I think Girl Walk // All Day might be the quintessential representation of modern independent artistry. Yeah, that sounds like a string of BS buzzwords, but I mean every one of them. Think about it – a musician takes hits from across a plethora of genres and mashes them together into a fantastic and fun musical album, which he then releases online for free. A filmmaker hears that album and decides he wants to use it as the sountrack and basis for a short film/music video filmed geurilla-style in Manhattan, all shot, edited, produced, and released online for free. It stars a dancer who mashes together dance styles from every conceivable genre. A musician who cares more about making entertaining music than adhering to the archaic conventions of the pop music industry; a filmmaker who cares more about making an amazing viewing experience than adhering to the archaic conventions of the blockbuster film industry; and a dancer who cares more about expressing herself through motion and using her body to its limits than adhering to the conventions of any one style of dance.

There is something beautiful about all of those layers mashing together…and something magical in the realization that ten years ago the whole thing would sound insane, but in our modern age when we are starting to perceive of art and its distribution so differently, it is practically unsurprising.

Here is the Kickstarter video for Girl Walk // All Day:

Jay O’Callahan talks in this video at the 99% conference about storytelling and its powerful way of expressing that which cannot otherwise be told. I’ve known for a long time that storytelling can be a powerful way to express ideas; in my job as a multimedia instructional designer I’ve come across many a project where we believed the best way to get a client’s employees engaged was to tell them a compelling story about the organization, and it works.

But what O’Callahan does here is much more: he takes a story that everyone thinks they know, and tells it in a way that makes it fresh and new and…dare I say it? Exciting!

…Anyone know how to put together a home-made motion capture studio for less than $1k?  :P

Her final words are incredibly inspiring – they speak to me on a very deep level. Well, perhaps you should just watch:

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to finish the book yet, and I’m sure I’ll post my thoughts when I do. But I asked a lot of questions during the talk, and afterward I usurped Ms. Miller’s time for almost another hour to chat about trends and innovation (she was quite friendly and welcoming). Some thoughts and ideas that I took away from the experience:

Breaking the Fourth Wall Goes Both Ways
I come from a theater background; it was my other choice for a college career before I had decided on multimedia. To me, “breaking the fourth wall” always meant that the actors would address the audience in a planned and scripted way (improvisational theater notwithstanding). Usually even when the audience is participating, they are being asked to perform specific actions that fit the confines of the play – The Complete Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) is a good example. But with interactive media, the fourth wall can be broken so that the audience member not only becomes part of the action, but can direct it as well. It’s a form of collaboration between author and audience that goes both ways.

Moral Choices Are the New Black
One thing Ms. Miller mentioned is that the newest fad in cinematic video games is for the player to be forced to make moral choices that affect the outcome of the game. I have seen this already with games like Fallout, Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, Bioshock, Oblivion, and even MMOs like World of Warcraft…but I hadn’t appreciated just how important this is from a storytelling perspective. Some of these choices are very difficult to make (if the player is fully engaged with the characters), and some have very obvious and definitive consequences while others are more subtle. But from a storytelling perspective, this may be the most important thing that interactive narrative can provide: a way for the user to not only become a part of the story, but to see how different choices from any fundamental moral perspective will affect the world, and what the results can be. In an open and responsive enough environment, it’s the ultimate “what if” machine. Sort of like Dungeons & Dragons, but with moving pictures. :)

Webisodes Are Bubbling
Webisodes are the new TV, as evidenced by the incredible amount of Hollywood and amateur talent getting into the game. It’s probably safe to say that in another generation services like Hulu will take over for TV, just as news sites are taking over for newspapers. Apparently, and not surprisingly, corporations are getting into the act by creating webisodes to promote products or services in an entertaining fashion. They remind me of Soap Operas, and how they too originally began as serialized dramas produced by soap manufacturers aimed at housewives who tended to be home in the afternoon. Who will be targeted by webisodic content as the medium grows in popularity? Is there a way to target a specific audience when time isn’t a constraint?

Transmedia Narratives Are the New Multi-Multimedia
I hadn’t heard of transmedia before, but I have seen it before without realizing it. Ms. Miller describes transmedia as being “when the same narrative storyline is developed across several forms of media, one of which is an interactive medium.” Transmedia intrigues me the most, as I find it a highly compelling way to tell a narrative.

