Remediation, Immediacy and Hypermediacy

"Succinctly put, remediation is media used anew in other media. Not mainly the content, but (part of) the form is reused in a new media form."

That, according to Mediated memories, is remediation in a nutshell. The blog post goes on to talk about immersing oneself in a story.

Comps like these show that the bigger an image is, the more it becomes real. Clearly, immediacy and hypermediacy are not mutually exclusive. Rather, there counterparts reinforce each other.

Time Barrow of Contemplating Digital Orality has a different take on immediacy, hypermediacy and remediation. He says that immediacy has a lot to do with access, understanding and interaction, and how easy it is to do these three things. Hypermediacy, however, has to do with things being very easily interactive, but not necessarily transparent, the blog says. For remediation, Time says that it depends on what else has been put out, via new media and more. He argues that there should be a difference between viewing a painting in person and viewing a painting online. However, for whatever reason, this is not the case.

Digital Narrative

"Distributed narratives are stories that aren't self-contained. They're stories that can't be experienced in a single session or in a single space. They're stories that cross over into our daily lives, becoming as ubiquitous as the network that fosters them."

That quote defines what Jilll Walker's piece "Distributed Narrative: Telling Stories Across Networks" was about. Although her piece was just an intro to further research, the document said a lot about narratives and the different ways of telling stories online.

For this assignment, I chose to review "The Toll Bridge" by Nathan Oser on themoonlitroad.com. The author does a good job of drawing you in by using clear language and even phrases such as "Are you listening?" to keep you honest.

For a change of pace, a lot of this story was dialogue. For example:  

“Where are we?” Tommy glanced left and right along the road and squinted to read the street sign through clinging layers of fog. “Graves–way–Lane?”

“Yeah, Old Man Hickley’s.” Ricky flicked him in the chest and capered across the street. “Come on.” 

“Didn’t know this place was here,” said Tommy, wading through the fog. 

“Sure you did. Remember swimming lessons? The old pool used to be just down that way.”

Although the story was only told through text, the author did a good job of capturing moments by using descriptive language such as "laughed" and "easy as cake."

Overall, I thought the piece was strong, but not as strong as some of the multimedia pieces I've followed. Having huge blocks of text in a blog-like format isn't always attractive, and having photos and videos to navigate through at all times is always a plus. This story didn't have much of a multimedia element.

Interactive Narratives

While reviewing "Shirtless Others" by Jason Ockert on BornMagazine.org, I had difficulties understanding how to follow along. I think the general idea of cutting into the shark to show more of the story is a good idea, but after trying to follow along for a while, it didn't come as easy as hoped. The story definitely does a nice job of using sound effects, as I really do feel like one of the people next to the caught shark on the beach with the sound of waves and seagulls. "Several baby sharks spill out onto the pier and gasp. They writhe in the air with unblinking black eyes." That part was unexpected, but a nice spin to the narrative. The next scene turns to black and you can see the baby sharks on the ground next to the blood. Powerful writing here: "I wait to see what the thin woman will do. I am prepared to cry out if she skewers them, protest, maybe point a finger. But she lets them be, dying like they are on the dock." Artistically, I think changing the scene to black and inverting the colors really set the tone for that final line. The blood is accentuated, as is the overall tone of the scene.

For my second review, I was very impressed with "Go a Hippy Tribe" from SBS.com. Not only was it very comprehensive, but the motion background and overall solid design helped make it feel real.

The sound effects were subtle, but it made for a realistic environment. It's actually surprising just how easy the site is to navigate and follow the story. The layout actually gives off a video game-type feel, allowing users to feel their way around the site. Video plays seamlessly, introducing the tribesmen, and although I didn't connect, apparently it's very easy to share the story or parts of the story to Facebook. This was definitely one of the better narratives I've followed along online.

Website redesign: before and after

I went to this photography portfolio website and was appalled that it lacked a static featured image. It instead included rollovers of tiny images. There were even areas where you would expect to hover and find an image, but there wasn't one. 

So I spruced it up a bit, making for a better user experience.

Artifact Blog

What does Sterling mean by "authenticity"? What does he mean by being a "consumer in a product technosociety"?

Sterling used the term "consumer in a product technosociety" to describe his late father, Bruce Sterling. His father was a plant manager for an oil multinational

What do you consider "authentic" in your personal world? Can you find a "gadget" that has engaged your interest, imagination and is representative of your personal history and culture?

Lastly, find an object that triggers nostalgia in you. Include a picture or photo in your blog with a written description about that object.

Kirikou and the Sorceress Analysis

Michel Ocelot directed and wrote “Kirikou and the Sorceress,” a film about how a newborn village baby copes with evil from his town. This was Ocelot’s breakout film, as it won best animated feature at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 1999 [8] and best European feature at the British Animation Awards 2002.

Most notably, Ocelot uses a very unique choice of color. Not silhouette, but dark for skin. Toward the end of the preview, the film shifts to the sorceress, in other words, the bad guy’s domain. These colors, of course, are black and white, and the air is fogged up.

The opening music sets the tone from the get-go, showing that this is a village neighborhood. The animation techniques are clearly computer drawn and Ocelot uses multiple camera angles to convey the tone of each scene. For example, in the first scene with the pregnant mother Ocelot varies between close-ups and wide shots to stress importance. The camera goes close on the mother’s face when she announces to her newborn son that his father is fighting.

Although this was only a five minute preview to this movie, the storyline immediately became enticing. The young boy talks himself out of his mother’s stomach (literally), and then immediately looks to help his family fight the sorceress. One family member doesn’t even believe the baby is related to him. He tricks his way into getting a ride on his head by hiding under a hat, but soon finds himself at the hands of -- what seems to be -- an evil sorceress.

Persepolis Analysis

"Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi is a great example of why exaggeration is an important part of animating. I like how Satrapi used exaggeration in this animation to emphasize parts of the story. Strapi certainly did not over-exaggerate.

Exaggeration does not mean just distorting the actions or objects arbitrarily, but the animator must carefully choose which properties to exaggerate. If only one thing is exaggerated then it may stand out too much. If everything is exaggerated, then the entire scene may appear too unrealistic.

For example, a common use of exaggeration in "Persepolis" is the height of kids vs. the height of adults. The nuns look like they are 10 feet tall compared to the 3 feet tall kids. I think it's important "Persepolis" used exaggeration because it was in black and white. It helped distinguish and emphasize characteristics more easily.

It is important not to emphasize too many things with exaggeration because then it is hard to differentiate what is being exaggerated and what is not. I think exaggerating height is frequently used in animation, and it's something I definitely would have used if I had animated something with children and adults. However, I understand its ability to emphasize characteristics of people, objects and sound as well.