Comments on: A Look At Dreaming Methods

By: Chris Joseph » Dreaming Methods February 2008

Chris Joseph » Dreaming Methods February 2008 — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:43:15 +0000

[...] talk at the IOCT Salon, De Montfort University last month, and explore a varied selection of other sites and postings that have recently been discussing the work featured on the [...]

By: Theron Gibbons

Theron Gibbons — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 03:27:26 +0000

I know it takes an entirely different tac, but Lizzy, a comic at http://comics.cyberneticevilstudios.com/ , uses a similar approach to integrate images, animation, and sound, and tell a story in a more straightforward approach to tell a rather violent, somewhat sexually charged science fiction story.

By: Sebatinsky

Sebatinsky — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:50:54 +0000

My feedback on the site:

I agree with Eli at http://www.novelr.com/2008/01/04/a-look-at-dreaming-methods
that this is a very ambitious project. I’m not certain that I agree about how successful it is. Although you achieve something very interesting by combining media in a fairly innovative way, I’m afraid that you’ve combined more limitations than you have benefits.

Like a TV show, there is a forced engagement – you cannot enjoy the story at your own pace like a traditional story or book. However, you don’t gain one of the large advantages of the visual media, which is ease of understanding. This requires at least as much concentration as a traditional story, but, in my opinion, delivers less.

Where this project excels is atmosphere. The soundtrack on the story I read was excellent, and the drawings and paper in the background were excellent (although some of the stuff in the foreground obscured words, and that was frustrating.)

So, overall I am impressed with the audacity of this project, but underwhelmed with this approach to media as a possible category or genre for future storytelling.

-Sebatinsky

By: Theron Gibbons

Theron Gibbons — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:51:04 +0000

I think the best rough fit for this kind of work is Intermedia, which is a relatively new style of art in and of itself. I have seen this kind of story telling played out in a gallery format as well, where as many senses as possible are engaged to relay a concept that might be simple or symbolically complex. I have also seen what might seem the opposite, a story told on oddly assorted slabs of sculpted brass, set in a gallery so one had to walk about from page to page. I forget the author/artist, as this was many years ago, but it took me most of the day to read it, and I regret now that I didn’t have some large pieces of paper and crayons with me, so I could try to get into trouble ‘collecting’ the works .

I highly doubt that prose is going anywhere, because it is perhaps the most illusory of the artforms in which ideas can be expressed. It engages the senses most intimately by simply not engaging any of the senses.

By: Alexandra Erin

Alexandra Erin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:05:13 +0000

I’ve no doubt that prose will. The radio and the TV didn’t end it, did they? Prose is more portable, more accessible, and has lower barriers to entry.

By: Gavin Williams

Gavin Williams — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:02:43 +0000

And I thought Alexandra was being ambitious when she used the web for her serial with bonus chapters, and then I took that model and had chapters branching off from the main storyline so that readers could follow the thread they were most interested in.

This site goes way further, in an amazing way.

However, I agree with the comment that traditional books might always have a place — they may become digital, but prose stories themselves are special because the pictures and scenes necessarily come from the readers’ imaginations interacting with the words of the author. That’s a special relationship that I don’t think can be replaced, no matter how cool a mixed media idea might be.

I think it’s awesome and almost its own art form, but I hope prose sticks around.

By: jz

jz — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:30:55 +0000

Er… Make that “last year seems to have been” the year for Neil Gaiman movies… Still haven’t adjusted to the fact that it’s 2008.

On the other hand, “Coraline” (another movie based on one of Gaiman’s novels) will come out in 2008.

By: jz

jz — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:27:48 +0000

@Eli: You may have heard of Sandman (the comic book series) or his various novels (American Gods, Good Omens, Anansi Boys).

If not, this seems to be the year for Neil Gaiman movies. He wrote the screenplay for Beowulf (released in Novermber 2007) and the novel that Stardust (movie released in August 2007) was based on.

By: Eli James

Eli James — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 05:32:10 +0000

@Lexy: Neil Gaiman sounds very familiar. Where have I heard of him before?

@Sharon: It’s still highly experimental, but I’m betting these kind of works will thrive on the Internet. They’re free, they’re engaging, and they appeal to a generation that doesn’t read so much as watch.

Same here. I think it’s purposely built that way – like a puzzle you have to solve before the next part of the story unfolds.

By: bibliobibuli

bibliobibuli — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:12:50 +0000

i agree with you. one branch of the future for sure.

was thinking hard about ebooks. i believe that if ebooks become the main way in which books are read, it will be fine for reference materials. maybe for short literary texts. but it would be the end of novels.

why have static words on an electronic page when you can have so much more going on, other media can be integrated and when reading can be so interactive?

i think we will see a new hybrid form.

and i also think the printed book (especially for the novel) will still have its place.

btw – it might just be me but i found these stories hard to navigate. didn’t know where to click or what to do. dunce. duh.

By: Alexandra Erin

Alexandra Erin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:19:14 +0000

Interesting. I am inexorably reminded of the Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean collaborations, wth Neil’s writing and Dave’s mixed media artwork.