HyperCafe: narrative and aesthetic properties of hypervideo Nitin Sawhney, David Balcom, Ian Smith, HyperCafe: narrative and aesthetic properties of hypervideo, Proceedings of the the seventh ACM conference on Hypertext, p.1-10, March 16-20, 1996, Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Introduction For the purposes of this paper Hypervideo is defined as digital video and hypertext giving the author and user multiple narratives and multiple means for structuring narrative Links are redefined for a video-centric medium where there are spatial and temporal opportunities in video and text

Introduction The main influence for the hypertext framework is found within Storyspace where relationships among spatially organized writing spaces become part of the content Allowing a duality of structure and content to create a linked narrative video space HyperCafe is the basis for discussion of the narrative and aesthetics aspects of hyper video

Introduction Temporal opportunities in HyperCafe allow only a temporal widow for navigating links in video an text, as an intentional aesthetic With that we can consider new ways of indicating temporal and spatial opportunities in hyper video maintaining film aesthetic These temporal links provide the opportunity to present alternative narratives in the hyper video The focus of HyperCafe is the presentation of aesthetic navigational structures, where intentional chance and concurrent narratives can create new experiences

Conceptual Design of HyperCafe Design Aesthetic Conceived to be a cinematic experience of hyperlinked video scenes Video is black and white with a grainy quality as an effect Videos play out continuously and cannot be halted by the users actions The user just navigates through the stream of video and links presented This simulated an actual Café visit, where real time plays out continuously Few traditional computer artifacts are displayed on the screen to enhance to the experience of the Café Interaction is permitted via the mouse, The cursor changes indicating different link opportunities

Conceptual Design of HyperCafe Navigation and Structure Upon entering the Café the moves to show the user all tables (3) and the participants the user can her the low hum of the conversations The user has between 5-10 seconds to select a conversation Once a choice is made the user is placed into the narrative sequence at the end the user may go back to the main café sequence or may follow other narratives triggered by events.

Link Opportunities in HyperCafe Temporal Link Opportunities A departure from hypertext is the temporal link The user is given a brief window in which to select and follow a link and narrative path The narrative is then redirected otherwise the predetermined video sequence continues to play out In some scenes alternative camera angles can be selected to change perspective and view conversation reactions

Link Opportunities in HyperCafe Spatial Link Opportunities In some scenes users can explore depth of a scene to reveal spatial links that trigger other video sequences (such as background conversations) These opportunities are found with in the frame itself Where spatial positioning of the conversant in time recalls or uncovers interactions when activated These spatial opportunities are implemented as dynamically available objects

Link Opportunities in HyperCafe Interpretive Textual Links Textual narration annotated for specific video scenes and links between scenes is interpretive text This text appears at designated times while the corresponding video is being played The text represents associate links based on related discussions of the conversant among different tables This text may be random pieces of dialog or even the actual script as narrative Text intrudes on the video sequences to offer commentary or replace or displace the video text Words spoken by the participants are rewritten or subverted by words on the screen This creates tension between words and the image

Framework for Hyper video Hyper video structure should be able to represent both definition and abstraction to allow the creation of navigation of a network of hyper video scenes The user should be able to explore the narrative spaces while allowing the author enough control to create the wanted aesthetic and narrative outcome Frames of video are organized into scenes Scenes are assembled into narrative sequences Scene connections can embody contextual information (multiple destinations) This information allows decisions based on chance Sequences may share scenes

Intersection of Hypertext and Film/Video HyperCafe and Hypertext The nature of HyperCafes video is exploratory (vs. constructive) Users cannot add their own video to the story This is imposed by the nature of video, shooting, editing and the space required for storage It might be desirable in the future that users save the links they have explored Video can be reused and re-contextualized, the clip stays the same but the context changes

Intersection of Hypertext and Film/Video HyperCafe and Film The digital clips consist of head and body shots of actors and the motion between them Close ups help convey urgency Long shots allow navigation between actors and stories Pan carries a different meaning in HyperCafe than in a movie A detached pan acts as a navigational bridge between narratives Reverse shots can be answered by the opposing actor in a different clip

Content Production and Prototype Development The content was created with 2 SuperVHS cameras, an external microphone and individual conversations and ambient room noise The cameras caught both sides of the conversations providing different perspectives/angles for the shots One camera remained stationary and the other mobile for close ups, movement and long shots

Content Production and Prototype Development After the video shoot All scenes were logged, edited and manually transcribed into Storyspace A linear thread through story space was created Later other interpretive hyperlinks were added Story space acted as a powerful tool for assessment of the scenes and aided in selection of scenes for use in the digital version Storyspace was used to create the multiple narrative sequences

Towards a Hyper video Tool It is the authors belief that a software tool could be developed for hyper video editing and navigation that has a much broader range Its functionality could be similar to Storyspace in that it would allow the location of pointers to digital video and textual content into a hierarchy of hyperlinked nodes (Tinderbox?) Several navigational paths through the video could be authored Time attributes could be integrated in the hyper video model In the navigation mode links would be dynamically generated

Towards a Hyper video Tool A tool such as this would aid: Pre-production With hypertext script writing Post production of the video The scripts would aid in video editing and scene selection Temporal and spatio-temporal links could be added based on the authors creative intentions HyperCafe demonstrates an application of hyper video in producing fictional narratives It could be used by writers, producers and filmmakers in creating non-sequential video narrative

Considerations The system would need to be scalable A reasonable number of links and nodes need to be supported The possibility of dead ends to the continuously playing video narrative A links must lead to other sequences Meaning all nodes are non-terminating Filler sequences need to be shot In loops to fill dead ends As navigational bridges

Conclusion HyperCafe gives a glimpse into the potential of creating dynamic hyperlinked video text narratives Unique in that it presents aesthetic opportunities for navigating to linked narratives On a spatio and temporal basis The textual narrative intersecting with video sequences provide interpretive videotexts

Questions How far have we come? Are we using this potential today? Do you think the same concerns about storage and technology are prohibitive of readers contributing and editing a project such as this? Millions of people utilize YouTube is there an avenue for such a project here?