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teamblackcoffee-blog · 8 years ago

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Concept Art

Overview of Premise, Purpose, Features

Purpose

Overthinking as a narrative comes from the notion that something so innocuous as meeting a person for coffee can be so easily misconstrued into something different than what is intended. This premise, particularly relating to coffee, is intriguing because it is an activity that so much of the adult population share together.

Premise

We want to take advantage of this relatability and create a project that plays on the concept of overthinking the simple idea of going out for coffee. Utilizing the common act of asking someone to get coffee, we show the possible explanations of how a person may interpret the request. Through the various scenarios that play out in the lead character’s head, we show the often-absurd reasoning and conclusions that one may reach when excessively contemplating over a harmless situation.

Narrative + User’s Goal

The project will take form as a multi-linear interactive narrative film. The plot involves two friends providing alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident after running into each other at a bus stop. From the perspective of our main character Rick, the audience is led into overthinking the situation, encouraged to guide Rick through the story paths in order to uncover the true motive of his friend when she asks him to get coffee. Regardless of the input from the audience, the divergent narratives in Rick’s perspective unify under a single ending. Alternatively, the same incident through Tina’s perspective is linear, showcasing that there was never any ulterior motive behind going out for coffee. Coupling these two perspectives into one, the audience is presented with an exaggerated, comical, and amusing story.

Character Design

Rick (Main Character)

Rick is a nervous and paranoid university student who has trouble talking to girls. He tends to overthink harmless situations by creating unrealistic scenarios in his head. When Rick is faced with an issue, he often calls his friends for advice.

In the beginning of the story, Rick is already an awkward, nervous young man. As the story progresses, his awkwardness and nervousness grow even further as he contemplates Tina’s motives. At the end of the narrative, Rick is calmed by a sense of realization that he had over thought the entire situation.

Tina (Main Character)

Tina is an upbeat, charming, and confident university student, who used to go to highschool with Rick. She also worked with him in a coffee shop in the past. After graduating from high school, she left to Toronto for university. During the spring break, she is back home to visit her family.

As Tina is originally a calm, collected individual, her personality does not evolve as much as Rick’s does. She remains level-headed throughout the narrative.

Kevin (Complementary Character)

Rick’s goofy best friend since childhood who is currently studying graphic design in university. As a creative individual, Kevin often comes up with crazy ideas and schemes that get himself and Rick in trouble. He is loud, energetic, and not afraid to blurt out crazy ideas.

Caroline (Complementary Character)

Caroline is Rick’s conservative friend who balances out Kevin’s colorful personality. She has a rational, calculating personality and is the voice of reason when Rick overthinks.

Storyworld and Subsetting Design

Geography + Location

In North America, grabbing coffee is a common social activity when friends want to get together, as drinking coffee is a part of modern day life for many young adults. Our storyworld is set in Vancouver, Canada, where this coffee drinking culture is in abundance.

The main locations where the narrative takes place are our two characters’ houses and a coffee house where they used to work at when they were in high school. As well as a various outdoor settings such as walkways, bus stops, and lecture room in university campus.

The coffee house is meaningful because it is the setting where Rick and Tina’s friendship first began, the setting where they became distant, and the setting where they reconnect in the end. As homes are generally viewed as spaces of safety, Rick and Tina’s houses act as places where they should feel calm and secure. The outdoor settings act as transitions to move the narrative forward.

Time period

The story takes place in the present time, in 2017. Tina is currently visiting her family in Vancouver during the spring break. She has only been back for two days but she is already beginning to crave the oranges from her local food market where she used to go to when she was in high school. On her way to the market she bumps into her old high school friend, Rick. After a short conversation, she asks Rick if he wants to get coffee the next day because they haven’t spoken since she left for university in Toronto.

Narrative or Gaming Elements Design

The beginning interface is an interaction point where the user can choose who’s story to follow: Rick or Tina. We added the option to travel through Tina’s perspective to showcase how extreme and exaggerated Rick’s perspective is. Tina’s condensed, straightforward view is used to contrast Rick’s extended, complicated view. The purpose of this element is to afford the user the ability to choose which perspective they want to view the story though.

The tone of Rick’s perspective is generally quite erratic, in order to showcase his emotions when he is overthinking the text that Tina sends him.

Scene 1

Rick encounters his high school friend Tina at the bus stop, where they have a conversation and exchange contact information.

Scene 2

Rick receives a text from Tina saying “I can’t wait for tomorrow!”, which leads Rick to overthink what Tina’s motives might be. This scene is an interaction point where the user is able to choose between three options, which will establish the narrative they experience in the story. We added this multi-linearity to our story to represent Rick’s overthinking personality. By adding decision points, we can showcase Rick’s uncertain nature.

Scene 2A (Rick assumes Tina is asking him on a date)

As Rick overreacts, he concludes that he should call one of his friends for dating advice. This is an interaction point where the user can choose between two friends for Rick to call. As Rick is a nervous, paranoid individual, he often seeks guidance from his friends, so we included a scenario where he looks to his friends for answers.

- Scene 2A1: Rick calls his friend Kevin, who suggests that Rick should wear an outrageous outfit to impress Tina.

