MPHIL IN ARCHITECTURE AND THE MOVING IMAGE
3D NAVIGABLE DRAMATIC SPACE WORKSHOP  LENT TERM LAST WEEK MARCH 1-5 2004
Cambridge University Moving Image Studio
1, Bene’t Place, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EL

WORKSHOP LEADER:
Michael Nitsche	

CO-TUTOR
Stanislav Roudavski

PARTICIPANTS:
Name 	College                     	
Giorgos Artopoulos	Queens’	
Oliver Cooke 	Magdalene	
Kai Fierle-Hedrick 	Fitzwilliam	
P-H Hsu 	Clare Hall	
Popi Iakovou 	Queens’	
Vimal Mehta 	Downing	
Phillip Prager 	Darwin	
Matthew Roman 	Trinity Hall	
Natalie Zannettou 	Homerton	

AIMS:  
To
•	investigate and characterise the nature and culture of three-dimensional virtual environments (RT 3D VE) 
•	familiarise participants with the functionality, potential, and limitations of RT 3D VE
•	identify and demonstrate design properties of RT 3D VE
•	transfer to participants the fundamental conceptual skills required to design effective and realisable RT 3D VE

LEARNING OUTCOMES:   
On completion of the course, participants will be expected to be able to:
•	operate the chosen game/graphic engine 
•	identify and formulate key properties of virtual world community architectures
•	analyse the qualities of spatial and narrative structural criteria in a RT 3D VE
•	sketch designs within a given VE for a dramatic narrative scene between (at least one) character and the surrounding space
•	implement workshop-designs as a performance 
•	evaluate the narrative structural qualities and potential of RT 3D VE

CONTENT:
•	Demonstration, analysis and discussion of selected material relevant to the workshop topic, with particular emphasis on the specific properties of spatially organised narrative in VE
•	Active participation in chosen online VE 
•	Designing and sketching RT 3D VE architectures and inhabitants
•	Dramatising and implementing a scene in a RT 3D VE

METHOD OF TEACHING:
•	½ hr Introduction to Workshop, aims of the workshop
•	1hr tutor-led Presentation, Analysis, and Discussion, Multi-user Virtual Worlds vs Film vs Theatre – including relevant film clips to analyse and discuss
•	2 ½ hr Work Session, Using Virtools
•	1hr Screening, of inspirational clips for adaptation
•	2 ½ hr Work Session, Preparing, Adapting, and Storyboarding a Dramatic Scene and its Graphic Design; with Review 
•	2 ¾ hr Work Session, Finalising Scenarios and Design of VE
•	7 hr Work Session, Implementing Design into VE, Defining Camera Strategy, Lights,  and Staging
•	1 ½ hr Work Session, Rehearsing Performance
•	2 hr Review, Review of Performance

ASSESSMENT:
•	Final review and assessment of material produced in the workshop 
•	Supervisors’/Tutors’ reports on individual student achievement in 
•	Conceptual grasp of connection between story and space in VE
•	Design strategies for RT 3D VE
•	Designing scenarios for implementation in RT 3D VE

BOOKS/ARTICLES:

Books
-	Affron, Charles & Affron, Jona,  Sets in Motion: Art Direction and Film Narrative (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 1995) at CUMIS
-	Beardon, Colin & Carver, Gavin, New Visions in Performance: The Impact of Digital Technologies Swets& Zeitlinger, Lisse, 2004 (should be in CUMIS)
-	Laurel, Brenda,  Computers as Theatre  (Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1991) [Univ. Lib.] 420.c.99.117
-	Murray, Janet,  Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace (MIT Press, Cambridge, 1997) [Univ. Lib.] 730:4.c.95.642; [Univ. Lib.] 1999.9.2099 (paperback); also at CUMIS
-	Neumann, Dietrich (ed.),  Film Architecture: Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade Runner (Prestel, Munich/New York, 1996) at CUMIS
-	Potteiger, Matthew/ Purinton, Jamie,  Landscape Narratives: Design Practices for Telling Stories (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York et al,1998) [Architecture and Art] 800
-	Schaal, Hans Dieter,  Learning from Hollywood: Architecture and Film (Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart/London, 1996) at [Architecture and Art]] 930
-	Stone, Allucquere Rosanne, The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1995. at [Univ. Lib.] 420.c.99.184

Articles
-	Bolter, Jay David, ‘Digital Media and Cinematic Point of View’ in: Telepolis (14.02.1997) at: http://www.heise.de/tp/english/special/film/6105/1.html 

Projects
-	‘Acting in VR’ (Mel Slater’s Group) at UCL http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/research/vr/Projects/Acting/ 
-	‘The Virtual Theatre Project’ at Stanford http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/projects/cait/index.html
-	‘Romeo and Juliet in Hades’ (Naoko Tosa) ATR Media Integration & Communication Research Laboratories http://www.mic.atr.co.jp/~tosa/it/index.html

