RESEARCH: Non-linear storytelling
We have decided to explore the theme of mass surveillance not only through Panopticon’s content but also in the form that the audience will engage with the story. In the wake of evidence released by Edward Snowden that the NSA collects and analyses personal communication without discrimination, we are led to believe that most of our digital footprint is data can be indexed and searched. For Panopticon, we believe that this data is organised and collated in a non-linear form and can be used to depict a person’s character and relationships. As the audience interacts with this data they choose what and how much they want to see to inform their understanding of a character and the circumstances.
One of our challenges will be the audience reception of our narrative considering this structure and form. Finding the balance between story and interaction is common question within the realm of video games, ‘Games with a high degree of interaction fail to provide a coherent narration and […] Games with a high degree of narration often tells a linear story similar to books or movies with little room for the player to interact’ (Bangsø et al. 2004). The audience’s interaction won’t influence the future events of the narrative as they are only viewing moments retrospectively, however, we do hope that there will be alternative interpretations of the characters actions or the events based on what information the audience engages with.
Audience engagement with Panopticon will be guided by the interactive video platform, Verse. Verse is structured with the option of following linear chapters, which we will consider as categories of data, and each of these chapters can include various media elements and options for interactivity. At the NAB Show M.E.T. Effect conference, Verse publisher Dan Bigman (2017) outlines that interaction with video content on the internet has been limited as a linear form with play, pause and stop as the only available interactions. He continues to say that this has made online video a difficult form to express complex content because it is an environment where users have been ‘trained to click on screens and interact with their devices [and] if they don’t get what they want in the first few seconds they’re gone.’ The platform boasts that, ‘engagement rates for some Verse-created pieces top 70%, with audiences watching 50% or more of the entire piece, regardless of length’ (Rooney 2016, para. 7) and we hope to see this engagement with Panopticon as audiences explore our non-linear story moments.
References
Bangsø, O., Jensen, O. G., Jensen, F. V., Andersen, P. B., & Kocka, T. 2004, ‘Non-linear Interactive Storytelling Using Object-Oriented Bayesian Networks’,. in CGAIDE 2004 - International Conference on Computer Games: Artificial Intelligence, Design and Education, Reading, United Kingdom, 8 - 10 November, viewed 5 April 2018 <http://vbn.aau.dk/files/132449/nolist.pdf>.
Bigman, D 2017, M.E.T. Talks: Verse: Free the Story, streaming video, NAB Show, viewed 6 April 2018 < https://www.nabshow.com/video/met-talks>.
Rooney, J 2016, ‘Verse Launches As An Antidote To Costly, Time-Consuming Video-Content Development For Brands’, Forbes, 14 July, viewed 6 April 2018 < https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferrooney/2016/07/14/verse-launches-as-an-antidote-to-costly-time-consuming-video-content-development-for-brands/#5232635721a3>