Beyond Panels Interactive Storytelling: Developing a Framework for Highly Emotive Narrative Experiences on Mobile Devices
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2017 Beyond Panels Interactive Storytelling: Developing a Framework for Highly Emotive Narrative Experiences on Mobile Devices Michael Joseph Eakins University of Central Florida Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Eakins, Michael Joseph, "Beyond Panels Interactive Storytelling: Developing a Framework for Highly Emotive Narrative Experiences on Mobile Devices" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 6272. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/6272 BEYOND PANELS INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING: DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR HIGHLY EMOTIVE NARRATIVE EXPERIENCES ON MOBILE DEVICES by MICHAEL JOSEPH EAKINS B.A. University of Central Florida, 2009 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Emerging Media in the School of Visual Arts and Design in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2017 Major Professor: Rudy McDaniel and Joseph Fanfarelli © 2017 Michael Eakins ii ABSTRACT Balancing passive and interactive experiences within a narrative experience is an area of research that has broad applicability to the video game, cinematic, and comic book industries. Each of these media formats has attempted various experiments in interactive experience. The goal of this research was to better understand how to construct an interactive narrative experience that preserves the integrity of the author’s story, but allows for inspired interaction by a willing audience. A study was designed to test three different conditions. The two control conditions were examples of passive narrative storytelling: the Comic Book Condition and the Cinematic Condition. The experimental condition was a hybrid format of interactive and passive storytelling, wherein the participant had the opportunity to interact with the story to further engage with the narrative world. Participants used a mobile tablet to experience each format, geared toward minimizing the separation of the participant from the story. Touch / swipe interactions were used for the hybrid format to create as intuitive of an experience as possible. Narrative Transportation, engagement, and flow were the primary evaluators of the narrative’s effectiveness for each participant. An analysis of the data showed that, in general, the current Beyond Panels framework was not effective in producing higher levels of reported Narrative Transportation, engagement, or flow. However, of those participants in the Beyond Panels condition, those that interacted more consistently throughout the experience did report higher Narrative Transportation compared to those that had minimal interaction. Data was collected to better understand the relationship that optional interactivity has with these factors. The results of this study will help to further research in the areas of interactive storytelling for mobile platforms. The results will be used to continue to evolve a framework for this hybrid storytelling format called Beyond Panels. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my wife and daughter for all their love, support, and patience throughout my graduate studies. I love you both more than you could possibly imagine. I would like to thank my parents for their support and encouragement. Without you and the lessons you taught me I wouldn’t be the person I am today. My family and friends made this possible. Thank you to my committee for the guidance and wisdom you provided. You provided the best undergraduate and graduate education I could have asked for. A special thank you to my committee co-chair Dr. Fanfarelli for mentoring me through this endeavor. Finally, I would like to thank T.T. Faulkner for his generosity in allowing me to use his story for my research. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 5 Transportation Theory .............................................................................................................................. 5 Audience Selection ................................................................................................................................... 6 Interactivity/Passivity ............................................................................................................................... 8 Film ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 Comics .................................................................................................................................................... 12 Narrative Video Games ........................................................................................................................... 15 Interactive Narrative and Passive Media ................................................................................................ 18 Purpose of Study ..................................................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER THREE: EXPERIMENT DESCRIPTION & METHODOLOGY .......................................... 26 Study Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 26 Hypotheses .............................................................................................................................................. 27 Participants .............................................................................................................................................. 27 Equipment ............................................................................................................................................... 28 Independent Variables ............................................................................................................................ 28 Dependent Variables ............................................................................................................................... 29 Questionnaires......................................................................................................................................... 30 Procedure ................................................................................................................................................ 33 CHAPTER FOUR: EXPERIMENT ANALYSIS ....................................................................................... 36 Hypothesis 1: Narrative Transportation .................................................................................................. 36 Hypothesis 2: Engagement ..................................................................................................................... 37 Hypothesis 3: Emotional Engagement .................................................................................................... 40 Hypothesis 4: Engagement and Personalities ......................................................................................... 43 Hypothesis 5: Flow ................................................................................................................................. 50 CHAPTER FIVE: EXPERIMENT DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 62 APPENDIX A: STORY SCRIPT ............................................................................................................... 64 APPENDIX B: PRODUCTION JOURNAL, CONCEPT EXAMPLES, AND PRE-PRODUCTION ...... 73 v APPENDIX C: STORY SCREENSHOTS ................................................................................................. 80 APPENDIX D: DEMOGRAPHICS QUESTIONNAIRE .......................................................................... 91 APPENDIX E: PERSONALITY TRAITS QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................ 95 APPENDIX F: NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION SCALE .................................................................. 98 APPENDIX G: PERCEIVED REALISM ................................................................................................ 100 APPENDIX H: NARRATIVE ENGAGEMENT SCALE ....................................................................... 102 APPENDIX I: ENGAGEMENT MEASURE ........................................................................................... 105 APPENDIX J: FLOW STATE SHORT