Theory and Practice - Engagement

Task-1

Give your responses to these two questions, illustrated with visual material, in your sketchbook and blog.

·        In film, the audience is hooked within minutes, usually seconds...

How does film do this?

I think an effective good title sequence is a good way to grab the audience’s attention in the first few minutes.

Then one of most important engagement key for audience is good effective story;

Stories must have meaning coherence to entertain. That is, each event in the story must somehow stand in relation to other events in the story (a relationship bridge) and have some meaning to the character and audience.

Knowing the main character or favourite actors keeps our attention on the movie.

Audiences want to laugh, cry, vicariously experience a great ride, be adventurous, see spectacular things, see new things, get "jolted and shocked," have positive outcomes affirmed, see drama that challenges them and makes them think about their world, be inspired, and, in short, have some experience that temporarily displaces them from everyday life and changes their mood.

There is a strange but refreshing kind of tangibility that pulls the audience into the film and expresses the emotions of the characters. Soundtrack will also make engagement between audience and the movie.

·        When we visit a website or open new software it has to grab our attention..

How does the designer achieve this?

•  The first thing is a good effective Homepage.

The homepage tells visitors who you are and what they can expect to find in your site which basically is the front door of the website. The purpose of the homepage is to give an overview of what visitors can expect to find in web site. Therefore it needs to be strong, make a statement and grab the attention. If it doesn't grab their attention, they will hit the back button.

•          Meaningful Headline

If the opening statement is strong and meaningful, the visitors will want to explore further. Only one good sentence gives you a general overview of what the product is and its benefit.

•          Strong images and Graphics

Using images that are related to its service, or a meaningful metaphor. Photography isn't always necessary on the homepage, sometimes nice illustrations, interesting text treatments or just a good design is all need. The key is to make it interesting and meaningful.

•          Appropriate and Attractive Colour Scheme

Colours capture the viewers’ attention, especially if they are used in an appropriate manner. If your expected viewers are children, the best colours you can use are the bright ones but make it pleasing to the eyes. If you are designing for a company, then you should choose colours that can give a professional look.

•          Clean, Organized Layout

A well-organized layout not only looks better, it's more comfortable for the viewer.

•          Simplicity

Visitors don't spend long on the homepage; they go there to see where to go next. Therefore regardless of how large your site is the homepage needs to be simple. Using good headlines, short blurbs, and relevant images to help guide visitors around the site.

•          Speed

The home page and other pages must be fast in loading. Or else, your viewers will get disappointed on your site.

Task-2

Give two examples of outstanding opening sequences from films, and describe how the directors; Orientates the audience / Establish key information. 

The Shining 1980 (Stanley Kubrick)

The opening sequence in The Shining starts off by us flying through a massive lake, we are then sent up in the air to get a bird’s eye view of a small car travelling through a snake like road. This is to show us how grand and vast America is. A non-diegetic soundtrack is running in the background, which sounds like an electronic keyboard, in low key.  This gives the scene a menacing feel to it, as if something is approaching.

We move to a bird’s eye shot via a cut, which also follows the car, and we see that the car is in a very remote area, where there are mountains in the background.  This long take lasts about 17 seconds, which calms the audience.  Via a jump cut, we go to another shot where the car is on a different part in its journey.  During this part of the opening sequence, the opening credits start to roll up and show the producer, the name of the film, the stars, and other people involved in the film.

The colour of the font is blue which is usually seen to be a more gentle colour but Kubrick makes this font seem more eerie by the sound he uses of tribal music and screaming women. And perhaps to emphasize all the more the claustrophobic/no way out of what is to come.

After two and a half minutes of the opening scene and credits we are introduced to the overlook hotel for the first time, we know nothing about it but what it looks like and how big it is. We assume this is where the story is going to take place straight away.

http://www.makefive.com/categories/entertainment/movies/top-opening-title-film-sequences

The Taking of Pelham 123 Directed by Tony Scott – 2009

Loud music, fancy title effects swishing back and forth, in and out of frame, intercutting with images of people on the subway.

The opening sequence of this movie seems to be directly connected to trains (perhaps to establish the sub-genre of the film right from the beginning) for example, loud music used at the very beginning sounds like a train, and even the production/distribution company is filmed as if it's a train getting closer to the screen.

I thought it was an effective title sequence because of the range of shots used which conveyed the genre, and I liked the use of editing as it established the plot of the film well.

I also liked  the fancy title effects swishing back and forth, in and out of frame, intercutting with images of people on the subway.