- Scene 2A2: Rick calls his friend Caroline, who suggests that Rick should wear something conservative, in case the meeting is not actually a date.

Scene 2A Resolution

Rick wears the outfit and buys flowers, but unfortunately gets splashed by a car while walking to the coffee shop.

Rick runs home, changes into a fresh outfit, and makes his way back to the coffee shop.

Scene 2B (Rick thinks Tina wants to meet with him so they can catch up)

Rick experiences a flashback where he and Tina used to work with each other.

Back to reality, Rick decides to write Tina an apology letter for what he did to her when they worked together.

After writing his letter, Rick practices reciting the letter all night and imagines how Tina might react. This is an interaction point where the user has two options to choose how Tina will react. We added this interaction because based on Rick’s nervousness, he has bad judgement when thinking about how people may react to things.

- Scene 2B1: Tina reacts well to the apology and says their incident is in the past.

- Scene 2B2: Tina becomes emotional and claims she will never forgive him.

Scene 2B Resolution

Rick walks to the coffee house feeling nervous and anxious for his meeting with Tina.

Scene 2C (Rick assumes that Tina wants to meet with him so she can ask him a favour)

As Rick is watching a television crime show, he over thinks and assumes that Tina is going to ask him a serious crime related favour.

Rick daydreams a scenario where he tells Tina he can’t help her because he is travelling to Yemen, concluding she won’t buy it because she’s not dumb.

Rick daydreams a scenario where he gets Kevin to call him as he is meeting Tina, so he has an excuse to leave the coffee shop. He concludes that Kevin will probably forget his responsibility.

Rick daydreams a scenario where he tells Tina he can’t help her because he has to work on a project, but he concludes that is not a strong enough reason.

Scene 2C Resolution

Rick realizes it is already morning, so he gets ready and walks to the coffee house feeling nervous for his meeting with Tina.

Scene 3

Rick meets Tina, quickly realizing she had no ulterior motive, and just wanted to have coffee with him.

The tone of Tina’s perspective is generally quite controlled, in order to showcase her carefree emotions as she is going about her day.

Although Rick’s perspective incorporates interaction elements, Tina’s perspective does not. We chose to do this to create a contrast between Rick’s branching narrative and Tina’s straightforward, linear narrative.

Scene 1

Tina encounters his high school friend Rick at the bus stop, where they have a conversation and exchange contact information.

Scene 2

Tina takes the bus to the grocery store, then takes the bus again to go home.

Scene 3

Once Tina gets home, she makes dinner and watches a Korean drama, then washes the dishes and goes to shower. Before she sleeps, Tina lays in bed and texts her friends Rick, Jenny, and Alex to hangout since she is back from her spring or semester break.

Scene 4

Tina wakes up, gets ready and leaves home to meet Rick.

Scene 5

On her way to the coffee shop, she is greeted by her neighbor and welcomed back from her break.

Scene 6

Tina arrives at the coffee house before Rick and sits down. He arrives a bit later and they begin having a completely normal conversation.

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teamblackcoffee-blog · 9 years ago

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http://www.sfu.ca/~rockys/313/flowchart.pdf

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teamblackcoffee-blog · 9 years ago

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script

Scene 1 | University lecture room. Day.

Rick, an awkward, 22 year old young man, has just finished class and is packing up his belongings. He leaves the school and walks to the nearby bus stop.

Scene 2 | Bus stop close to Rick’s house. Day.

Rick gets off the bus and begins walking to his house. At the same time, Tina, a 22 year old young woman who was an old high school classmate of Rick’s, bumps into him as she is rushing to make the bus.

Tina: (excitedly) “Hey Rick!”

Rick: (awkwardly) “Oh, hey Tina. Long time no see.”

Tina: “How are things going with you?”

Rick: “Uhh, oh not much. Just finishing up my degree and trying to look for some co-op job.”

Tina: “No way! That’s awesome. I just got back from my internship in San Francisco. Hey, we should totally go out for coffee soon!”

Rick: “Um, sure. When?”

Tina: (takes out her phone and pass it to Rick) “How about tomorrow at noon, at the Ki? Here, write your number down on my phone”

Rick: (takes the phone and type in his phone number) “Sounds good, see you tomorrow.”

After their conversation, Rick awkwardly walks past Tina and continues walking home.

Scene 3 | Rick’s house. Day to Night.

Rick opens the door, drops his bag in the living room and walks into the kitchen to prepare his dinner. As he cooks his dinner, day to turns to night. Once he is finished making the food, Rick begins to eat while watching a crime show on his couch. The lights are turned off and the only thing illuminating his living room is the brightness of the TV. While Rick is eating, he receives a text on his phone. Putting down his plate, he reaches across to the coffee table and retrieves his phone. When he checks the screen, he notices that Tina has texted him.

The text reads: “Hii Rick! I can’t wait for coffee tomorrow! See you soon : )”

Due to his paranoid and nervous nature, Rick begins to overthink the situation and begins formulating what Tina’s ulterior motives could be.

At this juncture in the story, the audience can decide what motive Rick should think. They can choose from either 1) Tina’s invitation for coffee was actually a date 2) Tina is attempting to confront Rick about what he did to her in the past or 3) Tina is going to ask Rick an extremely important favour.

