Goal: Understanding and creating platforms for easy capture and edit of materials to understand structure and implement clear storytelling practices

My original approach to the problem was a kinetic learning environment, the beginnings of which are seen in my Flash demo. Here the user would use a simulation of industry specific software to learn the process of editing. However, my personal limitations in building this site lead me to research the problem in greater depth.

Co-construction of meaning Film is a mediated experience traditionally including a producer and a passive consumer In this model, the consumer/viewer is not lead to critically examine the information received. Meaning is constructed for the viewer.

Democratization of Film the industry has become highly democratized as equipment to produce high quality images and edit has become more and more affordable The novice user can easily create media, Novices ’ lack of understanding of story structure creates media that ’ s not always worthy of the time it takes a viewer to consume it, Construction of meaning is interrupted.

Break the mold without understanding the purpose of the standard. Construct of meaning is lost, the viewer has a passive expectation of structure, an understood model of delivery for their consumption of story. Veering from the model of structure means that the user must first understand structure and its purpose. It is from this understanding that the structure can be altered and in so doing place some of the construction of meaning into the hands of the viewer – a viewer who is now no longer a passive consumer but an interactive user.

Object Interaction for Digital Systems Cati Vaucelle while at MIT - research in understanding and building tangible and gestural object interaction combined with the flexibility of digital systems.

story making for children using objects to observe gestures and interactions, as well as building objects that are an all-in-one interface for video capture and editing as an interactive method of storytelling.

re-invent the wheel to teach novice practitioners the specific software tools of the trade it would be better if I engaged in interactive methods of exploring structure and process.

With this new goal in mind, the website will be redesigned as part of an interactive community and learning process. The interactivity will include the utilization of phone cameras in exercises meant to gain knowledge of perspective (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person, etc)

Using apps available on iPhone, the user/student will use footage gathered to structure story from varying perspectives using content as a clue to story telling. This puts the structure in the hands of the viewer and makes the process interactive rather than passive The interactivity of the storytelling creates understanding of structure and creates producer/users rather than a binary of producer/viewer

Placing the design of structure and story in the hands of the user at once removes the power dynamic of production over user and at the same time creates knowledge of story structure needed for narrative work. It changes the narrative form and at the same time creates understanding of the narrative platform

Multiple Users Capture Footage From multiple perspectives which is saved to the application then selected by the viewer/user based on structure and content to build visual stories. Those who are not well-versed in filmic story structure then play with and form story based on intuitive knowledge and past experience. While learning the value of structure, the user/viewer interacts with the structure keeping the viewer from having a passive role and co-creating meaning in story between producer(s) and viewer.

Works cited G. Davenport and M Murtaugh, Automatist Storyteller Systems and the Shifting Sands of Story, IBM Systems Journal 36 no ‘97 Murtaugh, Michael, Vaucelle, Cati and Hiroshi Ishii, Interfacing Video Capture, Editing and Publication in a Tangible Environment, ITNERACT 2007, LNCS 4663, part II, pp. 1-14, Vaucelle, Cati