Assignment 9b: Audio Response to "Collapsus"

Click here to play the (pretty friggin' sweet) game, Collapsus.

Click here to listen to me talk about Collapsus and other trans-media work.

Assignment 9a: Video Game Reflections

For this week’s gaming assignment, I was actually pretty excited. I’m not a conventional “gamer”—Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed aren’t exactly what fill my spare time—but I do love video games. And I become easily obsessed with any invention that even approaches the border of that scary island, Addictive. So when we were assigned this game development task, I actually looked forward to it. Reflecting back on the game that my group designed, Caelum, it’s easy for me to pick out what parts we could have expanded upon. 

Character Design:

With the minimal time we were given (and the burnt out motivation we had coming straight away from that Pencil assignment), our group didn’t really expand upon our character once we decided who he was. I think in our minds, we already understood the game well enough without constantly having to remind ourselves who did what for which reason. Perhaps if our group had clarified our own personal versions of the hero, Alixis, it would have been easier to convey him to the class.

Presentation:

I love, love, LOVED the group that presented their game, Et tu Dragon, today in class. I think what was most refreshing about it was the obvious effort displayed. Despite the looming end of the quarter and previous mind-boggling assignments that came before this one, they clearly put a lot of effort into the content as well as the presentation. My own group worked really hard for the concept work, but we ended up just flinging our work together in a strung out powerpoint and calling it a day. I wish we had gone that extra mile and made our presentation as kick-ass as our actual game design.

The most difficult aspect of group game design would have to be objectives. At least with our group, we were brimming with ideas. Annalisa and I were a little out of our element when it came to approaching our design, as Dan and Ashton pretty much had the gaming world covered. But despite our lack of game world understanding, we all worked together to create a serious and complex storyline. This is what made pinning down specific objectives so difficult. With all of us so invested in our own versions of the game, we were forced to negotiate different levels and how they were to be passed. In the end, the objectives of the game became clearer and we were all almost on the same page. But I have a feeling if you asked each person specifically what the goal of each realm was, they’d have a varied answer. In the end, being too passionate about ideas isn’t exactly the worst flaw we could come across.

Assignment 8b: Hero/Villain Thoughts

I'm going to sound like such a cheerleader, but I mean it when I say that everyone's heroes/villains were great! All were very impressive, especially the animations (which we ALL know were infuriating to create). Yayayay- good job everyone! (Okay, Imma stop now- I'm actually annoying myself now. Sheesh.)


Michael Stephens' Creation:

Michael Stephens’ hero/villain combo was definitely my favorite. The hero (done by Michael) was Minute Man, and he was accompanied by two villains, Hi-Hat (Kramer Lewis) and Silver Spoon (Connor Gartland). Where most of the combinations didn’t really compliment each other, I felt that Michael’s characters all fit well together. For most of the character combos (mine included), it was pretty obvious that there were two people forced to compromise and work together, which caused a lack of affinity. But these three characters clearly came from the same world. (Which is pretty impressive considering this was the only group with three people involved). They did the very interesting contrast of having their villains well lit and their lone hero cast in shadows. It fit very well with this futuristic world they created around the characters, and also added a splash of originality in the mixed symbolism (whereas pretty much everyone else followed the conventional guidelines for creating a hero/villain). It reminded me of the Scorsese’s 2002 film Gangs of New York. The audience was meant to champion the underdog who had the balls to stand up to the corrupt public officials (personally a favorite storyline of mine). The size of each character also helped convey the underdog tones, with Minute Man being a much smaller character in comparison to Silver Spoon and Hi-Hat. The mood created between characters was also interesting. Because of the style, the characters seemed less serious and almost playful. Yet, the dramatic lighting changes between the three characters add a sense of maturity. I thought the contrast between the two aspects added rather than subtracted from the overall presentation.

Tanner Simmons' Creation: 

Tanner Simmons’ hero/villain animation was by far one of the best. This prrrrrobably had to the do with the fact that it was a combined animation (showing both characters) and it had sound effects. I know that sound effects weren’t necessary for the finished product (my animation was definitely silent), but going the extra mile really added a special touch to the animations. Caligula (created by Tanner) and Spartacus (Cam Soergel) emphasized overlapping movements. While Spartacus is in the arena, kicking ass, Caligula attempts to barge in and put a stop to him. When Caligula shoots a gun at Spartacus, the bullet is deflected and kills an audience member (FAVORITE part). The audience member lands on the arena floor and begins to bleed; this action showed the “weight” of the character.