If audience choose to have Rick think that Tina has asked him on date, then progress to scene 3-1.

If audience choose to have Rick think that Tina is trying to catch up with him and confront him about what he did to her in the past, then progress to scene 3-2.

If audience choose to have Rick think that Tina is going to ask Rick for a favour, then progress to scene 3-3.

Scene 3-1 | Rick’s house. Night.

Rick is flabbergasted at the fact that Tina would ask him out on date. Secretly, Rick had a crush on Tina when they were studying together in high school.

Rick: (says to himself) “I should probably call someone to talk about this?”

He looks at the contact on his phone, there are Kevin and Caroline. Kevin is Rick’s wacky, creative, and spontaneous best friend who has known Rick since they were babies. Caroline is Rick’s cool, calm, and collected friend who met Rick and Kevin when they were in high school. The audience can now choose to call either 1) Kevin or 2) Caroline.

If the audience chooses to call Kevin, then progress to scene 3-1-1.

If the audience chooses to call Caroline, then progress to scene 3-1-2.

Scene 3-1-1 | Rick’s house. Night.

Rick presses on Kevin’s name, phone screen changes to show that Rick is calling Kevin. Kevin picks up the phone, resulting in a split screen animation to appear on the screen showing both Rick and Kevin. During the conversation, Rick is nervously pacing back and forth in his living room. In contrast, Kevin is laid back on his couch and making animated hand gestures throughout the conversation.

Kevin: (cheerfully) “Hey dude, what’s up!?”

Rick: “KEVIN, I think Tina asked me out on a date earlier today. She wants to get coffee tomorrow.”

Kevin: “Haha, wow! That’s awesome man!”

Rick: (panicking) “What should I wear!?”

Kevin: “Hmm, I think you should definitely try to make a great first impression, you know? Try to wear something really out there so she remembers you.”

Rick: “Uhhh, ok I guess so. Anything in mind.”

Kevin: “As a matter of fact, I do! Wear a neon green T-shirt with white pants. Oh, and a sombrero!”

Rick: (unsure) “D-do you really think she’ll like that?”

Kevin: “Haha yeah dude! Of course she will!”

Rick: “Alright Kevin, I trust you. Catch you later.”

Kevin: “OHH and buy her flowers, girls love flowers!”

Rick: “Hmm, okay.”

Rick hangs up the phone and walks to his bedroom, leaving his food on the coffee table. In his bedroom, he opens his closet and begins to pull out the exact outfit that Kevin told him to wear. He lays the outfit out on his chair, then turns off the lights and goes to sleep. In his dreams, he sees himself holding hands with Tina.

This progresses to scene 3-1-1-1.

Scene 3-1-1-1 | Rick’s house. Day.

Rick wakes up from his sleep and tiredly gets out of bed. He sees the outfit he had laid out the night before, and remembers his upcoming “date” with Tina. With a sudden burst of energy, he jumps out of bed and rushes to his bathroom, where he begins shaving and grooming himself. After a quick off-screen shower, Rick appears fully clothed in the neon green T-shirt, white pants and sombrero. He pulls out his phone and checks the time. Realizing he only has an hour until he meets Tina, he rushes out of his house to buy her flowers.

This progress to scene 4.

Scene 3-1-2 | Rick’s house. Night.

Rick presses on Caroline’s name, phone screen changes to show that Rick is calling Carolin. Caroline picks up the phone, resulting in a split screen animation to appear on the screen showing both Rick and Caroline. During the conversation, Rick is nervously pacing back and forth in his living room. In contrast, Caroline is calmly doing homework on her laptop with a bored expression.

Kevin: (bored) “What do you want Rick?”

Rick: “CAROLINE, I think Tina asked me out on a date earlier today. She wants to get coffee tomorrow.”

Caroline: “Cool. She’s nice.”

Rick: (panicking) “What should I wear!?”

Caroline: “First of all, you don’t even know if this is a date, so don’t go wearing a crazy outfit. Keep it safe and conservative..”

Rick: “Uhhh, ok I guess so. Anything in mind.”

Caroline: “Hmm, go with a clean blue button up and regular jeans. No hat. Comb your hair.”

Rick: (unsure) “Ok sure. Do you think I should bring her flowers?”

Caroline: “Flowers are always a good idea.”

Rick: “Alright Caroline, I trust you. Thanks.”

Caroline: “Later.”

Rick hangs up the phone and walks to his bedroom, leaving his food on the coffee table. In his bedroom, he opens his closet and begins to pull out the exact outfit that Caroline told him to wear. He lays the outfit out on his chair, then turns off the lights and goes to sleep. In his dreams, he sees himself holding hands with Tina.

This progress to scene 3-1-2-1.

Scene 3-1-2-1 | Rick’s house. Day.

Rick wakes up from his sleep and tiredly gets out of bed. He sees the outfit he had laid out the night before, and remembers his upcoming “date” with Tina. With a sudden burst of energy, he jumps out of bed and rushes to his bathroom, where he begins shaving and grooming himself. After a quick off-screen shower, Rick appears fully clothed in the blue button up shirt, jeans, and combed hair. He pulls out his phone and checks the time. Realizing he only has an hour until he meets Tina, he rushes out of his house to buy her flowers.