I’ve seen Hollywood experiment with this before, especially in anticipation of a major motion picture release. Users can sign up at a promotional website, and receive text messages or emails from characters within the movie, essentially drawing them into the action, as with the movie Eagle Eye. Or the website itself might tell part of the story…not anything so crucial that the movie cannot stand on its own, but the additional medium offers a supplementary understanding of what has happened or will happen to the characters, such as with Requiem for a Dream or Memento. Not only is this marketing genius (the more compelling the content and the more willing the audience is to spend time with it, the better your brand is seared into the mind of your potential customers), but it’s a fantastic way to tell a story. Those who are interested only in the two to three hours it takes to watch a movie, or the hour a week it takes to watch a show, or the weekend it takes to read a book, are satisfied with the experience. But for those who want more background, more detail, and want to be in the know…they are given the option to feel like an elite member of a personalized fan club.

I remember back in school, some classmates and I were having a discussion about what we would like to do for a career after graduation. We sat huddled in the XandO cafe (now Cosi) on a winter night, cupping our foamy lattes and dreaming about the future. “I don’t know,” I remember saying. “Whatever I end up doing probably hasn’t even been invented yet.” Satisfied with my answer, but entirely unsure of how exactly that would happen, I sipped my coffee and thought about what kind of combination of media might interest me the most. I studied filmmaking, photography, web design, animation, writing, philosophy, psychology, mythology…anything that I thought might help me figure out how to make that thing that hasn’t been invented yet.

Well, I still haven’t figured it out entirely, but I’ve gotten closer. Lately I’ve been working with interactive e-learning modules that use video and animation to engage learners and create compelling narratives. All this is through work, so I can’t show any here, but it has been teaching me a lot. I’m also interested in webcomics and how that type of interactivity, where the reader fills in the actions between panels, can be enhanced/integrated with interactivity (more on that in later posts, I’m sure). But mostly, I want to learn how to tell a good story.

One big lesson I took from school, perhaps one of the most important, is that there is a difference between the medium being formed to suit the content…and the content being forced to fit the media. It’s taken me years, but I’m slowly learning how to train myself to say “this is the story I want to tell, now what is the best way to tell it?” rather than “this is how I want to tell a story, now what story would fit this kind of delivery?” Not that there is anything wrong with the latter, but from an art-making perspective, I think the former is more valuable. The latter should be reserved for fancy marketing techniques and buzz media.

I am tending to ramble into other thoughts now, but suffice it to say I enjoyed the talk and I am learning much from Ms. Miller’s book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in digital storytelling, interactive or otherwise.

Now there are multiple fan sites for Susan Boyle, as she inspires people across the world to believe in themselves and do their best, regardless of whether or not the rest of the world believes in them. My hope is that someone will see Susan’s potential, not only as a singer but also as a media phenomenon, and cast her in a fitting role in some London musical.

Kudos Susan, you have more courage than I think I could muster for such an opportunity. Welcome to Internet stardom…it may be short-lived, but it’s fun while it lasts, and it can open up more doors than you can imagine.  :)

You see…I consider myself a very creative person. I don’t think I’m being narcissistic or delusional when I say that. I have this inborn sense…this feeling that my purpose, if you will allow me the indulgence, is to be an artist or expressionistic person in some form or another. But ever since I graduated from art school, ever since I left that safety and security of an environment in which your goals and needs and timelines were outlined for you…ever since then, I have been utterly and completely blocked from being able to accomplish anything that I feel warrants merit.

Sure, I have a plethora of ideas…ideas are no problem. But when it comes to actually implementing them in the real world, away from assignments and goals and grades and judges that I know personally…when it comes down to being me and only me that is the judge jury and executioner of my work, I falter. I’ve gone through years of whining, self-deprecating observations; of feeling like I’m a person who is meant for so much more, but simply can’t deliver because I’m a loser. And then, I saw a talk from Macworld given by Merlin Mann.

