Uploaded byHoria Radu
Narrative complexity of TV series
This document outlines a research project to measure and visualize the narrative complexity of TV series over the last 20 years. It discusses the state of research in this area and defines the main research question of whether narrative complexity has increased. The proposed methodology involves analyzing the number of characters, places, and narrative threads in sample past and present TV series. Data would be gathered by watching pilot episodes and tracked. Visualizations of character interactions and narrative threads are suggested. The document outlines the project plan and milestones over a 14 week period, including data gathering, processing, visualization creation, and evaluating the research question.
Narrative complexity of TV series
- 1. Horia Radu, FelixSimon Oesch, Aleksandra Djurica Digital Humanitites Fall Semester 2012 Measuring and visualizing the increase in narrative complexity in TV series
- 2. Outline • The State of The Art • Definition Of A Research Question • Methodology • Project Plan and Milestones
- 3. The State ofThe Art
- 4. #dh101 The State of The Art • 2 books: – “Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling” by Jason Mittel – “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter” by Steven Johnson • Visualization of narrative complexity: – Lostalgic – Moviegalaxies – xkcd
- 5. Definition Of AResearch Question
- 6. #dh101 Definition Of A Research Question • Did narrative complexity in TV series increase? increase over the last 20 years? • 1928: very first TV show: Queens Messenger • 80s/90s: NYPD Blue, Seinfeld http://www.earlytelevision.org/queens_messenger.html
- 7. #dh101 Definition Of A Research Question • Did narrative complexity in TV series increase over the last 20 years? – technology – experience
- 8. #dh101 Definition Of A Research Question • Does narrative complexity vary based on the genre of series? http://girlstalkinsmack.com/lost-to-live-on-as-a-theme-park/ http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100425195709/bigbangtheory/images/5/5a/Season_2_Promo _Pic.jpg
- 9. #dh101 Definition Of A Research Question • Do more people tend to watch more complex and elaborate series? • Or does the majority prefer simple forms of entertainment, a series that doesn’t require them to watch every single episode?
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- 11. #dh101 Series • Past: – Twin Peaks – Black Adder – NYPD Blue – ER – Beverly Hills 90210
- 12. #dh101 Series • Present: – Battlestar Gallactica – Desperate Housewives – Dexter – Game of Thrones – Breaking Bad – Big Bang Theory
- 13. #dh101 Narrative complexity? • 3 factors – Number of characters – Number of places – Number of narrative threads
- 14. #dh101 Narrative threads • Number • In parallel/concomitant • Time continuity?
- 15. #dh101 Gathering data • Assumption: a series doesn’t change significantly during its lifetime – Especially if they are successful! • Watch only view the first episode – Extrapolate – Use prior knowledge of the series
- 16. #dh101 Gathering data • Keep track of: – Character appearances and interactions – Place changes – Narrative threads • which is being shown currently – time frame • Single / multiple • Use prior knowledge as final identification criteria
- 17. #dh101 Visualizing • Character visualization – Graph based – Indentify clusters
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- 19. #dh101 Visualizing • Narative threads
- 20. #dh101 Popularity • Imdb • Metacritic • Rotten tommato
- 21. #dh101 Goals • Extract complexity measure • Analyze and compare series • Validate/invalidate assumptions • Have fun!
- 22. Project Plan &Milestones
- 23. #dh101 Project Plan & Milestones Week 1 to 2 – Definition of the project approaches – Test phase • troubleshooting • adjustment • reproducibility valuation
- 24. #dh101 Project Plan & Milestones Week 3 to 8 – Implementation – Data gathering phase
- 25. #dh101 Project Plan & Milestones Week 9 to 11 – Processing of gathered data – Transformation approach into visualization
- 26. #dh101 Project Plan & Milestones Week 12 to 14 – Face Research Question – Evaluation And Conclusion
- 27. Thank you foryour attention!