This leads to scene 4.

Scene 4 | Street. Day.

Rick walks to towards the flower shop wearing what he was wearing in either scenes 3-1-1-1 or 3-1-2-1. After he buys a fresh set of roses, he begins walking towards the Ki Cafe. As Rick is walking, a car drives by him and splashes a puddle all over his flowers and clothes. In a panic, Rick sprints back to his house and changes into a new set of clothes. After he changes, he sprints again back to the Ki Cafe to meet Tina.

This leads to scene 7.

Scene 3-2 | Rick’s house. Night.

After seeing the text, Rick falls into a flashback, which is scene 3-2 flashback.

Scene 3-2 flashback | Coffee house. Day and Night.

Rick and Tina used to work in this coffee house together when they were in high school. In this flashback, Rick and Tina are the only people in the coffee house. Tina is brooming the floor and Rick is wiping down the counters. Tina stops brooming and turns to Rick.

Tina: “Hey Rick, do you think you can close today? I just got a call from my mom and I really need to head home early.”

Rick: (awkwardly) “Um, yeah sure.”

Tina: (gratefully) “Awesome.Thank you so much!”

Tina packs up her belongings and walks out of the coffee shop

Tina: “Thanks again Rick!”

Now by himself, Rick cleans the coffee house and takes out the trash. As Rick is about to lock up the coffee shop, his wacky best friend Kevin walks by and begins talking to Rick.

Kevin: (excitedly) “Hey Rick, want to go to the arcade!?”

Rick: “Yeah sure.

Distracted, Rick walks away with Kevin, completely forgetting to lock up the coffee shop.

The next day, Rick walks passed the coffee house and sees the boss talking to Tina and looking furious. Tina looks sad and is about to cry. Rick looks at the the door and realizes that he forgot to lock the door. He wants to go in and tell the boss that it was his fault, but he gets cold feet, so he ends up walking away. And that was the last time he saw Tina.

End of scene 3-2 flashback, back to scene 3-2.

Back to present time, Rick decide to apologize to Tina when he meets her at the coffee house tomorrow. He leaves the living room, walks to his bedroom and sits down at his table. He takes out a paper and pen, and starts writing an apology letter. He writes and tears the paper out, and writes and tears the paper out again. The clock ticks till morning and Rick (looking tired and satisfied) is done writing his apology.

He puts down the pen, read over the letter, and starts imagine Tina’s reaction. Here, audience can have Rick daydreaming Tina 1) react to his apology in a forgiving attitude or 2) getting mad and upset.

If audience decide Tina would forgive Rick, this progress to 3-2-1.

If audience decide Tina would get mad and starts getting upset, this progress to 3-2-2.

Scene 3-2-1 | Coffee shop. Day.

Rick finishes his apology, and looks at Tina.

Tina: (chuckles) “Hey, don’t worry about it, it was in the past.”

They hug it out.

This progress to scene 5.

Scene 3-2-2 | Coffee shop. Day.

Rick finishes his apology and looks at Tina.

Tina: (furious) “I never forgave you for that! I hate you Rick!”

Tina starts crying and Rick becomes really awkward.

This progress to scene 5.

Scene 5 | Rick’s house. Day.

After imaging Tina’s reaction, Rick realizes that he only has an hour until he has to meet Tina. He crumples up his apology letter and rushes out of the door and begins walking to the coffee shop.

This progress to scene 7.

Scene 3-3 | Rick’s house. Night.

A scene in the crime show that Rick is watching shows an accused murderer who is trying to convince his friend to help him out of the situation. As Rick continues to watch the show, he begins to have thoughts that Tina may actually be in a situation similar to the crime show and wants to ask Rick to help her. He begins to panic as he’s filled with paranoia that Tina is going to ask him for a favor that may put his life in danger. Rick begins to brainstorm a couple of excuses that he can tell Tina. As he brainstorms, he wanders off into a day-dream.

Scene 3-3 daydream | Coffee house. Day.

Tina: “.....Rick, I killed someone and I really need you to help me hide the evidence”

Rick: “Uh...what?”

Tina: “The body is at my house. If you could just come over tomorrow night to burn it”

Rick: “I…I’m moving out of the country tomorrow”

Rick daydreams of what Tina’s reaction might be. The audience can pick Tina’s reaction 1) understanding or 2) angry.

If audience think Tina would be understanding, then this progress to scene 3-3-1.

If audience think Tina would be angry, then this progress to scene 3-3-2.

Scene 3-3-1 | Coffee Shop. Day.

Tina: (sigh) “I understand…this is something so crazy I didn’t want to get anyone else’s involvement in. But since I ran into you, I thought you could be someone I can trust with this. Please don’t tell anyone.”

Rick and Tina continue the rest of the time at the coffee shop as if nothing had happened.

This progress to scene 6.

Scene 3-3-2 | Coffee Shop. Day.

Tina: “ARE YOU SERIOUS? After all these years of friendship, you can’t even help me with such a small favor?!”

Tina gets up and storms out of the Cafe.

This progress to scene 6.

Scene 6 | Rick's house. Day.