I particularly like the way the cast/director/producer etc, names appear and disappear on the screen throughout the opening sequence with a thick black line (as if the names are passengers and the line is a train collecting or dropping them off) Editing is the main technique used in this sequence to grab the audience's attention and establish the recurring theme of trains and sub-genre (action thriller)

http://www.cinemalogue.com/2009/06/12/the-taking-of-pelham-123/

Task-3

Based your experienced of RPG's(role-playing games),give three examples of narrative structures.

Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken defies traditional narrative structure, and thus this RPG will defy traditional gaming structure. Most roleplaying games tend to fall into two categories: miniatures-esque games about killing things, and story games about angsty character development. A Robot Chicken RPG wouldn't be too concerned about either of those ideas, it would be about short scenes involving insane situations and unexpected perversions of our beloved childhood memories.

http://www.luisescobarblog.com/?cat=23

L.A. Noire

Developed by Team Bondi, L.A. Noire is an interactive detective story set in the classic noir period of the late 1940s. L.A. Noire blends action, detection and complex storytelling and draws players into an open-ended challenge to solve a series of gruesome murders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Noire

Call of Cthulhu

Originally a story by H. P. Lovecraft, his brand of horror was turned into a role-playing game by Chaosium many, many years ago, when Dungeons & Dragons became very popular.

Call of Cthulhu has a reputation as a game in which it is quite common for a player character to die in gruesome circumstances or end up in a mental institution. Unlike in most other role-playing games, eventual triumph of the players is not assumed.

One of the main statistics in this game is "Insanity Points." As the character see aliens, undead creatures, elder gods and even cast magic spells, they slowly lose their sanity. In other words, everyone eventually goes insane at some point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu_(role-playing_game)

Describe how these structures differ from conventional film narrative.

Conventional film narrative is normally based upon the Three Act Structure, which is intended to fill 90+ minutes, and end in a resolution. Conventions of narrative form,

Such as unity, clarity, sympathetic, action-oriented characters, closure,

And unobtrusive craftsmanship as you can see below two images showing differences between role-playing narrative structure and conventional film narrative structure.

http://www.gamestudies.org/0501/lindley/

http://www.roleplayingtips.com/articles/rpgs-and-film-narrative.php

Task -4

·        Investigate Julian Jackson’s article on RPG’s and Film Narrative:

·        Give an example of cause and effect in RPG

Since 1979, role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons have drawn criticism from those who feel that they promote witchcraft, Satanism, and the occult, and encourage youths to perform acts of suicide and murder; more recently, collectible card games have been criticized in a less severe manner. The fact is that RPGs and CCGs are simply games, and they can be used to educate as well as entertain. In considering this topic, two sources of primary data were consulted; a survey of long-time players of RPGs and CCGs, and an interview with a grade school teacher who uses both types of games in the classroom. Secondary sources that were consulted included an observation of children playing D&D in an after-school program, a psychological profile of gamers conducted in 1987, and many others. Despite the attacks they have received, it is clear that RPGs and CCGs are a harmless and occasionally beneficial mode of entertainment that has been misrepresented in the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_role-playing_games

Task-5

Give example of social interaction and collaboration in RPG’s and LARP’s

Or MMORPG’s.

The social interactions of participants in virtual worlds are often viewed in the context of 3D Games; other forms of interaction are common as well, including forums, blogs, wikis, chat rooms, instant messaging, and video-conferences. Communities are born in places which have their own rules, topics, jokes, and even language. Members of such communities can find like-minded people to interact with, whether this is, through a shared passion, the wish to share information, or a desire to meet new people and experience new things. Users may develop personalities within the community adapted to the particular world they are interacting with, which can impact the way they think and act. Internet friendships and participation in online communities tend to complement existing friendships and civic participation rather than replacing or diminishing such interactions.

MMORPGs almost always have tools to facilitate communication between players.

In addition, most MMOs require some degree of teamwork for parts of the game. These tasks usually require players to take on roles in the group, such as those protecting other players from damage (called tanking), "healing" damage done to other players or damaging enemies. Community resources such as forums and guides exist in support of this play style.

For example, if a player wants to play a priest role in his MMORPG world, he might buy a book from a shop and learn priestly skills, proceeding to speak, act, and interact with others as their character would.

http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/2372/mod_resource/content/1/ColeGriffiths.PDF

Task -6

Find examples of special and temporal reference in films, games, web design, software and apps.

Language Lens

The site has a clear and specific historical purpose, but also serves to offer great language-learning opportunities as students need to process many directions and solve problems, navigating the palace and dealing with spatial and temporal concepts.