That is what I thought she meant by it in the
interview. I've seen the same technique in soap
operas and waaaay back to Lucy and Ricky
(birth of little ricky). From the writing perspective,
it is a challenge because one has to take
a detour and intersect with the story line at
some point down the road. The thrill and the
trick is to keep a sense of connection and
forward momentum without actually spawning
threads that will interfere with the main storyline
later (eg, introducing a plot that makes it impossible
to get closure as planned). Since shooting schedules,
resources, scripts, etc. have to be planned in advance,
an arc could be a serious problem. OTOH, in VRML,
we could consider an arc from the perspective of a
story variant that potentially only one viewer ever
sees.
Yesterday after a concert I had a long talk with
one of my mates about how to compose a body
of work for a VRML world that takes advantage of
spatialization and proximity. We should begin a
thread here on the multi-dimensional plot in which
where the viewer enters and the route they take
affects the composition without their having to
fill in a multiple choice (eg, multi-branching) plot.
This is much more, the LifeVRML in which the
world evolves based on feedback, but the feedback
is not volitional. Is this still just a game?
Len Bullard
Intergraph Public Safety
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Saturday, May 02, 1998 3:23 AM
> To: Robert W. Saint John; Bullard, Claude L (Len);
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Short stories
>
> At 07:05 PM 4/17/98 -0700, Robert W. Saint John wrote:
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Date: Friday, April 17, 1998 10:45 AM
> >Subject: RE: Short stories
> >
> >> The gal who plays Dana Scully on the IckFiles mentioned that
> >> to deal with her real-life pregnancy, an "arc" had to be inserted
> >> in the storyline. Has anyone encountered the term before, and
> >> if so, what is the literal meaning? I think I can divine that, but
> >> what is the real definition?
> >
> >
> >arc, from "arching" as in "over-arching story".... the first time I ever
> >heard it used was by J. Michael Straczynski for "Babylon 5".
>
> Actually, I've seen this phrase ("story arc") used in print for many years
> and had the impression it was a storyline path which arced (curved) out
> away from the main storyline of the series (reaching out over several
> episodes - where the "arching" image applies also), to return to the main
> line later (when resolved).
>
> Probably could be or is applied currently to any multi-episode plot line.
>
> - Paul