Snapping out of his daydream, and noticing that he only has only an hour until he has to meet Tina, Rick rushes to the washroom to brush his teeth. He hurriedly leaves his house and begins walking to the Ki Cafe.

This progress to scene 7.

Scene 7 | Ki Cafe. Day.

Rick walks into Ki Cafe. He sees Tina already seated inside and takes a seat next to her. They begin talking and catching up with each other. Rick realizes that he has been over thinking this entire situation. All Tina wanted was to simply get a cup of coffee. Rick is relieved and the rest of the time at the coffee shop with Tina is easygoing.

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teamblackcoffee-blog · 9 years ago

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teamblackcoffee-blog · 9 years ago

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Design Document

Overview of Premise and Purpose (Updated)

Purpose

Premise

Narrative + User’s Goal

Medium/Platform Features and Intended Audience

Medium

We chose to work with video, as moving image are one of the most straightforward traditional media for storytelling. A three minute condensed video clip communicates the central theme more efficiently than text and graphics would, because it demonstrate the idea of “show don’t tell”. By incorporating interactive buttons, the audience is given the opportunity to participate and contribute to the project. Therefore, the audience would have to be engaged in the video in order to have the story moving forward.

One limitation of an interactive video would be that it is not a game, and so it lacks gaming elements such as levels and character control. However, we can still include uncertainty, sense of urgency and emotional content in our video clips and make them more intriguing.

Platform

The platform we will be using is Eko Studio, which is an interactive video creation tool that allows us to affect, control, and influence narrative live-action entertainment. Eko Studio helps us connect our multilinear narrative by providing us with the freedom to design our interface, branch our story into different options, and include necessary animations that assist us in telling our story. The strength of Eko Studio is that it is easy to use, therefore we can branch out from a video clip with just one click.

Furthermore, we can customize our interface by designing where the buttons will be placed, how the buttons will look, and what functions the buttons will perform. By plugging in the icons we create in Adobe Illustrator, we are able to unify the overall aesthetic of the project and create a consistent experience for the audience.

A limitation of Eko Studio is its inability to edit videos directly on the platform. To account for this limitation, we plan to edit our videos in third party applications such as Adobe Premiere and After Effects, then import the edited videos into Eko Studio.

Our video falls into the genre of ironic comedy, where we play with the idea of overthinking on both our character and our audience. Once the audience sees how different paths would always lead to the same ending, they would understand the ironic message which we are trying to convey.

The intended audience for our project is stereotypical, modern university students with known traits of being nervous, awkward and having anxiety. These individuals may still be unsure of themselves and on their way to discover their true self-identity. People with these traits have the tendency to overthink scenarios that are given to them, as the habits of overthinking usually come from the insecurity of the person.

Our project is targeted to this group of people because we believe that the story of the project will relate to them the most, as it may be something that they go through regularly. People with anxiety often have the side effects of overthinking.

Storyworld and Sub-settings (Updated)

Geography + Location

Time period

The story takes place in the present time, in 2017. Tina is currently visiting her family in Vancouver during the spring break. She has only been back for two days but she is already beginning to crave the oranges from her local food market where she used to go to when she was in highschool. On her way to the market she bumps into her old highschool friend, Rick. After a short conversation, she asks Rick if he wants to get coffee the next day because they haven’t spoken since she left for university in Toronto.

Characters (Updated)

Rick (Main Character)

Tina (Main Character)

Tina is an upbeat, charming, and confident university student, who used to go to highschool with Rick. She also work with him in a coffee shop in the past. After graduating from high school, she left to Toronto for university. During the spring break, she is back home to visit her family.

As Tina is originally a calm, collected individual, her personality does not evolve as much as Rick’s does. She remains level-headed throughout the narrative.

Kevin (Complementary Character)

Kevin has been Rick’s goofy best friend since childhood. Kevin is currently studying graphic design in university. As a creative individual, Kevin often comes up with crazy ideas and schemes that get himself and Rick in trouble. He is loud, energetic, and not afraid to blurt out crazy ideas.

Caroline (Complementary Character)

Caroline is Rick’s conservative friend who balances out Kevin’s colorful personality. She has a rational, calculating personality and is the voice of reason when Rick overthinks.

User's Role and Point of View

We decide to use a third-person perspective for the interactive video, as third person point of view allows us to show our character’s facial expressions and body reaction upon each decision the audience made for the main character. In the beginning of the story, we want to establish our character’s paranoid, nervous personality by showing how he reacts to mundane situations. By establishing his personality in the early stages of our story, the audience will have a better understanding of the consequences and how he might react based on their choices.

In terms of user agency, the audience’s decisions seemingly affect the narrative of the story. Once the audience selects an option, the resulting video is played based on the choice they made.

Once the audience has made a choice, the gratification of seeing the selected video playing makes the audience feel as if they have made a difference in the story. However, as the story plays out, they understand that although they did make choices that affected the overall narrative, the ending was out of their control.

When the audience has chosen a decision of action for Rick to execute, the following scene is a direct outcome of it. Therefore, the player agency of Rick’s action decisions is the driving force behind the creation of each branching narrative; every combination of decisions made by the audience creates a unique narrative arc, resulting in the same ending.

