Character Transformation

   

         I believe, that without universal character transformation, a story cannot be successful. There are countless stories where this is proven; like almost any action or horror movie with a female character. A more specific example would be of Mia Toretto from the The Fast and the Furious franchise. In the fifth movie, her main role seems to be having a reason for the three of them to stay together in Rio de Janeiro and providing the others with non-pertinent information. Now, I realize this is a movie geared toward young males, who don't really care about too much character development, but if you care, even a little, it's really hard to watch and enjoy the story. 
         Unfortunately, it seems that if you're going to have badly developed characters, the women are always the ones that suffer. If you took Mia out of the story, it wouldn't effect it. She's pretty much useless; just another reason to make the men feel more useful and manly. 
      Having characters -- especially ones who are supposed to be important to someone vital -- who are not properly developed or have no transformation, is dumb. It ultimately makes the main characters seem lacking. How are they supposed to be smart and able-bodied when the company they keep can't do or say anything useful? Having two-dimensional characters that are supposed to have a some sort of importance, ends up taking away from the story in the end. 
      Without character transformation or development, especially in women characters, the story can seem lackluster. It can easily make or break your production.



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The Wilderness Downtown

         There are several different ways to incorporate an audience into your digital story. The more ways you find that work, the more successful your story is likely to become.
         One of the most effective and memorable ways I've ever seen it carried out is something called 'The Wilderness Downtown.' It's an interactive music video for the band Arcade Fire for the song "We Used to Wait." It uses different interactive methods to get the audience more invested in what they're watching. When you first load the page, a very unique type face is brought up, as well as a tree, sun and animated birds. Under the title, there's some basic information about the video which includes: the director, the song and what it was made with. But, the most important thing on the whole page, is what's under that. There's a box where you can enter an address, preferably of the home of where you grew up.
         I believe entering that address is the most important thing because it makes the video so much more personal for the viewer. Without the personalization, the video loses its connecting factor, making it less interesting and making the viewer less invested.
         Something else that includes the viewers further, is the fact that you can share your video, or the website in general, with your friends on Facebook or your followers on Twitter. They also give you information on how it was made and first designed to the company's that made it happen.
         Once you put in the address, a new window pops up with a video of man running, as the video progresses, new windows consistently pop up with animated birds and Google Street View. This draws the viewer of the video in more, because of the recognizable material.
         In conclusion, the more you can involve the audience, especially on a personal level, the more successful and entertaining your video will be.




You can view the website here.