Our journey into Facade is obviously for more than the playing of the piece. For Steve, I think it’s for the workings of New Media presentation, the manipulation both of programming and of narrative structure and cohesiveness of story. For myself, it is likely for the fascination of using computer technology to tell a story, and the difference between writing for text alone and for multimedia presentations.
Similarly, at the Narratives meeting last night we viewed three short films and it brought home the fact to me of the necessity in writing short form to present some sort of past–whether it be a grounding or a revelation of the seeds of discontent, present–which usually is where the action or conflict emerges, and a hint at the future–what the resolution may bring about, in concise format.
Both Facade and the movies we viewed had these elements. But the presentation of each is very dependent upon the media used. In movie form, it is fairly easy to provide background through flashback and dialogue. In Facade, we are dependent upon dialogue alone; as a matter of fact, that is the crux of the interaction, to ask questions of the characters that will bring out the past inner conflicts that bring them to the current situation. And it is a very limited episode in which we have to work; we do not leave the apartment environment, and it is a matter of this single visit with the characters–there are no return visits to pick up where we left off (starting from ground zero with each "stageplay") so it is indeed a "short-short story" and there is a time limitation involved–not by the program, but by the progression of the narrative structure.
What I’m thinking now is that while no one is going to want to play Facade forever for eventually you will have seen all or most of the possible outcomes. But what it has inspired for others to follow is limitless. And what it has inspired for me is to think of writing in a new direction. I would love, perhaps, to write stories geared towards this new multimedia application. It, as does a short film, offers a challenge different than pure and lonesome text.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology