31. 31
“NARRATIVE IS RELATED TO THE IDEA OF
CONTEXT. NO MATTER HOW COMPLETE OR
COMPREHENSIVE A NARRATIVE APPEARS.”
David
Campbell,
Professor
at
the
Colgate
University,
New
York
43. LINEAR STRUCTURE
The most classical way to tell a story.
Examples: Bucarest Below Ground – Le Corps Incarcéré – 127 Rue de la Garenne
+ : Easy to create, easy to use, that’s the traditional way to structure a story (chapters, pages etc) . You can easily control the narrative arc. Info overload
(difference between nb of stories available and stories actually seen) is null.
- : No interaction, little engagement, every users haas the same XP (experience)
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44. DYNAMIC OBJECT STRUCTURE
Very common structure for interactive documentaries. The user enter the story by a hub of “objects” (map, list, mosaïc). Not for fiction
Examples: The iron curtains – Behind the Veil
+ : Apparent simplicity, Liberty, possibility to aggregate non-homogenous pieces of content .
- : Risk to loose the intention of the author, Info Overload very high, the user can feel lost in front of these multiple choices.
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45. FISHBONE STRUCTURE
A very well known structure in interactive documentaries, that the used by ”Prison Valley”. A mix between linear and non-linear
structure that allows to visit additional content.
Examples: Pine Point – Prison Valley – The Defector
+ : Strong narrative structure, good interactivity, the user can see all the content, the author is “safe”.
- : Can be deceptive because if the story stands alone, why should see other contents? Info Overload moderate, be carefull not
to create more than 2 levels of content.
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46. BRANCHING STRUCTURE
The story gives different choices to the user (2 or more), at certain points of the story, the user has to decide whether he takes left or right and that
decision will shape the rest of his/her XP
Examples: Journey to the end of coal
+ : Interactivity very high, lots of choices, true sensation of liberty, Info Overload low, the user is engaged with the choices he/she makes.
- : High cost of production (lots of choices), a part of the story won’t be seen by the user, necessity to think about different type of scenario
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47. PARALLEL PATHS STRUCTURE
Branching story organized around gathering points, the user has to go through these points.
Examples: Jour de Vote – 6 million dead
+ : Interactivity very high, lots of choices, liberty a bit more limited but the feeling is still here, cost of production moderate, engagement is pretty high
due to good interactivity
- : Can be deceptive for those who expect a true freedom
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48. THREADED STRUCTURE
The story is narrated from different perspectives. It is a parallel story structure but with different characters in which different stories are crossing each
others.
Examples: Inside Disaster Haïti - Amour
+ : Good User experience, different stories can be experienced. The user can jump from node to node as he/she wishes.
- : Info Overload can be high, very risky to loose the user. The links between stories can be complicated. Complexity at the production level.
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