On Journeys

Two months into the Play Sandbox and though there's much to do the Flatpack Cinema proposition is taking shape. When asked to come up with a hundred questions about our project at the first workshop, we came up with one hundred and six! This was a record, apparently, in the history of REACT – a process which, happily, puts considerable value on questions, as drivers of innovation. It’s perhaps not surprising that there were so many though, as our proposition is one with no evident predeccesor, a hybrid thing which will involve elements of DIY, storytelling and interaction. We know that the experience revolves around a kind of den that the child will build themselves, which will become an immersive environment through the use of audio, visuals and interaction.  But exactly what the content is, how it plays out, and what technology drives the experience, have all been up for grabs.  

My own work as a researcher is into documentary, and how that genre is opening up to an array of new possibilities in the context of social media, ubiquitous recording and internet connectivity. In my work I think about what interaction, participation, immersion mean for the project of telling stories about our shared world. On this project I’ve been delving into some new disciplinary areas - into game studies, narratology and the cultural applications of computers - looking for frameworks that might prove fruitful in navigating the development process. What has became apparent is how little academic literature there is that seems relevant to the kind of hybrid product we are making – something physical and digital, with some storytelling and maybe some game-like attributes, which seeks to be immersive and to leave space for creativity and relaxation.

In his essay, In Defence of Cut-Scenes, the game researcher Jespar Juul stands up for the use of edited film sequences within video games, against those who see these elements of linear narrative as alien to the game environment. Analysing the function and unique value of the cut-scenes within the game scenario Juul argues that these are not an anomaly but a distinctive feature of gaming, that an, “oscillation [between cut-scenes and play] is a standard convention in story-based computer games and...will not go away. On the contrary it is becoming a new kind of artistic language…”

If hybrid forms which involve both interaction and narrative are becoming a new standard, how are we to approach producing them? How do we think about designing work that involves different genres and a variety of roles for the participants? What frameworks apply to the bringing together of elements in this, “new kind of artistic language”? One place where they have been thinking about such things is at the Mixed Reality Lab in Nottingham. Picking up on ideas surfacing in studies of interactive installations in museums and galleries, they’ve developed a concept of the ”interactional trajectory” - a framework for understanding and supporting the design of complex experiences that involve hybrid roles, interfaces and forms.

Within one such experience, Steve Benford and his co-authors explain, the participant may, “pass through different places, times, roles and interfaces…[yet] they maintain an overall sense of coherence; of being part of a connected whole. These journeys are steered by the participants, but they are also shaped by narratives that are embedded in spatial, temporal, and performative structures by authors.” In this model they suggest, “The purpose of cultural user experiences is not to reach a destination, solve a problem, or complete a task, but rather to enjoy an engaging journey.”

This trajectory model resonates with the stories that Amy and May from Anagram have been drafting to provide the framework for user engagement with Flatpack Cinema. Our new (working) title, Teleportation Tent, reflects those ideas, which revolve around journeys – with the den imagined as a portal for travelling to other worlds; the physical objects that the child engages with presented in a suitcase, perhaps as a survival kit. The classic children’s stories that this model evokes – Narnia, Where the Wild Things Are, Doctor Who – suggest what a rich imaginative landscape this idea of a journey can open up for a child. It’s also terrific to realize how this unifying idea provides the answer to not one but many of the questions posed by the project.