On Writing

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So the post I will shortly link is about screenwriting.  It’s written by Joss Whedon whom, I believe I have previously mentioned, is a fricking genius.  I was just going to send it to Mike, but when I got to the last two sentences, I decided it was worth posting here.

Without further ado, read this.

Posted in: Musings

Exposure

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To fully understand why I am releasing this thing in fragments, see my prior post.

What will follow is meant to (and may sometime this decade) be a series of posts sharing an idea I’ve been working on for a while. It won’t be complete in this or even several installments. Just the same, I’m trying to break a logjam by releasing incomplete material, so bear with me. I look forward to your feedback.

The Frame

For the sake of this experiment, the concept is to produce a web-based series based on “us”. I’ll get into the subject of the web series a bit more later, but for now, I want to continue defining the frame a bit.

The inspiration for this entire project came to me from several influences, but chief among them is the works of Joss Whedon (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog) and Felicia Day (The Guild). In particular, an interview with Ms. Day drew my interest to the changes that such a series can and has made in creative and media distribution.

Format

The Guild, season 1: 10 episodes, 4-8 minutes in length, previously available for free via iTunes, and now, via msn media and Xbox Live. Here’s the interview with Onion AV Club that got me thinking, and I encourage you to download and watch at least the first few episodes of season 1.

Here are some of the key points from my point of view:

  • inexpensive production (compared to tv)
  • cheap distribution (mostly viral)
  • laser targeting of an audience (players of MMORPGs, and to a lesser degree, gamers in general for the guild, ours would be different)

Dr. Horrible, as most of you know, was somewhat different in form, with 3 episodes of roughly 15 minutes in length each.

Of the 2, the Guild more closely matches what I have in mind.

What I’m proposing is a web-distributed series, working in the model of several episodes (maybe 7-10). Each episode would target 4 to 10 minutes in length. Each episode would cover (perhaps not resolve) a single idea/motif/concept. Each episode would also work along a “season long” story arc.

The Concept

Part of the inspiration here is “do what you know”. What do we know? Probably the idea I like best (so far) is one I haven’t really found a concise name for yet, but most closely approaches the concept of “Artist T_rr_rists” (trying to avoid the wrong search engines). Conceive of a group similar to our membership (Lacuna or Lichtenbergian? Not sure…) as a group of folks angry that the world was trading in “real” art for a faded mass commercial shadow of itself. Rather than go quietly, they’ve decided to take a more militant approach, staging events of “artistic disobedience”. I’ve toyed with the concept of “Emotionnists”, with the idea being that each act be targeted at creating in folks an emotional reaction via these acts, with a different emotion targeted each time. We would use episodes to cover phases of the creative and execution process, and the “season arc” be the execution of a single act of artistic disobedience. We could even roll it back a bit, and make a first mini-season, showing a transformation to our roles as pseudo-artistic-militants. Oh, and the work of the Truth Project may serve as an example as well. Another possible concept would be a series about a bunch of creatives that decide to release a podcast about the creative process, and make our podcast a docu-/mocku-mentary of the process of making to podcast.

The Players

One idea I have for creating characters for such a project would be to characature each of us. What would you consider to be your most interesting idiosyncrasy? What do you consider to be your core belief on the subject of all things artistic? What physical features do you have that could be exaggerated to create a hook for your character?

(…and here ends the text I had written so far. More to follow?)

Posted in: Efforts, Ideas

On Lichtenbergianism

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Cras Melior Est

Our guidance.  Our motto.  Our excuse.  Occasionally, our self-defeating behavior pattern.

It’s one thing to put something off repeatedly.  That’s what we are about, and as we affirm annually, can oft be for the best.  It’s another thing to put it off because we (claim to) care about it so much.

For me, the pattern is this: I will continually move a book/project/person to the top of my “queue” because they are so important to me.  Each time I go to pop the next item off the queue, however, I have a brief, sometimes non-verbal conversation with myself that goes something like this:

“Wow, look at that.  x is the thing I need to spend time with next.  You know, that person/place/thing/idea is really important to me.  Like, last-bite-of-coconut-cream-pie-kind-of-important.  Dang, I’ve only got like 5 minutes right now.  I care so deeply and passionately about this thing, I can’t even get my turbines spun up to the kind of speed that I want to spend on this in the time I have available.  Let me push it a spot deeper in the queue until I can give it the kind of time it deserves.  There.  Done.  Oh, look, Zack and Cody reruns are on the Disney Channel…and it’s the episode where they become super heroes…”  …enter self-loathing.

Crazy, isn’t it?  This is exactly the sort of behavior that has repeatedly prevented me from launching this podcast idea to this fine congregation.  Because I am so passionate about the dream I’ve had perculating, I’ve been afraid to launch less than a fully explained idea to you our readership.  Subsequently, I end up doing next to anything (of short duration, anyway) rather than carve out the time from my absurdly (and disfunctionally, and probably fictionally) busy life.

Like writing this post, for instance.

