3D spaces are immersive, engaging and offer the oo-la-la factor that wows most of us.
However as we discovered designing for interactive multimedia over a decade ago, oo-la-la doesn’t work all of the time when telling a story.
Simplification of space in constructing narrative becomes key, as written in Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. There needs to be a fine balance between the message you are trying to convey and the interpretation you allow the audience to engage with.
Unlike film-making, where you construct a linear narrative to tell a story – 3D worlds take the audience through an independent journey. You set the stage. The audience participates. You can guide and create a pathway to information utopia. Information needs to be clear, purposeful, and constructed “inverted-pyramid style” – with the conclusion first.
“Help” your audience to “discover” the most important information easily and quickly using the interactive and multi-user nature of the 3D landscape. That can be a dazzling experience of it’s own without the need for smoke and mirrors.
Mind you, I know my avatar is wearing some kind of *bling*right now. As they say – Razzle Dazzle.
I’m a student in the Irish National Fim School and have chosen to do a paper on this topic after reading ‘Hamlet on the Holideck’. I knew something was wrong with ‘Beowolf 3d’ but couldn’t put my finger on it, so I leafed through ‘holideck’. At the time I felt it was lacking in empathy but didn’t know why. I think now it was due to the effect of 3d’s ability to place you in an enviornment. It seems to become more like a ride at ‘Universal’ than a movie.
Do you have any other ref other than Mc Cloud?
Hi David. Would be happy to make a recommendation if you could be more specific. What type of references are you after?
Cheers
not sure if you get this reply..but I will try anyway.
can you think of 3d narrative flow through 2d graphic space?
some books have that quality, (Alexey Brodovitch, paul rand..)
Is concrete poetry one of them? I am very intrigued by this three dimensional narrative quality