In Garrand’s book
“Writing for Multimedia and the Web”, a section of the first chapter is about
the importance of characters in multimedia. The book states that sometimes, the
main function of a character in multimedia is to guide interactions. For
example, in the Nancy Drew computer game, telephone calls from her friends as
well as other characters guide her in one direction or another. This is common
in multimedia such as video games and films. Video games allow the player to
have freedom over what they choose to do in regards to the game; film, on the
other hand, limits the viewer because they are not able to control what happens
next. Film viewers must rely on the characters in the film to progress the
plot.
One
of the most classic films of all time is Citizen Kane. The narration of this
film is quite unique because it is told from the perspective of many different
people. Throughout the film, a reporter named Jerry Thompson is trying to find
out the meaning of Kane’s last word: “Rosebud”. Thompson interviews many people
who knew Kane well during his lifetime. Kane’s life unfolds through the
memories of those who knew him. Specific details about certain characters also
unfold through the perspective of the characters themselves; characters
sometimes talk about themselves in the past, and sometimes they refer to other
characters in the past. Through this method of storytelling, the plot of “Citizen Kane” unfolds.
Garrand’s book states
that multimedia is the combination of many media into a single piece of work.
This could be a combination of video, text, audio, photos, etc., and so the
film “Citizen Kane” falls into the multimedia category because it (along with
most other films) incorporates video and audio. “Citizen Kane” is a great
example of how characters guide interactions. In this sense, characters in the
film “Citizen Kane” guide the plot of the film from one point to another.
Garrand’s book refers to interactions between people and the web (or other
forms of multimedia such as video games), but in “Citizen Kane”, the
interactions are between characters in the film. As stated earlier, films limit
interactions between viewers and the film itself because the viewers are not
able to control what happens in a film. However, the same basic concept of
characters guiding interactions can still be applied to films. The only
difference is that with films, the interactions are between characters in the
films.
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