I stumbled across this post from Merlin through a completely unrelated topic on Webcomics.com, but the word “creativity” caught my eye so I clicked on it. I’ll warn you – the presentation I’ve embedded below isn’t very smooth as far as presentations go…Merlin’s slide deck has its formatting all messed up when he has technical difficulties, and it sounds like his jokes are bombing throughout the whole thing because you can’t hear the audience laughing. But I gave it a chance, and suddenly I glommed onto what it was he was saying – and I started to cry.

It was as if Merlin was describing in intimate detail exactly how I had felt for the past five years: feeling creative, yet having no way to output my creativity…feeling that everyone else was handed a manual that shows them how to do well in life, and mine was lost in the mail. I kept thinking: “That’s ME! He’s talking about me…us, him, me! I’m not the only one who feels completely lost here!”

This was the part that really got me, and maybe, I hope, might speak to some of you as well:

…I think part of what bogs people down in wanting to become more creative is feeling some disconnect between this part of them that they know wants to do something, and the person that they know they want to be, and then getting hung up in the implementation details. Does that make any sense? And you find yourself casting about for all these magic tricks that are gonna let you make this cognitive leap to where a beret falls out of the sky and suddenly you know how to paint.

So we’re all looking for these little tricks to make us feel more creative. And what I started to realize was all these people whom I admire, who are able to do this…all these people seem to have certain amounts of shared DNA about how they think about the process of making things. They don’t go to Barnes & Noble and buy books about how to generate ideas on a whiteboard. They don’t buy books about lateral thinking. There’s nothing wrong with any of these things, but the truth is when you become a professional creative person, having ideas is the least of your problems…ideas are cheap. Making them into something awesome is super hard.

Here is the whole presentation for your benefit:

The part about “magic tricks” was especially poignant to me. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a pattern…I’ll think “if only I had a drafting desk, then I’ll have the tools to be a real artist!” So I go out and get one, and six months later it sits unused and dusty in the corner of my “studio.” I’ll get this feeling that I need to go to an art store and pick up materials…even if I never use them, I collect materials. Pens, India ink, vellum, paint, exotic papers, anything and everything…it all feels necessary somehow, as if finding the right tools or medium will suddenly unlock that special place in my brain and all of the art will spill out, like a dam releasing water, and I’ll suddenly “get it.”

In the years after school, I used to wander into Barnes & Noble on Chestnut street up the block from the University, and peruse the shelves. I would look at inspirational books, books on creativity, books on everything…thinking that if I could just find the right book, maybe it too would unlock that corner of my brain that was holding me back. I found some good books too…The Artist’s Way, The Lost Soul Companion, What Should I Do With My Life?, Quarterlife Crisis, etc. All of them were inspiring and gave me insight, but none of them gave me the key.

Even now, every once in awhile I’ll catch myself thinking “if only I had a Cintiq, then I could be the artist I want to be.” And I mentally smack myself, because I know I’m wrong. A real artist will find a way to create using sticks and stones and a $1 disposable camera if need be…a real artist doesn’t need tools. They need…whatever it was that I didn’t have.

Then Mr. Mann comes along, and proves that I’m not the only one who feels this embarrasing and ultimately harmful disconnect between the creation of the idea, and the creation of the actual work. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Merlin has “the answer,” or that there even is one…yet. But at least I don’t feel quite so alone. And maybe I have a couple of things that I can work on, perhaps even with other people who feel the same way.

It made me think of another talk I attended back at University by Eric Zimmerman, author of the book Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. The part that I remember most about his talk was that play is no fun without rules…rules restrict options, and restricted options offer a challenge, and overcoming challenge is a big part of having fun.

He had taken two members of the audience, and had them come up on stage. He had them play a game where they were to say a word – any word that popped into their head – each in turn. There was no challenge, and it wasn’t very interesting to watch. He then (if I remember correctly) added a rule that the word had to be a proper name – any name. They were a little more hesitant as they modified their game to use only names, but still had no trouble coming up with words to use. He then restricted it to names of the United States, and then they had to do them in alphabetical order. At this point, the participants had much more trouble thinking of what to say next, and it was far more interesting to watch – in addition, the audience was following along, coming up with their own answers in their heads, making the whole thing much more interactive for the audience.

Zimmerman’s example has stuck with me as proof positive that rules create challenge, and in the right environment and with the right rewards, challenge can be a lot of fun.