Little quirks like the deflected bullet hitting an audience member made the animation funny because it was original and unexpected. When Spartacus kills Caligula, he doesn’t do it in the conventional, stab-and-die way. Spartacus grabs Caligula and hurls him in the air a few times before releasing. The use of parallel movement also helped the animation to feel more complex (or, as complex as pencil will allow). With both Caligula walking toward Spartacus while he’s finishing killing his previous opponent, the tension built. When Spartacus successfully kills Caligula, the release is relieving and also comedic. Both Cam and Tanner did a great job in creating a genuinely interesting animation, which dealt with semi serious actions (three murders in thirty seconds is pretty intense) in quite a hilarious way.

Assignment 8a: Supa-powers!

 Click here to listen to the "Superpowers" episode of This American Life.

Click here to listen to me as I discuss the show Heroes.








Left: Peter Petrelli!

Superhero vs. Villain

This is the villain I created- Eros, the two-year-old super genius!

This is the hero created by my partner, John Mikesell. Captain Stickman- with a soul patch of justice!

Assignment 7: (Video) Jokin' Around

Jokes are fun. But as always, delivery is key (as explicitly mentioned in Scott Meyer's cartoon). So, our small group tried the best we could to present jokes in an original, yet still humorous light. Our videos used this joke as the central plot:

A few days after Christmas, a mother was working in the kitchen listening to her young son playing with his new electric train in the living room. She heard the train stop and her son said, "All of you sons of bitches who want off, get the hell off now, cause this is the last stop! And all of you sons of bitches who are getting on, get your asses in the train, cause we're going down the tracks."

The mother went nuts and told her son, "We don't use that kind of language in this house. Now I want you to go to your room and you are to stay there for TWO HOURS. When you come out, you may play with your train, but I want you to use nice language."

Two hours later, the son comes out of the bedroom and resumes playing with his train. Soon the train stopped and the mother heard her son say, "All passengers who are disembarking from the train, please remember to take all of your belongings with you. We thank you for riding with us today and hope your trip was a pleasant one. We hope you will ride with us again soon." She hears the little boy continue, "For those of you just boarding, we ask you to stow all of your hand luggage under your seat. Remember, there is no smoking on the train. We hope you will have a pleasant and relaxing journey with us today."

As the mother began to smile, the child added, "For those of you who are pissed off about the TWO HOUR delay, please see the bitch in the kitchen."

Mommy Knows Best 

Our first video approach used my script, “Mommy Knows Best.” The fact that I’ve been craving a decent horror movie definitely affected my writing. The script took the conventional joke and put it in the horror genre. I wrote the piece keeping movement and space in the forefront of my mind. The intention was to always show the child playing with his toy with the mother connected in deep space. We purposely hid the mother’s face to dehumanize her and prevent the audience from relating to her. During the opening shots and again at the close of the short, the mother is shown in the background. And so while the audience focuses on the child playing in the foreground, tension is enforced by the mother’s slow, deliberate movements in the background. The humor displayed was very subtle, and it forced the audience to actively interpret the (rather morbid) approach on the joke.

Bitch in the Kitchen

Our second video approach took the conventional humor approach, but added a slapstick twist. The script, "Bitch in the Kitchen" written by Ryan Newell, followed a middle-aged man living at home with his elderly mother. We attempted to focus on rhythm and line. Throughout the short, the man is playing with a train set that continues in a lemniscates (infinity symbol)- like a circle, it never ends. Similarly, the mother is stirring the bowl in a circular motion. This rhythmic nod toward the circle underlines the fact that their lifestyle is a constant cycle that isn’t likely to change soon. The man has no intention of moving out and the mother has no intention on treating him like an actual man. We utilized line in the scene where the man is in “time-out” and sent to the basement. With the brick lines of the wall combining with that of the handrail on the staircase, it blends with the man’s striped shirt. And so while the man, the only moving object in the shot, creates affinity with the lines of the shot, he is still the focal point.

Assignment 6a: How to be Creative

Watch my video clip below as I ramble on about Hugh Macleod's piece "How to be Creative":