Posted in: Musings

Assignment L.08.10: Preparation for Film Festival

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I pitched the idea to those in attendance last night, and it seemed to be well received, so I will proceed as if it were approved (I’m sure it will be, if/when we get around to it).  At some point in the not too distant future, I shall welcome the membership into my home for the First Annual (or some other frequency to be determined at a meeting not yet scheduled) Lichtenbergian Film Festival.  At said film festival, movies shall be presented as submitted by the membership.  Each member shall (as response to this assignment) submit one film for inclusion.  The requirements for inclusion are these: 1) Submission by a member in good standing (there’s a can of worms); 2) Submission of “Guidelines for Viewing/Participation” (details to follow); and 3) Provision of media (either I have to own a copy already, or you have to provide one) in standard DVD format.

Guidelines for “Guidelines for Viewing/Participation”
The member submitting the movie for inclusion shall prepare this document (and perhaps post it here for discussion, unless that will undermine in some way the impact, freshness, or other factor within the experience) which should include guidance for how best to appreciate, experience, dissect, or otherwise be involved with the viewing of the film.  As examples (meant in no way to limit the potential of the guidelines), the member might include questions to ponder, background information, an explanation of why the film was selected, or perhaps a poem or other reading that heighten the experience of consumption of the film.  There is neither a minimum nor maximum length, but consideration should be given to both the attention span of the reader (we ARE Lichtenbergians, after all) and the impact on the environment should the notes be printed (I included that one for the liberals that comprise the vast majority of our membership.  Actually, I’m pretty concerned about the environment as well.  I’m just not sure I buy Al Gore’s version of things.  I’m sure that will inspire some wise-ass to submit An Inconvenient Truth.  Oh, well.)

Discuss and submit.

Posted in: Assignments, L.08.10

It’s JUST a game, for heaven’s sake.

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The following paragraph is from a press release coming out of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo.  Commonly known as E3, this event serves as one of the biggest events of the year for all of us that obsess just a bit too much about toys and games.  This particular notice is referring to the next version of Guitar Hero, scheduled to come around this fall:

KEY FEATURES:
State of the Art Wireless Instruments – In addition to a newly redesigned, more responsive guitar controller which features a touch-sensitive slide bar on the neck,Guitar Hero World Tour will deliver the most realistic drum experience ever in a video game with an authentic drum kit. Featuring three drum pads, two raised cymbals and a bass kick pedal, the drum controller combines larger and quieter, velocity-sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back and is easy to set up, move, break down and store.
The Next Great Songwriter, is You – Guitar Hero World Tour’s innovative new Music Studio lets players express their musical creativity by giving them access to a full complement of tools to create digital music from scratch utilizing the redesigned touch-sensitive guitar controller and an authentic drum kit. Virtuosos can then play their compositions in-game and share the recordings with the entire Guitar Hero community through GHTunes™ where other gamers from around the world will be able to download and play their original tracks. Available to Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 gamers is Line 6’s guitar tone technology, enabling them to use amps, cabs and effects from the world-renown Line 6 POD®.

These announcements revisit another of our past discussion topics, exploring the blurring of lines between games and art.  There were already hacks available that detailed how to take the Rock Band drum kit and hook it up as an input device to Apple’s Garage Band.  What impact will the features described above have on student interest in creativity?  Will great works emerge from kids just “goofing around”?  To me, one of the more interesting things to watch as this develops is the impact that the very rich and very effective social networks that the Xbox 360 will have on the development, release, and sharing of gamer compositions.

On a related note, this from the Nintendo press thingy, also part of E3 (the time stamps were a result of the event being blogged real-time):

[10:00] Most music games require precise timing and onscreen symbol matching, he explains. Wii Music was designed instead to allow everyone to experience the joy of performing music. There’s no need to closely follow notes or rhythm guides; just hold the controller like you would a real instrument and the game plays notes to match the song.
[10:01] Miyamoto doesn’t play the sax, but he was able to play a song from an F-Zero game. Wii Music will include more than 50 instruments, including the piano and violin.
[10:02] He also demonstrates the game’s electric guitar and taiko drum.
[10:03] The first-person drumming with the Balance Board demonstrated earlier is actually a special mode that will include tutorials to teach users to play drums.
[10:04] The orchestra game that Miyamoto demonstrated when Wii Music was first unveiled years ago will also be included. Players will be able to save parts of a song and combine them to form their own music videos.
[10:05] Up to four players can play simultaneously, and the in-game bands are limited to six instruments. They demo it with a xylophone, conga drums, cowbell, horns, and guitar. The group plays the classic Super Mario Bros. theme.

The Wii option sounds like it will be very forgiving, providing easy access to small children.  Will this low-barrier to entry prevent folks from really creating serious music on it?

Also announced by Nintendo during the event is an add-on to the Wii-mote that will make direct translation of movement a reality.  Does this mean that the first “Wii Paint” and “Wii Sculpt” can’t be far behind?

Where will all of this lead?

Posted in: Musings