ShapeShifting TV: interactive screen media narratives

Abstract

This paper presents a paradigm, called ShapeShifting TV, for the realisation of interactive TV narratives or, more generally, of interactive screen-media narratives. These are productions whose narrations respond on the fly (i.e. in real time) to interaction from active viewers. ShapeShifting TV refers to productions made mainly with prerecorded time-based material, in which variation is achieved by selecting and rearranging atomic elements of content (e.g. video clips) into individual narrations. The aimed quality of the productions (e.g. narrative continuity and aesthetics) is at least that of good traditional linear TV programmes.The artefact which determines the way individual stories unfold, called the narrative space, is authored and tested by experts before the delivery of the programme. However, the adaptation of narrations to input, at delivery time, is automatic. ShapeShifting TV is a generic paradigm; it is neither production nor genre specific. Furthermore, it is not confined to television; it is about screen media in general. ShapeShifting TV is founded on a computational language called Narrative Structure Language (NSL) and is accompanied by a comprehensive software system for authoring and delivery (which implements NSL). These were successfully employed to the creation of a number of ShapeShifting TV productions, which extended genres such as drama, documentary and news with interactivity. This paper defines the ShapeShifting TV paradigm, outlines NSL and the associated software, and presents two ShapeShifting TV productions.

I Kind of Had an Avatar Switch

“…Feedback is given on the appropriateness of each decision after the choice is made. 'Our World War' may be described as 'pseudo interactive' [22], since it invites viewers to make choices to influence the narrative, even though the narrative is actually pre-prepared, meaning that the decisions are not necessarily played out in the action. Instead the action reverts to what the author has predetermined to be the correct choice.…”

“…6,10,22,17], and there is a lack of data regarding viewer engagement with interactive TV narratives. In our approach, we reviewed the literature on interactive print narratives [9], linear narratives [e.g.…”

“…Interactive TV dramas, defined as narratives in which the action is influenced by viewer interaction [15], offer new, immersive and selfdefined experiences. Interactive narrativity presents both an opportunity and challenge for TV programme makers seeking to create TV dramas that viewers will value and are economic to implement [22]. It has the potential to open up a new TV format, which meets the needs of people who have grown up interacting with digital media and content through game playing and the Internet.…”

Hypervideos and Interactive Multimedia Presentations

“…The Narrative Structure Language (NSL), which is used together with SMIL, is proposed by Ursu et al [2008]. NSL can be used to achieve a variation in prerecorded materials "by selecting and rearranging atomic elements of content into individual narrations."…”

Towards an Extended Festival Viewing Experience

“…Another trend in academic research is to address the complex structures of events, for example by offering finegrained navigation based on the structure of sports games [28], or adapting tools for authoring interactive video narratives [32] for personalizing coverage of events [18].…”