Film

when reading Cathy's book, i didn't really notice the adverts that were a source of controversy in the articles we read. apart from naming specific colors, most of the advertising in the book seemed necessary. just like in many movies and videogames, some advertising is necessary. if a character is walking in Times square, i would hope to see real advertisement on the billboards. the advertisement adds to the level of immersion in the game (just like Zach said about the advertisements in football video games, like madden). however, when advertisement is either unnecessary or way too obvious, this level of immersion backfires. when either an actor or an avatar breaks story in order to advertise something, immersion is completely broken. for instance, in "Transformers", the advertisement for Chevy was ridiculous. every scene seemed geared on advertising either a Chevy car or a Chevy truck. An example that has both necessary and unnecessary advertisement is "Guitar Hero". the advertise3ment for Fender and Gibson Guitars is everywhere, however, it is a necessary advert. the unnecessary adverts are those for "Amp" and "Mountain Dew" drinks.  read more »

As was discussed in class on Friday, it would be impossible for a work like Twelve Blue to be translated to a theatrical release without removing the hypertextual elements and reducing it to a straightforward narrative. The nature of cinema demands a captive audience, and, as movies are traditionally made for wide release then later transferred to video, most filmmakers are justifiably tied to conventional storytelling methods. Because interactive fiction and hypertext came into their own in the VHS age, film was not a medium that was open to them.  read more »

This blog entry will make no sense unless you watch THIS first.

If you recall Chapter 4 of Story and Discourse, Chatman delineates a few examples of "non-narrative" discourse, where an omniscient narrative voice is eschewed for a more intimate perspective of a character's thoughts. Instead of watching a story unfold from the perspective of an external narrator, the reader (or audience) is immersed directly into the character's consciousness.

Specifically, Chatman describes a soliloquy as:  read more »

• The character speaks
• Either he's alone, or his direct surroundings are unaware of his speech
• Traditionally, he faces the audience
• The audience may be anonymous, in that the speaker may not always name the audience
• The style and diction is typical of the character's normal language
• The content reflects the character's situation