Other material
-	Murray’s Hamlet on the Holodeck online-resource page http://web.mit.edu/jhmurray/www/HOH.html
-	Machinima website at http://www.machinima.com 
-	There is an online resource page at that includes this material and other relevant links http://www.geocities.com/micnit/CUMIS.htm 

Movies
-	“The Great Dictator” [Charles Chaplin, USA 1940]

MPHIL IN ARCHITECTURE AND THE MOVING IMAGE		
VIRTUAL WORLDS WORKSHOP LENT TERM WEEK 10  MARCH 1 -5 2004

EXERCISE BRIEF:
To sketch a design for an adaptation of a particular dramatic scene and implement it in a real-time three-dimensional virtual environment.

Participants create a dramatic and dynamic environment to support a dramatic scene between two or more characters, created and scripted in the workshop, as an adaptation of a selected dramatic work.

The concept of this workshop is based on three fundamental points that apply to Real-Time 3 Dimensional Virtual Environments (RT 3D VEs):

1) Virtual worlds lack a given point of view. Therefore, RT 3D VE designers have to create a certain visual perspective towards the events unfolding in the virtual space. Due to the cultural impact of other media using moving images – mainly film and television – this viewpoint is contextualised in an existent expressive vocabulary. ) ‘The incorporation of virtual/camera controls into the very hardware of game consoles is truly a historic event. Directing the virtual camera becomes as important as controlling the hero’s actions.’ [Manovichp 2000, 84]

2) Interacting with a RT 3D VE demands a certain form of performance from the user. The text is not existent before this performance has contributed to the virtual world. This coincides with Barthes’ arguments that the text can be ‘experienced only in an activity of production’ [Barthes 1977, 157; Barthes’ italics] fulfilling his key criterion for actively produced ‘text’ as opposed to passively consumed ‘work’. Interaction is part of the textual process (see also [Aarseth 1997]).

3) Space is the defining element of RT 3D VEs that distinguishes them from other interactive content providing forms. Spatial design allows for an expressiveness comparable to theatre stages [Murray 1997] and film sets. Like film sets VEs include ‘visual signs that direct a reading at once instantaneous and unambiguous’ [Affron/ Affron 1995, 45]. 

The combination of dramatic spatial and visual design with a live performance will be the backbone of this workshop that explores the expressive means of RT 3D VEs. 

Workshop participants will be given a predefined soundtrack of a dramatic scene, they adapt this scene for a virtual performance, develop an expressive virtual space and – if necessary – characters, and define all the dramatic elements to be used in the environment (including lighting, colours, space design and functionality, camera, animations, and effects) with the goal of engaging an audience in the action happening on the virtual stage. 
The Virtools SDK offers access to modify the action, the characters, and space, and also the mediation of the event. If the design works neatly, then narrative, narration, interactivity, and spatial design form a new field: computer generated environments that are flexible and expressive narrative landscapes. 

No definitive theory has yet emerged as to how to approach RT 3D virtual environments, and there are as yet no final limitations, since the technology is constantly evolving. Workshop participants are strongly encouraged to experiment with the features available in their test environments. Exploring and formulating these features for use in creative design is the central point of the workshop. 

To keep production time within realistic limits, the workshop focuses on the adaptation of a defined dramatic scene. Participants are expected to develop clear dramatic concepts and mise-en-scene for their adaptation of this scene, and to find a way to translate their ideas in the most effective way into a RT 3D VE. This is a pioneering field that needs a pioneering spirit – as well as some patience with buggy computer programs. Have fun!

MPHIL IN ARCHITECTURE AND THE MOVING IMAGE		
INTERACTIVITY WORKSHOP LENT TERM WEEK 7  FEB 28, MARCH 1 & 4 2002

SCHEDULE:

DAY ONE (Monday 1 March)             Supervising Tutor:	Michael Nitsche
CUMIS
1 Bene’t Place
Lensfield Road

10.00 – 10.30		INTRODUCTION TO WORKSHOP	Tutors: 
Lecture Room		AND SEMINAR				Michael Nitsche

10.30 – 11.30		SEMINAR				MN
Lecture Room 		Multi-user virtual worlds vs film 	
vs theatre		
								
11:30 – 11:45		COFFEE

11:45 – 13:00		SEMINAR				MN
Lecture Room		Space and actor in virtual worlds
Hands-On Introduction to RT 3D VEs			

13.00 – 14.00		LUNCH

14.00 – 15.30 		WORK SESSION			MN
Mphil Studio		‘Learning the Tools’ 
Introduction to Virtools			
				
