320 Virtual World Design
Furthermore, your attention can be further divided by the effects of camera position, real-life interruptions,
your avatar’s position in space, the Internet connection you have, and other circumstantial things.
Narrative is clearly evident in literature, lm making, or theatre, but when narrative is intertwined with
virtual environments that contain immersive 3D design, it becomes much harder to separate and dene. In a
socially based virtual world, several kinds of narrative happen simultaneously. You are using your personal
camera, your point of view, to record and store your visual choices as a personal narrative that can be expe-
rienced collectively, in the 2D environment of a blog page and in the 3D environment of a virtual world.
This personal narrative you are collecting may contain someone else’s rst- or third-person narrative, so
the collective mix can be deep with meaning. A ne example of this type of environment is the War Poets
Exhibition in Second Life created by the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/
ww1lit/secondlife).
It can be visited in the region called Frideswide in Second Life (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/
Frideswide/128/128/21/). Within this virtual wartime environment, you walk the trenches of the World
War I Western front, seeing and feeling the dismal conditions while listening to sound clips of poetry and
journal entries written by the soldiers who experienced it. There are also places for viewing video clips from
current-day historians, who explain what happened there. Figure16.6 is a screenshot of the “gas attack”
section, which combines moving particle-based text from the historic descriptions and poetry of the time
FIGURE 16.4 Machinima stills from Olivier Florio (Tikaf Viper in Second Life). On the right, “Carnival,” shot on loca-
tion in 2011 at the Rodeo Drive sim in Second Life. The Carnival show was produced by Agtaope Carter-Lane, who runs
BeStyle District Agency. Left, two pictures from the 2011: A Year of Fashion, shot on location in 2012 at the Land’s End sim
(courtesy of the avatar Sudane Erato) and other locations in Second Life. The model is Federica Galtier, wearing designs
from Jador and Vega Celli.
321Machinima in Virtual Worlds
Storytelling and the Virtual Environment
Story Presentation:
fundamentally there are 2 ways to do it
Diegesis
the narrative telling of a story
Mimesis
the showing or enacting of a story
Oral History of
Social Group
Back Story
Architecture,
Landscape and
Cultural Design
Visual Elements
Temporal
Experience of
the Virtual
Environment
Our temporal and spatial perceptions
in a virtual environment are under the
influence of our subjective experience.
Things like these can affect our
understanding of the presentation:
• Camera Position
• Real Life Interruptions
• Avatar Position in Space
• Internet Connections
• and others
Spatial and
Structural
Experience of
the Virtual
Environment
Diegetic Elements
in a virtual environment
come to us from the
progression of a visual
experience, and the
audio elements of our
combined narratives.
Non-diegetic Elements
in a virtual environment
come to us from outside
the world of the story –
things like the UI,
the HUDs, and the
theme music.
Seeing the story from
many angles, some
of which are
other cameras
FIGURE 16.5 Chart showing the methodology of storytelling and how that involves the virtual environment. The
story is presented initially with Diegesis, and/or Mimesis. The virtual world story environment contains verbal things
such as backstory and oral history, and visual things like architecture, landscape and cultural design. Also entering into
that enviroment are diegetic elements of combined narrative, and audio, as well as nondiegetic elements like the UI and
HUDs. Underlying the whole are the temporal, spatial, and structural elements the avatar experiences. Furthermore, the
perception of the story can be inuenced by a number of factors such as camera position, real life interruptions, avatar
position , internet connection, etc.
322 Virtual World Design
with audio recordings of the same material. You experience both diegesis (the narrative telling of a story) and
mimesis (theshowing or enacting of a story) simultaneously in this virtual environment.
Spatial structure and temporal structure can become subjective in virtual environments, and that will
inuence the progression of narrative. One primary example of this is called phasing. In World of Warcraft
and other MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games), the server holding the game con-
tent will selectively reveal (or phase) the content visible to a player depending on the quests the player has
achieved [2]. When a group of players is colocated and communicating, differences in what each one will
see in the environment can lead to confusion. The World of Warcraft server puts a “phased” icon near the
player’s name card, but the group involved in a conversation or quest together may forget these differences
in the heat of battle.
If you decide to ponder this phenomenon, ask yourself these questions: How does the verbal/visual
language of my virtual environment create its own linguistic relativity? For instance, does it support the
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that semantic structures will inuence the observer’s perception of the world? And
if so, how does that shift my understanding of a world, inuence my social connections within the virtual
world, and impact my personal narrative? [3].
That is probably enough theory for now. You can revisit these concepts after you learn about how cameras,
their positions, and framing relate to narrative. Knowing how to set up a camera shot to support your chosen
style of narrative is critical to the success of your machinima.
FIGURE 16.6 Screen grab from Second Life showing the First World War Poetry Digital Archive, Frideswide region.
A complex recreation of the trenches used in WW1 exhibits poetry written by the soldiers of that war. This area relates
the experience of a mustard gas attack in sound, landscape, and visual text particles.
323Machinima in Virtual Worlds
16.3 VISUAL NARRATIVE AND THE CAMERA
How is the position and framing of a camera view involved with the visual narrative or story of an event?
Think about a sporting event for a minute. The rookie is facing the veteran. Half the spectators are expecting
the veteran to succeed, and the other half of the crowd is hoping the rookie will show up the over condent
veteran and beat him at his own game. This game is televised nationally, and somewhere in the TV production
facility of the stadium, a director is deciding what camera shots to use while the story of this time-honored
contest unfolds.
