Sea, near Greece),

over 2,000 years ago.  As legend has it, he fell

in love with a life-size sculpture he had made

of a woman, and -- through the intervention of the

goddess of Love, Aphrodite (also known as, Venus) --

the sculpture came to life, and Pygmalion and his

living sculpture married, and had two children.

This and similar stories about bringing inanimate

figures to life (such as Pinocchio, and Frankenstein)

have been popular throughout history (in the west

at least).

 

We related the Pygmalion story to the general

human inclination to create realistic and life-like

images and objects -- including today’s 3D animated

avatars -- to represent oneself and others.  We

confirmed our sense that whether people might use an

increasingly realistic and naturally-looking-moving

avatar, or a real-time video image of oneself --

whether for game-play, other play, or just

conversation -- there is a trend toward engaging

through and with such computer-generated figures

via the Internet.

 

We reviewed Myron Krueger’s statements in _Artificial

Reality_ that “an artificial reality perceives human

actions in terms of the body’s relationship to a

simulated world” (Krueger, p. xii), and that he has

been “committed to unencumbered full-body participation”

in such simulated worlds (Krueger, p. xv).  We read in

_Artificial Reality_ his repeated comments that

 

1

"... a cultural implosion is now underway: the

integration of all aspects of society by inter-

connected information, communication, and control

systems.  These networks and the computational power

they bring will permeate our lives much as electricity

does today (Krueger, p. xii).

 

2

“What we are now witnessing is a birth process --

the birth of the artificial entity as an integrated,

perceiving, behaving system" (Krueger, p. 5).

 

3

"We are now proceeding toward immersion in a world

created by the computer" (Krueger, p. 9).

 

The word “immersion” in the above sentence reminded

us of the discussion of water in _Hero with a

Thousand Faces_: there Joseph Campbell points out

that the hero’s/heroine’s journey often begins by,

or is entirely framed by, his/her crossing a body

of water.

 

In water, it can be said that we are transformed,

born again: when passing through that which is

dissolved and liquid, to some degree we also are

dissolved and then reformulated.

 

It has become clear that one of Campbell’s theses

in _Hero with a Thousand Faces_ is that both myths

and the individual’s unconscious and dreams can

supply symbols which can prompt the individual’s

psychological and spiritual development.

 

It seems that Campbell’s concept of a “monomyth”

(the single great story that he sees in heroic

stories in general) can involve a heroic journey

into many different realms, including: 1) to the

far reaches of the physical world; 2) into one’s

own unconscious; and 3) into the Internet, which

can be seen as a collective consciousness of

humanity.

 

Immersion into any one of these oceanic realms

can certainly transform an individual.  It seems

that whatever else a hero/heroine might bring

back to his/her community members to help them,

the first thing the returning hero/heroine

brings is a transformed self -- the old narrow

self has died, and a new wiser self is now in

its place.

 

In our Seminar’s reading of _Hero with a Thousand

Faces_, the book’s discussion about the obstacles,

and possible helpers, that heroes/heroines may

experience in the course of their journeys, is

now just beginning.  We are underway!

 

The Story and Interactivity Seminar will now go

on hiatus for three weeks.  The next scheduled

session is Friday, 21 Nov.  In preparation for

that session, pages 30-50 of both _Artificial

Reality_ and _Hero with a Thousand Faces_ could

be read -- and if possible please come to the

Friday, 21 Nov session of the Seminar with some

written comments about the material in these pages.

 

Of course, people who have not read any of either

of the books -- and who may have not attended any

of the previous sessions -- will also be most

welcome to attend the next session, and every

session, of the Seminar.

 

I am in the process of setting up a blog for the

Seminar -- I will keep you posted.

 

And -- please feel free to consult with me

regarding any story- or storytelling-related work

you might be doing for any module at ICAT.

 

Many thanks,

 

- Prof E

 

Media Studies Dept, ICAT-Chennai

98403 94282

http://www.storytellinginstitute.org

http://www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com

 

"Tamil Nadu in 2020", an essay --

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~emiller/Tamil_Nadu_in_2020__in_English.pdf

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~emiller/Tamil_Nadu_in_2020__in_Tamil.pdf