Narrative and Gaming Elements (Updated)

The tone of Rick’s perspective is generally quite erratic, in order to showcase his emotions when he is overthinking the text that Tina sends him.

Scene 1

Rick encounters his high school friend Tina at the bus stop, where they have a conversation and exchange contact information.

Scene 2

Scene 2A (Rick assumes Tina is asking him on a date)

- Scene 2A1: Rick calls his friend Kevin, who suggests that Rick should wear an outrageous outfit to impress Tina.

- Scene 2A2: Rick calls his friend Caroline, who suggests that Rick should wear something conservative, in case the meeting is not actually a date.

Scene 2A Resolution

Rick wears the outfit and buys flowers, but unfortunately gets splashed by a car while walking to the coffee shop.

Rick runs home, changes into a fresh outfit, and makes his way back to the coffee shop.

Scene 2B (Rick thinks Tina wants to meet with him so they can catch up)

Rick experiences a flashback where he and Tina used to work with each other.

Back to reality, Rick decides to write Tina an apology letter for what he did to her when they worked together.

- Scene 2B1: Tina reacts well to the apology and says their incident is in the past.

- Scene 2B2: Tina becomes emotional and claims she will never forgive him.

Scene 2B Resolution

Rick walks to the coffee house feeling nervous and anxious for his meeting with Tina.

Scene 2C (Rick assumes that Tina wants to meet with him so she can ask him a favour)

As Rick is watching a television crime show, he over thinks and assumes that Tina is going to ask him a serious crime related favour.

Rick daydreams a scenario where he tells Tina he can’t help her because he is travelling to Yemen, concluding she won’t buy it because she’s not dumb.

Rick daydreams a scenario where he gets Kevin to call him as he is meeting Tina, so he has an excuse to leave the coffee shop. He concludes that Kevin will probably forget his responsibility.

Rick daydreams a scenario where he tells Tina he can’t help her because he has to work on a project, but he concludes that is not a strong enough reason.

Scene 2C Resolution

Rick realizes it is already morning, so he gets ready and walks to the coffee house feeling nervous for his meeting with Tina.

Scene 3

Rick meets Tina, quickly realizing she had no ulterior motive, and just wanted to have coffee with him.

The tone of Tina’s perspective is generally quite controlled, in order to showcase her carefree emotions as she is going about her day.

Scene 1

Tina encounters his high school friend Rick at the bus stop, where they have a conversation and exchange contact information.

Scene 2

Tina takes the bus to the grocery store, then takes the bus again to go home.

Scene 3

Scene 4

Tina wakes up, gets ready and leaves home to meet Rick.

Scene 5

On her way to the coffee shop, she is greeted by her neighbor and welcomed back from her break.

Scene 6

Tina arrives at the coffee house before Rick and sits down. He arrives a bit later and they begin having a completely normal conversation.

Structure and User Interface

The user is given navigational control with on-video buttons that will be prompted for the audience to click on using one of EkoStudio’s functions. They will be laid out on shots where the main character of the video itself is also contemplating on an action so that the third party audience could be experiencing immersion through the parallelism in the state of mind created from this.

Our given amount of user agency is directly intertwined with the narrative and with the interactions as well. Throughout the course of the narrative, within each scene acting as phases, the user is presented with a plethora of choices in the form of buttons to make that lead the user through different branching paths, each with their own encapsulated narrative arc. For example, a scene will consist of an establishing sequence that explains the context before prompting the user choices of actions (2-3 options) that would lead to the next scene: the next scene directly depends on the decision. After each decision, the user is rewarded with the output of their action, which helps the user feel as if their decision made a meaningful impact on the story.However, the overarching theme of the story is the idea of over thinking, of paying too much attention to inconsequential details. As a result, our ending had no other option but to be “meaningless” as well. If the user goes through every possible choice within the narrative, they will undoubtedly find that the endings are all the same. The protagonist reaches the coffee shop in the same state each time and then it ends, nothing of consequence happens and the protagonist is assumed to have realize that his stressing was in vain.

This is how the micro and macro narratives are linked - the protagonist is shown by the moving pictures (the action) to be over thinking while leading the user to believe that their choices carried tangible meaning. They may experience the same thing that the protagonist experiences in the story as they search for a branching path that leads somewhere other than coffee, and end up overthinking it.

Updates to the interface design include button design and layout. The buttons on screen act as visual cues for the audience to make a decision. The displayed buttons are layered overtop of the video, and every time they appear, it is an indication that a decision must be made. In terms of aesthetic considerations, we want our buttons to follow the same color scheme as the rest of the project.

Because our story (and visuals) will be humourous and light-hearted, we wanted our visual design to reflect that.

User's Engagement (Updated)

The audience progresses through our story with our main character Rick, who shares many attributes to most young millennials such as awkwardness, paranoia, and nervousness. These set of traits make Rick more relatable to our audience and establish a connection between them, therefore the audience will have a greater appreciation for the choices they make.

Throughout the course of the narrative, the audience will need to choose between buttons whenever prompted to. By selecting a button at the decision points, they are able to dictate how Rick’s story will play out. With the freedom to choose among several options, audience remain engaged and feel as if they are playing a crucial role in the narrative. By showcasing meaningful outcomes, the audience has a greater appreciation for their decisions, which encourages them to think more about each decision point. Also, we decide not to include any back buttons in order to avoid confusion during the experience. This moves the story forward to an essential ending point that is critical to the message of the story.

