Exploring Narrative structures has an interesting tale to tell, and following this week’s flipped lecture it was evident that the various structures had interesting impacts on viewers and ways to connect with your audience.

The lecture was delivered with a ‘click-bait’ style beginning, designed to capture the attention of the students the same way it is created to capture the attention of social media users as they jump down the rabbit hole into a story that is unrelated but thus still managed to gain that page hit and hopefully their interest.

At first glance, one would wonder ‘why this approach?’ But upon reflection shortly after, I could identify this was what I tend to refer to as a “Babushka Doll ” concept: where a parent idea is used to encapsulate the idea being communicated. Using an example of narrative- in this case, it would have fit an almost Branching Storyline if you account for the fact that a user would click the bait and then be faced with a bunch of branching click-bait style storylines to choose from. By doing this the Week 3 Flipped Lecture duo had encapsulated the concept of the lecture with an example of that concept. I enjoyed this style, even though it did throw me at the beginning as it was thought-provoking.

The questions for this week’s tutorial were insightful. Other than retro games from the world of Nintendo and Sega, I have not spent a lot of time playing other kinds of game series like Grand Theft Auto, etc. So it was a little challenging for me to answer the questions without experiencing the example media as yet. I was a bit behind the eight ball there, so my answers to the questions did reflect that.

Let’s go through them.

1. Why is it so difficult to find a logically accurate definition for the term “Interactive”?
2.  Of the following popular media examples which are modular, linear and non-linear narratives? Grand Theft Auto Series, Nintendo’s Pokemon Go Augmented Reality, Black Panther Movie and the Master of Media website
3. The definition of Documentary or Documenting is; Any Reproducible Record or Recording of phenomena? Is it ;a.) Record of Facts b.) A News Story c.) A Soap Opera

The first question caught me by surprise as at the time of reading the question I had run through the flipped lecture and wondered if there was something I had not looked into properly. Because of a few resources I came across on the internet while considering the question, I wondered if it had to do with comparing “interactive” with “reactive” and that posing an issue of definition.

Here was my very inaccurate response:

“The mid 19th-century word from interact on the pattern of active”… Sometimes “interactive” is referred in the context of what is “reactive”.  Back in the late ’00s, “Interactive” was an industry buzzword before it became split into social media and digital. I believe the buzz world aspect might have made it/or been part of making “interactive” harder to find a logically accurate definition.

I did feel a little silly in hindsight but it was important to note that  this query about the definition of “Interactive” was interesting, and how much I am used to various kinds of definitions and descriptions used within creative context of the media world that might not be used outside the context of such an area. Having said this, because I had my “media hat” on at the time of answering the question, I struggled to grasp the reasoning behind the question upon answering it in my notebook at home – hence perhaps my inaccurate answer.

The second questions as mentioned before was a great way to determine your understanding of the various kinds of narrative structure, however because of my limited exposure to the examples, I was a bit behind the eight ball with my answers. I did find it very helpful however once we went through them in class as I then understood the media examples better and pictured them as they are structured:

Grand Theft Auto Series: Both constellation and multilayered

Nintendo’s Pokemon Go: Augmented Reality – Multilayered and non-linear (I got this half right)

Black Panther (of course I got this right)

Master of Media – Constellation/Non-linear (I couldn’t access the site but I imagined that a website would be non-linear and yes constellation at that)

The questioning around what was not a documentary seemed straightforward from a media perspective, but the context I learned later in class was more around technical definition hence I answered incorrectly or correctly depending on which way one looks at the question. I had actually answered “soap opera”, but it was debated that even a soap opera is documented. I believe this depends on the context from which we look at it- it can be from either a purist’s understanding or under the context of media.

I found the presentation interesting, I enjoyed the insights into engagement levels and graphs used to display this as well. I think my only constructive feedback here is providing visual examples of various structures is always helpful and being mindful of what’s understood about the topic already and just keeping that part on-track, capitalizing on media and perhaps using the definitions as a way to inject a sense of awareness.

Later on, during the tutorial, we wrote down a draft of our pitch which I’m still considering. It was great listening to other people’s project ideas. I would really love to bring my concept of Cultureline- exploring mixed-race cultures and making this information accessible to the general public in an interesting and engaging manner and in various forms. I would definitely love to go a multiplatform structure, but now I am thinking how wonderful it would be to create an interactive event which used various forms of media, sound, food…a tour or podcast? I have a lovely mix of contacts who would most likely be happy to be involved in the making of something like this as well. This includes a combination of respected subject matter experts and enthusiastic community members. I would be curious to find out what kinds of programs we could use to create interesting non-linear projects. Definitely some food for thought. I feel an interesting idea brewing.

Reading References:

Adams, E & Rollings, A 2010, Fundamentals of Game Design, New Riders, Berkeley, CA