Now, sit down in the director’s chair and ask yourself: How would I tell this story? If you read back
through the description, you will see that four shots have already been described: (1) the face of the rookie,
(2) the face of the veteran, (3) the fans of the rookie’s team, and (4) the fans of the veteran’s team. Since the
story is just beginning, you can keep the framing wide and also let the observer see the full body shots of the
rookie and veteran, as well as groups of fans in the crowd shots.
As the competition escalates, it is a good time for a closer shot. Television directors of sporting events,
ofdebates, and other kinds of contests will move the camera in closer and closer to the faces of the partici-
pants as the competition becomes more intense. “Tight” shots, or shots framed very close to the face, will
build tension in the observer’s mind and transmit the drama of the event. And so it goes—the director’s job
is to choose the framing, camera angle (or position), and movement of each shot and present them in an order
that allows for the narrative story of an event to unfold to the observer. With media such as episodic television
and feature lms, the shots are usually made out of order for the convenience of the production crew, location
availability, and other factors. After all the shots are accumulated, they are assembled by the editor into a
progression that tells the story. This technique has been used for decades to create narrative stories, and it is
still a widely used methodology.
But, what of virtual environments? Now, we can invite the observer into the Bates Motel or the Temple
of Doom to create his or her own subjective experience and narrative in that space. We can populate the
environment with cameras driven by articial intelligence (AI), or “camera creatures,” that respond to our
gestures by lighting and framing the scene and characters within it [4].
Just as the novel and cinema created new ways of telling stories, perhaps games and the virtual environ-
ments that hold them will create a place for narrative to evolve into something else [5]. Janet Murray calls
this new form of storytelling “cyberdrama.” She observed the existence of a “game-story” and dened the
new genres as “the hero-driven video game, the atmospheric rst person shooter game, the genre-focused
role-playing game, and the character-focused simulation” [6].
In your preparation for making a machinima, you need a good understanding of the visual language of the
camera and the structures that narrative can take so that you can break the rules and still have a coherent nal
product. In the structure of a play, you begin with “stasis” or a balanced equilibrium in the environment[7].
To drive the narrative and give us a story to follow, the element of “intrusion” is introduced: war, plague,
religious leader, and so on. What transpires after that leads to the dramatic nature of the narrative, allows
for the intertwining of character plot lines, and eventually allows for some sort of climax and conclusion or
“ending.” These are the general guidelines of a linear plot utilized by plays, lms, and some video games,
but they do not completely apply to 3D environments. When you create a narrative-based 3D environment,
there is the “narrative of exploration” experienced by the visitor, there is the “ narrative storyline” that guided
you to create the environment, and there is the “event narrative,” which is continually created by the events
and actions of the avatars within your environment. You may choose to make a machinima that follows
any one of these narratives or possibly all three. What kind of machinima you choose to make about a
narrative-based 3Denvironment is up to you. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Imagination rules the world.”
324 Virtual World Design
16.3.1 Types of Camera disTanCe and Their narraTiVe QualiTies
We all know familiar shots; we see them again and again, all day long, in the more than 5000 images we see
each day [8]. In fact, we have seen them so often, that many of these camera shots have an iconic feeling to
them. Where would the sweeping historical drama be without the wide, establishing shot showing the armies
gathering? How can we know about the heroine’s deeply held secrets without a close-up of her face or eyes?
In Figure16.7, take note of the narrative apparent in these camera shots that relate to the distance of the
camera from the subject of interest. Notice how each shot has a different emotional tone and impact just by
how far away the camera is. Here is a numbered list, with the name of the type of shot in bold, and one sort
of narrative thread that could be attached to it:
1. Extreme wide: “Here is where our story starts/ends.”
2. Wide: “Wow, look at all the people around.”
3. Medium: “Who is that interesting person?”
4. Tight, half body: “I am really interested in them.”
5. Head shot: “She is looking at me!”
6. Close up: “I think she likes me!”
7. Extreme close-up: “I think she loves me.”
16.3.2 Types of Camera angles and Their narraTiVe QualiTies
The angle of the camera, especially as it relates to the eye line or the direction the eyes of the character are
looking, has a great effect on the psychology of the observer. A neutral eye line is parallel to the oor when
the character is looking straight ahead. Sometimes, the character’s gaze is “cheated,” and the character looks
a little more toward the camera than toward the person with whom they are conversing during the scene.
Figure16.8 shows the various major camera angles as they relate to eye line. The following is a numbered
list with the name of the camera angle (or view) as well as a narrative thread:
1. Eye line: “I am your equal.”
2. Low, under chin: “I am your subordinate.”
3. High, above eye line: “I am your superior.”
4. Worm’s eye: “You are really important/I am really unimportant or I am invisible.”
5. Bird’s eye: “I know all; you are my prey.”
6. Dutch tilt: “I am confused; I am tilting my head to understand.” This shot is also known as Dutch
angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, or Batman angle.
16.3.3 Types of Camera moVes and Their narraTiVe QualiTies
The movement of a camera and the dynamic force that movement adds to the meaning of the image are
frequently used in all forms of motion photography. For example, take a look at the 1939 version of Mice
and Men produced by the Hal Roach Studios and starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Lenny and Burgess Meredith
as George. There is a camera pullback in the barn as George realizes he has to kill Lenny. He puts the gun
in his belt, turns away from his friend, and walks out the door to do it. The camera acts like someone who
just heard a terrible secret and backs off in horror, widening the scene, as George walks toward the door [9].
In Figures16.9 and 16.10, the major categories of camera movements are displayed along with icons that
show the camera position and movement required to make the shot. Two numbered lists are provided next
with the name of the type of shot and movement along with the narrative thread.
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