Getting unstuck

I don't really understand why I am detailing my meanderings with my theory, so the direction has been a bit chaotic. In an attempt to put words to paper, I am starting with a performative breakdown of the elements and trying to transform it into a detail of how the theory worked in practice.

The Form through the Formula

The technical, visual aesthetic, and formal linguistic (semantic/lexical/phonemic) decisions were informed by the performative function of each element and a counterpoint between the circular form of the goose's (heroe's) journey, interactive paradigm, suggestion of indexicality, character arc, and the indexical allusions of the aesthetic.

The interface changes from a book to an interactive animation at a moment in the story when the protagonist is out of his element. This is done in order to generate a disorientation for the audience and identification with the protagonist through a common experience. In order to be effective, the audience has to expect the interface to behave like a book. For this reason, several of the aesthetic decisions in the beginning of the story and the end are made in an attempt to evoke the presence of a book (my ideas of evoking presence are based on the “aura” described by Walter Benjamin in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, but I do not think the actual artifact needs to be there to generate a similar sensation).

Examples of illusory imagery to imply indexicality are in the “book opening” animation, the “vine text” animation, and the sound of a page turning that accompanies the transitions between the scenes when the goose is in the human world. The performative function of the opening imagery, interaction, and animations associated with the experience of reading a book (i.e. paper texture, shading, and sound of paper) is to mislead the audience to anticipate the experience to be similar to reading a story from a book and the dramatic effect when the expectation is broken.

Locution	imagery, interaction, and animations associated with the experience of reading a book (i.e. foliage, shadow, imagery/sound of paper)
Illocution	suggest that the audience is holding a book
Perlocution	suspension of the awareness of the digital medium
Primitive	sound, interaction, and imagery with shading and dimensionality consistent with an object in the viewer’s space
Constative	this is an animation of a book
Explicit Performative Function	mislead the audience (i. e. build an expectation that the experience will be like a book in order to break the expectation for dramatic effect)

Cited:

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, edited by Braudy, Leo and Cohen, Marshall, New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.