3-D Storytelling: Michael Utvich Original “Writing for Multimedia” Universe

The Circular Page 1994

Michael Utvich  developed an interactive narrative concept for multimedia I called “The Circular Page” in the early 1990s, because I felt it was necessary to redefine not only writing, but reading for the new medium. The conventional language of “bound books” no longer worked for online content, publishing or media – the page was for the reader; the screen for the user.

In a conventional book, the specific gravity was very clear.  Everyone knew that a Page begins at the top left , and you read to the right, down the page, and turn when you hit bottom.

In “The Circular Page” concept, I held that the web screen had no top, bottom, left or right, at all.  So where was the “Circular Page” supposed to Start?” My answer was “Where the User says it does – based upon what interests them the most!”

Writing For Multimedia 1995

I proposed my first course in “Writing for Multimedia” to UCLA Extension only a year after the World Wide Web debuted. I had been working online with a modem and an IBM-PC since 1987; there were many online Bulletin Board Services (BBS’s) active, and I was a member of The Whole Earth Live Link, aka The WELL, founded by Stuart Brand (known also for The Whole Earth Catalogue) an online discussion Salon, with many of the movers and shakers behind the emerging Cyber Media movement including Esther Dyson, Howard Rheingold and many others.

My first class debuted in 1995. I had a 13-Week session following the UCLA Quarter System. The foundation content addressed the difficult aspects of structuring information designed to be “navigated” online with a Mouse/Cursor device and structuring Content to be read in a Spatial environment that moved not just left to right (like pages) but might move Up/Down and unpredictable angles, in other words –  ALL directions.

The key focus was Headline / Navigation elements that created a Structure for the user to follow. Lacking the forced page flow of a book, Web (pages) could go anywhere, and a web Writer had to Design as well as Write to avoid Readers “Lost in Cyberspace!”

“Your Life Story As A Building”

I taught multiple courses each Quarter at UCLA Extension (UNEX) and going to 1996, I added an interactive story development activity. To keep it real, I directed them to write their autobiography in the form of an interactive 3-D Museum (the basic form of a discovery building) or any other structure or designation they liked – from a Fantasy Castle to a complete Amusement Park destination!

To get an idea of how I structured this complex assignment, the following few initial instructions that showcase structural elements to the interactive elements should provide some ideas:

·        Portal: The entryway into the story environment you create. You may have one or more portals, each of which takes you to a different area of the story world.

·        Pathways: How is your world ordered and arranged? Are there specific trails leading to particular kinds of content/story material. Where do these trails intersect?

·        Models: To create complex and integrated storyworlds, using a real world architectural or spatial format as a model helps you jump-start the creative process. A model gives you both a 3D framework to structure your story material, but also may suggest human social systems, associations, and habitual/ritual actions performed in that space that you can use as a basis to integrate your story world.

·        Map: Drawing the story world provides a key creative anchor that allows you to effectively step outside of linear narrative and develop truly 3-D information or fictional environments.

·        Rules: You may specify rules of exploration, for example, that the audience must visit a particular room before the (virtual) key on another room or area will be available to them.

This assignment is designed to show you how a “3-D Spatial Storytelling” approach works and how it is different from the traditional “linear narrative” format that defines the underlying structure for most of our books, films, and other traditional media.

In one or two sentences, state the key concept at the core of your storyworld. For example:

·        To tell the story of my life, I am using the environment of a large old house.  Different rooms within the house symbolize key areas of interest in my life as well as capture certain periods of my personal history.

·        Every person must be aware of both personal health and the resources the health care system offers. Using the spatial metaphor of a large urban hospital and health care center, this proposed site allows the user to discover, search, and learn about a variety of holistic and traditional health care services and resources for all members of the family.

In one or two sentence, indicate the architectural, natural or other spatial metaphor you have chosen as the vehicle to present your story and why.

·        Museum Model — allows the visitor to walk through exhibits representing key episodes, moments and spiritual experiences that are important in my life and directly experience them visually, with information, sound, and specialized media..

·        Garden Model — the garden is an environment with flowers, trees arranged at various “stations” and “sculptures” as well as certain “sonic events” that may take place. Emotional and instinctive connections with my life will be present, less focused on logic and ideas.

Create a hand drawn or computer art map of your storyworld, and show at least a couple of different pathways in different colors.

In one or two sentences, describe at least three of the portals into your site:

·        Through the front door, the visitor gets an overview of all the choices available, presented as a gallery of paintings in the great hall. By touching any one of the paintings, the user is transported there.

Describe at least three of the principal story pathways, rooms, or experiences in the site

·        In the Command Cabin, the user has a number of controls that display past, present, and future information about my life. By using various controls the user can display my personal history, learn about my interests and access links to learn more about them.

Describe special rules that regulate the operation of the site or the features within it.  Concept examples.

·        Once the starship has left the earth, the user will be able to activate the instant transporter wristband that allows instant travel to any of the planets shown on the star map.

·        To access the secret gallery, the user must visit bedrooms in the mansion and has clicked on the appropriate portrait in each bedroom, will the door to the secret gallery be opened.

The Value of 3D Spatial Storytelling

This assignment quickly became the epicenter of my “Writing for Multimedia” Course offering.

The value of Web-based Storytelling is that it supports user-interactive story environments that are totally distinct from established rule-based Game structures, Television programs and other forms of entertainment media.

Web-based Story environments may be as simple or complex as the Writer/Designer wants them to be. Within the course, they demonstrated the power of expanding a personal narrative story with simple interactive and discovery features, pathways and enhancements so a visitor could tour and experience the writer’s journey easily and holistically.

Course Expansion and Book Publication

Students from Corporate Media departments and TV / Film Studio marketing departments signed up as the buzz got around about the course generally and the Core Storyworld assignment.

I was recruited by other institutions to teach the Course or variants of it by American Film Institute, and through channels at the Writers Guild of America, west, I was selected to teach a Paramount Digital Entertainment Fellowship course in “Writing for Multimedia” at USC School for Cinema and Media Studies.

In 2004, Professor Heide Hagebolling, Dean of the School of Media at the University of Cologne, Germany contacted me about developing content based upon my “Your Life Story as a Building” Assignment for her new book on the leading Multimedia Artists in the world entitled “Interactive Dramaturgies.  Michael Utvich developed two Chapters specifically for this book about the development of my interactive media assignment.