WEEK 10: Database & Interactive Cinema (March 19) – DTC 491 Advanced Digital Cinema

To Do This Week

Bill Viola (1982) – Will There Be Condominiums in Dataspace?

Watch: Bandersnatch on Netflix

Blog Prompt: Bill Viola, writing in 1982 at the very start of digital video editing and video storage in a computer, speculates about the future possibilities of “data space” as a kind of potential space that can be explored by a “participant.” How does his vision compare with the branching Netflix movie Bandersnatch? Is Bandersnatch entertaining or tedious? Does the work point to future possibilities for cinema and storytelling? How do Viola’s ideas, drawing on sacred arts of the past, challenge the simple “choose-your-own-adventure” approach to the nonlinear potentials of digital cinema? Where do you think this technology is headed? Please quote from the reading.

Notes

Bandersnatch responses

Bill Viola – Will There Be Condominiums in Dataspace?

Interactive Cinema

Kinoautomat (1967)
“At nine points during the film the action stops, and a moderator appears on stage to ask the audience to choose between two scenes; following an audience vote, the chosen scene is played.”

Branching: YouTube annotations:

Database Cinema

Pry by Tender Claws LLC

Database Narratives:

Seances by Guy Maddin

New Media Art:

Olia Lialina – My Boyfriend Came Back from the War (netcinema) 1996

Zoe Beloff – Beyond

http://www.peterhorvath.net/

Student Work:

Valerie Eldridge
Caleb Stenberg

HTML Cinema Project (10%)

Due April 9th

Project Overview:

Bring together video and interactive design to explore complex ideas, emotions, or stories, creating a space where differences and similarities among clips enrich the overall narrative or thematic impact. With this project you are to create an interactive website that is made of short video or loops, each ranging from 10 to 60 seconds. This project is an opportunity to integrate HTML/CSS and basic JavaScript with video. You may start from provided HTML templates or you can use ChatGPT for coding assistance to build out your own idea.

Your project can be an interactive visual essay, a branching short fiction work, or experimental montage centered around a theme, idea, or passion that is meaningful to you. Consider this a short project that can be expanded for the Final Project.

The core challenge lies in integrating separate videos or video loops, with text and design, to form a cohesive narrative or thematic exploration, using the unique properties of web interactivity to engage viewers in a multilinear storytelling experience. What connects the separate videos? How does the user interact with the videos ? How do the differences and similarities in the videos to create echos and networks of meaning? The idea with this project is to show multiple views or perspectives on a single subject. The micro-narratives can add up to one overall narrative or remain discrete fragments that are in association with the others for a montage or poetic effect.

Project Objectives:

Interactivity and Engagement: Design a user interface that encourages viewers to interact with the video content in meaningful ways, enhancing their understanding and appreciation of the underlying theme or story.
Video: Create a series of videos that, when viewed together, convey a unified narrative or thematic concept, exploring different facets of a single idea or passion.
Media Integration: Use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to create a web environment that integrates video loops, text, sound and/or graphic elements offering a smooth and intuitive user experience. Use ChatGPT to help you.

Steps to Completion:

Theme or Narrative Development: Begin by identifying the central idea, passion, or story you wish to explore through your user interface. Sketch it out and consult with ChatGPT. This concept will guide the selection and creation of your video content.
Video Curation and Creation: Create short video loops that reflect different perspectives or facets of your chosen theme. Each video should stand on its own while also contributing to the overall narrative or thematic framework.
Web Page Design: Using either the provided HTML templates or custom code assisted by ChatGPT, design a website or single page that effectively showcases your videos. Focus on creating a user-friendly interface that encourages exploration and interaction.
Interactivity Implementation: Incorporate interactive elements that enhance the viewing experience, such as clickable links that alter video playback, navigation controls that reveal thematic connections, or dynamic layouts that change based on user interaction.
Narrative and Thematic Integration: Carefully arrange your videos, interactive and design elements, text and other media, to highlight the connections between them.

Evaluation Criteria:

Innovation and Creativity: The originality of your theme or narrative concept and the creative use of video and web technologies to explore it.
Technical Proficiency: Your ability to effectively use HTML and JavaScript to create a functional, engaging web page.
Video/Audio Creation: Work at the framing, pacing, camera movements. Use montage, continuity and looping for effect. Work at the sound. You may use AI Tools!
User Engagement: The effectiveness of your design in encouraging user interaction and exploration, enhancing the overall impact of your narrative or thematic presentation.

Using either the HTML templates I created or ChatGPT to help code your own HTML and JavaScript, create a web page with a selection of 3-6 short video loops* (10-60 seconds each) that is either a short visual essay about an idea or passion or a short fiction. What connects the separate videos? How does the user interact with the videos?** How do the differences and similarities in the videos create networks of meaning?

The idea with this project is to show multiple views or perspectives on a single subject. The micro-narratives can add up to one overall narrative or remain discrete fragments that are in association with the others for a narrative or poetic effect.

*To avoid loading or bandwidth issues, please export your videos to a smaller size – around 400-500px width.

** You must force the user to click somewhere on the page/site to allow autoplay on videos.

HTML Cinema Workshop

AUDIO/VIDEO & JavaScript

Video and Audio elements
Audio/Video DOM reference
Chrome – must interact with page (click something) before video or audio can play

HTML Templates:

Final Project Overview (20%)

Rough Cuts Submission: DUE April 16th -10% of the project grade.

Final Cuts Submission: DUE April 23rd– 90% of the project grade.

Project Description:

This final project is a culmination of your exploration into digital cinema throughout this course. Drawing upon the knowledge gained from assignments, readings, screenings, and class discussions, you are to create a comprehensive project that investigates at least two facets of digital cinema. This exploration can include, but is not limited to, looped video, AI video, composited video, networked video, hyperlinked video, database video and the video essay.

Project Options:

You have the freedom to choose the format of your project, which can range from a fictional narrative, a non-fictional documentary, to an abstract or experimental piece. Regardless of the chosen format, the following criteria must be met:

Medium: The project should primarily be made of video (moving digital images originally captured as video) as its medium.
Cinema Language: Incorporate elements of cinema language, such as thoughtful continuity editing and/or montage, to tell your story or present your concept effectively.
Conceptual Engagement: Your project should reflect a deep engagement with the ideas and themes discussed in class, demonstrating how these concepts have influenced the conception and execution of your work.

Evaluation Criteria:

Your grade will be determined by both the creative quality and effort evident in your work, as well as the depth of its conceptual underpinnings. Projects will be assessed based on their originality, technical execution, and the extent to which they engage with and reflect class discussions and readings.

Suggested Project Ideas:

A mini-documentary exploring a significant topic or issue.
A detailed profile of an individual, company, product, or institution.
A fictional short video that tells a compelling story.
A video essay that presents a critical analysis of a particular subject.
A series of video loops that explore thematic or conceptual ideas.
A work of database or hypercinema utilizing HTML5 to create an interactive experience.
An experimental video that employs hybrid spaces through composting, spatial montage, and other effects.