Participants' production diary conclusions / Egon Randlepp /

Conclusion

My personal interest in this study project was to explore the different possibilities of the use of moving image language on creating interactive applications. It was facinating to study how to implement the technique of cinematographic cut on the web environment. I was inspired by the Chris Marker's short film La Jetée (1962)and its efficient use of still images, and minimalist style of narration. I contend that this kind of cinematic story-telling is the most suitable for a Internet based story like Candira.

Elements
The form of the narration is hybrid. It connects the similar qualities, the moving image and sound, of film and television. On the other hand the quality like the size of the images and the speed of the Internet connection support the story-telling based on static image and text which is typical for comics.
A essential point of view, which had to be clarified, was the peculiarity of the Internet as a medium. Not only the number and size of the audio-visual elements had to be concidered as well as the unpredictable tempo of the narration. A Internet based drama has two differnt narrative tempos, one which is defined by the author and the other, the actual tempo of the story which is defined by the participant who is able to stay as long as wished in the chosen scenes.

Moving image
A suitable example of the interactive montage is the first day of the Dear Diary. The first scene starts with an animation of Candira, and at the same time the first paragraph appears on the screen:

Hey darlings! My name is Candira. I am 19. I am an actress in Bombay. Now I have come to Finland to look for my Finnish Father. I wish to invite you to follow my doings and beings and maybe even help me. Come!

The animation stops after this and the participant is forced to make a decision for letting the story go on. The still image of the stopped animation emphasises the importance of the participant´s interfering. The story can continue.

Nice choice, I'm glad. Hmm... I arrived some days ago via Moscow, spent hours at the...

The smiling close-ups of the face of Candira come to sight and stay looping there. These kernal points were important on defining the montage and its cut.

Conclusion
For me the most interesting part of the project was the use of the interactive montage possibility of looped, time-line based animation. It showed that the script and montage are closely related when used in new media. I find the project succeeded well, but from the cinematic visual approach there would be much more to be found.