15.30 – 16.00		TEA	

16.00 – 17.00		WORK SESSION			MN
Mphil Studio		‘Learning the Tools’ continued
Introduction to Virtools	

17.00 – 19.00		SCREENING				MN
Mphil Studio		Inspirational film including scene for adaptation

DAY TWO (Tuesday 2 March)		Supervising Tutor: 	Michael Nitsche
CUMIS							

10.00 – 11.30		WORK SESSION			MN
MPhil Studio		‘Scene adaptation’
Preparing, adapting, 
and storyboarding a dramatic scene; 
sketching graphic design

11.30 – 11.45		COFFEE						

11.45 – 13.00		WORK SESSION			MN/ SR

MPhil Studio		‘Scene Adaptation’ continued
			Collect graphic material (textures, 
			Spatial sample structures)
First assembly and internal review of 
scenarios			
			
13.00 – 14.00		LUNCH

14.00 – 15.30		WORK SESSION			MN
MPhil Studio		‘Scene Adaptation’ continued
Finalise storyboarding,
			Finalise graphic design
			Finalise spatial design
			Finalise sound design
							
15.30 – 16.00		TEA

16.00 – 18.30		WORK SESSION			MN
MPhil Studio		‘Implementation’
Sound Studio		Begin stage modelling
Assemble textures
Collect sounds

DAY THREE (Wednesday 3 March)	Supervising Tutor:	Michael Nitsche
CUMIS

10.00 – 13.00		WORK SESSION			MN/ SR
MPhil Studio		‘Implementation’ continued
Sound Studio 		Stage modelling
			Assemble/ format textures
Collect/format sound 

13.00 – 14.00		LUNCH

14.00 – 15.30		WORK SESSION			MN/ SR
MPhil Studio		‘Implementation’ continued
Sound Studio 		Stage, sound, graphics Import 
into 3D engine
Test 
	 	
15.30 – 16.00		TEA

16.00 – 18.00                WORK SESSION			MN/ SR
MPhil Studio		‘Implementation’ continued
		Test of first assembly
Start to set up VE lighting,			
Tweak stage, test virtual camera

DAY FOUR (Thursday 4 March)	Supervising Tutor:	Michael Nitsche
CUMIS

10.00 – 13.00		WORK SESSION			MN/ SR
MPhil Studio		‘Implementation’ continued		
		internal review of current state		 
identify necessary adjustments
			
13.00 – 14.00		LUNCH

14.00 – 15.30		WORK SESSION			MN/ SR
MPhil Studio		‘Implementation’ continued
Finalise model, 
Finalise lighting, 
Finalise sound,
Finalise graphics

15.30 – 16.00		TEA

16.00 – 18.00                WORK SESSION			MN/ SR 
MPhil Studio		‘Rehearsal’		
		Internal  virtual scene rehearsal
			Test virtual camera strategy
			internal review of current state		 
			identify necessary adjustments

DAY FIVE (Friday 5 March)	Supervising Tutor:	Michael Nitsche
CUMIS

10.00 – 13.00		WORK SESSION			MN
MPhil Studio		‘Rehearsal’ continued
			Finalise actors’ performance, 
Finalise camera performance, 
Finalise sound (possible effects),
Implement any necessary changes
	
13.00 – 14.00		LUNCH

14.00 – 15.30		WORK SESSION			MN/ SR
Seminar Room		‘Performance’		
MPhil Studio		internal performance with review 
of scene
Identify and implement necessary 
fine adjustments
				
15.30 – 16.00		TEA

16.00 – 18.00                REVIEW				Maureen Thomas
Seminar Room 		‘Performance’ continued			François Penz
MPhil Studio 		Final performance of piece,		SR/ MN 
			Discussion,
			Course evaluation	

TEACHING REQUIREMENTS

01	Guest Tutors	Daily Rate	Dates	
	Michael Nitsche		March 1-5	
	Stanislav Roudavski			

02	CUMIS Teaching Spaces	Dates  & Times	
	Seminar Room	01/03  10.00-15.00 	
	Seminar and Film screening		
			
	Equipment		
	Data Projection with direct Internet Connection
(Computer with soundcard, Internet/LAN connection) 		
	VHS Projection		
			
	MPhil Studio/CUMIS Studio	01/02- 05/3 10.00 - 18.00	
	Equipment		
	Internet and LAN connections (all computers)

Means to exchange data between Macs and PCs

Students’ Macs
Software:
Maya  &  Photoshop & exporters from Maya to Virtools

2-4 x PCs
Software:
Virtools (multi-user)  &  Photoshop 

Scanner and software installed on all student computers	01/02- 05/03 10.00 - 18.00	
			
	Sound recording/editing equipment:
Means of transferring sound material between MPhil Studio Editing Systems and Sound Studio Editing System