Non-linear
storytelling
OCT. 18, 1999
Sitting in the opera house at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music this weekend, we were mesmerized by
Laurie
Anderson and her surreal multi-media musings about
the classic novel, Moby
Dick.
Time and again, Ms. Anderson
exemplifies what people are talking about when they talk
about non-linear storytelling. Her integration of images
and sounds and music waft and ramble and converge in a
way that few artists could hope to replicate.
But her interest in technology extends
beyond her performances. Ms. Anderson is developing a
new instrument, even-it’s called the Talking Stick,
and it’s being created in partnership with Interval
Research It looks like a cross between a light saber
and a pole for vaulting.
In the program for her show, she
describes it as, “a wireless instrument that can
access and replicate any sound. It works on the
principle of granular synthesis. This is the technique
of breaking sound into tiny segments, called grains, and
then playing them back in different ways.”
More non-linear entertainment: the
best-selling DVD of all times, of the hit movie, The
Matrix, the warped, futuristic, Kung-Fu influenced
romp from The Wachowski Bros. What the DVD allows you to
do that a tape can’t is enough of a reason to go out
and buy a player, now: turn off the dopey dialogue (I
mean, Keanu Reeves should just keep his mouth closed)
and watch the mesmerizing effects with just the music
track! The entire film! Also, there’s a trick where
you can, at selected points, veer off the film and into
a behind-the-scenes look at how that particular effect
was created.
Two examples of non-linear
entertainment in one weekend. Zowie! It really does feel
like the end of the millenium.
Related Links:
Net
piracy presents paradox to entertainers
That will be issue du jour when hollywood
moguls rub shoulders with tech leaders this week.
Entertainment giants such as Universal Studios and
Lucasfilm Ltd. are feverishly workin...
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