A Space of Time
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Winner of Internet/Multimedia Category
XXVI Moscow International Film Festival (
The festival is one of the eleven competitive feature film festivals accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). Among these eleven accredited festivals are those hosted at Venice, Berlin, and Cannes.
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Art Direction Award
Philadelphia Documentary & Fiction Festival (
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2004 Doctoral Prize S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Title: The medium is the measure of itself. Using tracking data for deductive and inductive analysis of the users of interactive experience and their behavior.
Scientific experimentation was based on the tracking behavior of 435 users of A Space of Time*. Results from research show a methodology to understand and foster enjoyment of computer-based storytelling. http://www.aspaceoftime.net/theMedium.html
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Official selection for:
European Media Arts Festival (
Basics Festival (
Arte Digital: Poéticas y lenguajes (Cuba, Jun 2004)
Toronto Online Film Festival (
Media Arts Festival (The
Artronica (
New Forms Festival (
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Watch "A Space of Time Trailer"
QuickTime Video
Small Screen - Medium Screen - Large Screen
Windows Media Video
Small Screen - Medium Screen - Large Screen
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Watch "The making of A Space of Time"
QuickTime Video
Small Screen - Medium Screen - Large Screen
Windows Media Video
Small Screen - Medium Screen - Large Screen
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Production Team
Diego Bonilla – Concept, Screenplay, Director, Production Management, Editing
Sarah Pickett – Original Soundtrack and Digital Sound
Amber Hansel – Assitant Production Management, Assistant Director
Michael Heroux – Location Sound, Flash Coordination, Camera
John Mannion – Lighting, Camera, Editing
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Contact
diego@hypergraphia.com
Description
A Space of Time is a non-linear hypermedia experience that is only possible thanks to computer processing power. The main purpose of A Space of Time is to take computer assisted alternative narratives out of the realm of hypertext and into the realm of hypermedia. A story is non-linear because its narrative is presented outside of chronological time. Viewers of A Space of Time may see scenes from the "end" of the story before experiencing ones that introduce key characters. These scenes, however, are created in such a way that they are brief stand-alone glimpses into the lives of these characters.
The experience is broken into more than 700 videos, 190 QTVRs, 105 audio files and 18 Flash animations that are displayed in two different ways: 1) “Limbo” and 2) “Stream of consciousness”. The “Limbo” version of the story entails the exploration of a photographic quality Immersive Environment. As the user peruses the structure, different pieces of the main plot can be extracted. The virtual environment is a century-old building where part of the story itself unfolds. Giving the user the opportunity to interact with the same space where the scenes occur augments the immersion effect.
The “Stream of Consciousness” version creates a different linear piece every time it is experienced. The scenes and the complimentary videos that form the story are re-arranged by following a series of statistical formulas. New technologies and the latest computer processors permit immediate access to video streams, which in turn allows the shuffling and presentation of the scenes in different chronological order. The algorithms in A Space of Time not only reshuffle the content based on predetermined probabilistic patterns but also can eliminate or add video sequences to the final experienced version.
The beginning and the end of the story are fixed in order to create cohesiveness among all the pieces.
Synopsis
A Space of Time is not a story, it is a space that contains one. David, the main narrator, is a homeless person who has found shelter in a century-old abandoned building. Once settled he starts suffering temporal lobe epileptic attacks and having visual and auditory hallucinations. Reality then becomes a mix between his past, the building's past and their common present.
As he explores and inhabits the aged structure he comes to believe that it contains fragments of time, and that these fragments narrate instances of the people who have entered it. Through a series of interviews, David cleverly intertwines his life and the stories he believes are held inside “the container”. Foremost, the life of a young woman named Pandora. She entered the building with a group of friends and since that day David is able to experience fragments of her life. He also narrates stories related to Ira, the janitor, and Jeremiah, his nephew, who both use the vacant building for their enjoyment and gain.
As David narrates, Pandora has a grudge against the advertising industry. Beyond any criticism of any specific advertisement she condemns mostly the sheer volume. She believes that the pervasiveness of advertising in people's lives has a reached a level in which it has negative psychological consequences. Pandora explains that the implied reality in most advertisements is that there is a need and that need has to be fulfilled to be happy. She points out that the repetition of that implied reality engenders anxiety and lessens our psychological well-being.
In addition to her criticism of advertising, Panda, her friends and colleagues express their contempt for the blind use of technology, the commercialization of love and sentiment, current fanatical faith in science and the ever-increasing speed of so-called "progress." Without a real opportunity to change things, Pandora then decides to rant on the Internet by writing powerful animated poems that express her believes about the advertising industry. The rants lead her to participate in a TV show that probably David watched before Pandora actually entered the building.
Are there any more associations between David's life and Pandora's? As the story moves forward David and Pandora's characters get more defined and at the same time more interconnected. Could all of it be in David's mind? Most probably not. The non-linear presentation of the fragments of time inside the container slowly constructs the overall story and shows the intricate interlacing of the plots.
Non-Linearity
Western Civilization is dependent on the idea of linearity: cause and effect, with events and choices leading in one direction, in a straight line from “once upon a time” to “happily ever after.” But is life really all that linear? Do we experience a simple progression from start to finish? Or do we jump around, first living in the moment, then remembering a time past, then focusing on a time in the future? If you’ve ever experienced a movie or story that contained flashbacks or foreshadowing, you’ve experienced a little bit of non-linearity, as the author tries to reveal to you only what he or she wants you to know when he or she wants you to know it.
A Space of Time attempts to explore the notion of non-linear time by using computer-processing power. A Space of Time and its random scene generator (made possible by CAST technology), allow you as the viewer to have a unique experience of the A Space of Time story.
Non-linearity is tied to the idea of a stream of consciousness, wherein a story happens based on the way we as human beings experience memory. Memory, consisting of emotional residues of the past and ergo our expectations of the future, influences the now and makes it something more than just one more step in a chain of causation.
As the Internet gains popularity, non-linearity becomes more and more a part of out every day experience. The ability to access hyperlinks and graphics which lead to deeper levels of information, will allow us as Internet users to develop our own way of looking at the information and at the world. Non-linear thinking may be the only way to develop a real understanding of how we as human beings interact with time, and how it influences the way we choose to shape that reality.
Escape the bounds of time – and create A Space of Time in your mind that is all your own.
Computer Aided Storytelling
We’ve come a long way since the days when storytelling around the evening fire was tradition in our log cabin homes. But from the days of old, when bards and minstrels shared stories and music throughout Europe, to the development of the printing press and the spread of the written word, storytelling is a fundamental part of how human beings communicate history and tradition.
With the advent of new forms of media, like radio, television and the Internet, storytelling has become more than entertainment, it has become a multi-million dollar industry which has the power to shape the way we as individuals see the world.
The computer and its ability to revolutionize the way media is created also allow media creators to think of new ways of looking at things. The montage was created at the start of the 19th century when film made it possible to show people images quickly for emotional effect, without the need to actually give that image time to register in the conscious mind. Now, computer aided storytelling takes the tools of media and media consciousness and put them in the hands of the everyday computer user.
Computer aided storytelling allows creators to generate the world they want to, rather than being limited to the world we live in. A Space of Time was created using a technology invented by the creator, Dr. Diego Bonilla. The CAST technology allows the movie to be completely randomized based on a series of algorithms. In his desire to change the way we look at the world, using computers to change the way we view the story, the technology and the computer make it possible for each of us to experience a unique, non-linear story which is different for every person, at every showing.