With our project, we hope to evoke emotions that will help create a memorable experience for the audience. By utilizing humor in the tone of storytelling, the audience will feel entertained by our characters and be interested in their progression through the narrative. With strong visuals, quirky characters, and hilarious jokes, we hope to capture strong moments of delight that will resonate with them.

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teamblackcoffee-blog · 9 years ago

Text

Story Bible

Premise and purpose

We looked at a series of associated social behaviours that are based on coffee drinking and we asked ourselves what does coffee mean in a modern society? What do people mean when they say “let’s go grab coffee”?

Something so innocuous as the idea of sharing coffee with another human being is enough to send even the most composed of young millennials into a feverish headspin as they begin to over-analyze each and every harmless detail if there is even the slightest inkling of a reason to do so. It doesn’t have to be coffee, it could be sitting in a park eating a box of caramels but coffee has a place engraved into our cultural narrative for multitudinous reasons. It’s a known fact that a significant portion of the adult population drinks coffee, so the idea that we can all manage to have something in common despite our diversities yet still manage to mentally displace ourselves miles apart through trivial meandering is a good jumping off point for exploring our fragilities as people. It’s something that everyone can relate to, everyone has gone out for coffee and everyone has overthought at some point in their lives.

Our project is a witty take on the idea of overthinking. Often times we as humans overthink things we hear or see by creating unrealistic scenarios in our heads. However, the most logical thing to do is to wait for things to happen. With our project, we display a multi-linear narrative of a character overthinking the simple concept of going out for coffee. As our character overthinks, the audience is also over thinking by trying to decide where to lead the story.

Medium, Platform, Genre

We will be using Eko Studio as the platform where we will build an interactive narrative film. Unlike using other media platforms, such as Youtube, this website allows us to customize the interaction buttons, therefore we would be able to unify the overall aesthetic of the project and create a consistent experience for the audience. Eko Studio also creates a skeleton path for the different options that the user can select in the interactive video. We can plug in the correct video for each path into the skeleton. Because of the skeleton path, Eko allows for a more seamless transition into the different paths selected by the user, rather than having to redirect to a new video or jump to a further part in the video.

Our video falls into the genre of ironic comedy, where we play with the idea of overthinking on both our character and our audience. Once the audience see how different paths would always lead to the same ending, they would understand the ironic message we are trying to convey.

Intended Audience and Market

The intended audience for our project are stereotypical modern university students with known traits such as being nervous and awkward, yet open to humor. These individuals may still be unsure of themselves and on their way to discover their true self-identity. People with these traits have the tendency to overthink scenarios that are given to them, as the habit of overthinking usually comes from the person feeling insecure.

User's role and POV

We decide to use the third person point of view for the interactive video, because we want the audience to be able to watch how our character’s facial expression and body reaction change with each decision the audience make for him.

The connection of the audience and the character is vital to the progression of the story because as the audience makes decisions for the character, the story unfolds depending on the decisions made. Different decisions result in different outcomes within the story. Since the user is shaping the narrative with their choices, they are directly impacting how they experience the interactive project.

Storyworld and sub-settings

Although the character of the story, Allen, does not have an explained background, it is subtly implied through the way he interacts with his friends Kevin and Caroline how he is as an individual. It could be that either of the friends mentions a past event that directly ties with why Allen is the way he is: slightly awkward or nervous.

It had been a while since Allen saw Bonnie, the last time having taken place in their alma mater high school. Even in their high school, they would not be what someone would say friends, but rather acquaintances that would occasionally say hi upon encounters. When Allen suddenly bumps into Bonnie in a very unexpected occurrence, Allen does not know how to make of the situation since the two were in very different social groups: mundane individual vs a beautiful and charming girl. This creates an interesting opportunity for the story to be developed through diving into the way Allen’s mind works.

Character design

Allen is a nervous and paranoid university student who has trouble talking to girls. He tends to overthink harmless situations by creating unrealistic scenarios in his head. When Allen is faced with an issue, he often calls his friends for advice. Allen hopes hopes to work in the computer science field as a software developer after his graduation. Although computer science is a very logic-based field of study, Allan is a very emotional individual.

Bonnie is a beautiful, charming communications student that is comfortable talking to new people. She has a carefree, positive personality. When Bonnie graduates, she hopes to become a news broadcaster. She is confident, caring, and considerate.

Kevin has been Allan’s goofy best friend since childhood. Kevin is currently studying graphic design in university. As a creative individual, Kevin often comes up with crazy ideas and schemes that get himself and Allan in trouble. He is loud, energetic, and not afraid to blurt out crazy ideas.

Caroline is Allen’s conservative friend who balances out Kevin’s colorful personality. She has a rational, calculating personality and is the voice of reason when Allen overthinks. Carolyn studies mathematics in university and hopes to become a business analyst when she graduates.

Narrative/Gaming Elements

The story begins with our character Kevin finishing his computer science class. He packs up and leaves the classroom. On his way home, Kevin bumps into Bonnie, a girl he used to go to highschool with. They talk for a while, say bye to each other, and Kevin continues to walk home.

Later, in the evening, Kevin receives a message from Bonnie. Bonnie asks Kevin to go out for a cup of coffee. Bewildered, Kevin begins to wonder what Bonnie’s true intentions are.

The narrative diverges from here. The user will be able to choose from three options, Kevin thinks Bonnie is

Asking him on a date

Wanting to catch-up

Or wanting to ask him a favor

If the user chooses the date, the story would develop as Kevin is getting anxious about the date and how he prepare himself for the date. If the user chooses the catch-up then Kevin has a flashback to a time when he wronged Bonnie in high school, and practices ways of apologizing to her. If the user chooses asking for a favor, then Kevin creates absurd excuses to tell Bonnie for when they meet for coffee, in an attempt to avoid fulfilling the favor.

Within each of the three major narratives, there will be branches of other decisions to be made that will alter how the user views the story, such as what outfit to wear for the date, how to adequately apologize to Bonnie, and what excuses to choose for when they finally have coffee.

Interaction Design/Interface

This project is meant to make the users assume that every single choice he/she makes impacts the outcome of the narrative arc. However, since the theme of this narrative journey is people’s tendency to overthink.

Our given amount of user agency is directly intertwined with the narrative and with the interactions as well. Throughout the course of the narrative, the user is presented with a plethora of choices to make that lead the user through different branching paths, each with their own encapsulated narrative arc. However, the overarching theme of the story is the idea of over thinking, of paying too much attention to inconsequential details. As a result, our ending had no other option but to be meaningless as well. If the user goes through every possible choice within the narrative, they will undoubtedly find that the endings are all the same. The protagonist reaches the coffee shop in the same state each time and then it ends, nothing of consequence happens and the protagonist is assumed to have realize that his stressing was in vain.

This is how the micro and macro narratives are linked - the protagonist is shown by the moving pictures (the action) to be over thinking while leading the user to believe that their choices carried tangible meaning. It’s a bait and switch maneuver, the denouement of each arc is the protagonist’s own internal realization that it was all for naught. Since it is an interactive narrative, it is more or less expected due to the brevity of the project that users will explore more than one of the narrative arcs presented. They may experience the same thing that the protagonist experiences in the story as they search for a branching path that leads somewhere other than coffee, and end up overthinking it.

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teamblackcoffee-blog · 9 years ago

Text

Concept Document

Premise and Purpose

The project will be engaging because it uses a seemingly harmless drug such as caffeine to highlight some people’s dependence on drugs to function properly. The fundamental purpose of the project is to present drug dependency in a satirical, engaging way.

The story follows the life of a student who is desperately dependant on coffee to function productively in his studies. Without drinking coffee, the student is an unmotivated, gloomy individual with no urgency in life. With coffee, the student is a superhero like figure that is able to tackle the toughest of issues with eagerness and speed. Our intention is to take serious issue such as substance abuse and present it in a lighthearted, fun way.

Audience and Market

Our target audience would be students, because we believe they are able to relate to the story the most. There are similarities between students and how our character experiences issues like stress and substance abuse. Through our project, we hope to help students understand the negative connotations of abusing drugs.

Medium, Platform, and Genre

We will be using website as the main platform for the project in order to fully immerse the audience into our story world. We decided to use interactive video as the medium to present our story, where there will be buttons on the website for the audience to interactive with. The genre falls under comedy and satire.

Narrative/Gaming Elements

There will be two different tones in the narrative. Without coffee, the tone is gloomy, and with coffee, the tone is bright, colourful and fast-paced. The audiences will make decisions for the character’s act which will lead to several outcomes as the consequences.

User’s Role and POV

Since our project is an interactive video, the audience is able to make decisions that directly affect our main character and the things that happen to him in the story. The audience would experience the story in a third person point of view.

Characters

The non-player characters in our project are the people in background in our library or cafe scenes that the main character will be working in. The whole story would be constructed as person versus self, therefore non-player characters in the video won't affect the behaviour of our main character.

Structure and Interface

The starting place for the user would be the website that would contain the video within it. Because our project is a video, there are no levels or modules. Instead, the structure of the narrative is based on choices that audience makes that affect the outcomes directly.

Storyworld and Sub-settings

The story is set in the character’s bedroom, house, and the library. The character will have to face his daily struggle against his urge to intake caffeine. With the intake of caffeine, he becomes more productive, and filled with a sense of eagerness to finish his work. However, without caffeine, he loses motivation and struggles to keep his focus on what he needs to do. This will be a contemporary story.

User Engagement

The goal is to give the user an insight on what substance abuse can do to a person and to spread awareness of the danger of intaking substances. Tension is added as the character drinks more coffee throughout the day, the more he gets affected by the build up of caffeine. Our character would experience sharpen hearings, increase in focus and heartbeat, colours would be vibrant. Thus build up the climax.

Overall Look and Sound

We will be using video to present the story. The overall look should be in a realistic setting, but we will incorporate saturated colour and dramatic camera movement to show scenarios of the main character overdoses himself with the caffeine. We will be mainly using ambient sound and sound effect to help develop the story.

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