Re: Content

[Kenneth Lu <kenlu@MIT.EDU>]

At 19:34 -0500 10/10/01, Bob wrote:
>  > Competitor?  Yes.  They're entertainment products.  So many dollars spent
>>  during one's free time and all of that.
>
>	Having worked in several different publishing markets I haven't seen
>any significant competition between them. When I write for a magazine I
>do seek to get into the most prestigious mag I can, but I do not worry
>about competing with novels or movies that month.

I would say that there's little short-term competition, but there 
certainly is long-term competition.  People may not read novels as 
much in this age of TV and film, for instance.  Likewise, in the long 
term, interactive gaming may take more and more money away from other 
forms of entertainment.

>	A more likely impediment is the renaissance programmer trying to do
>away with (or at least do without) specialized artists, or recreating
>the base presentation and production technology. There are free and open
>source 3d engines available, and skilled amateur artists abound in the
>communities surrounding popular games. But rare is the programmer humble
>enough to share his vision in this way.

I can understand the effectiveness of specialization, but I think 
it's not a model that is suited for everyone.  Yes, an artist may 
choose to focus solely on certain arts at the expense of knowledge 
about the underlying techniques, and that can produce good results. 
However I PESRONALLY tend toward the "renaissance" model of art.  I 
feel that there can be a unique feel to movies that are written and 
directed by the same person.  I think there are things that comics 
written and drawn by the same person can do that others cannot.  This 
is because the visual scene is just as important a part of the art as 
the story.

Likewise, with interactive storytelling, the mechanisms of 
interaction are an integral part of the work, and I think there is 
definitely something to be said about works where the same artist 
does all the parts.  The work, though it may not be as expansive or 
technically impressive, does gain something from having a coherent 
single vision.

But again, I'm not saying this is the only way to do things. It's 
just that there are many ways, and trying to be a renaissance artist 
isn't necessarily a bad thing.

-ToastyKen

-----------------------------------------------------------
| Kenneth Lu - kenlu@mit.edu - http://www.mit.edu/~kenlu/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| "Life is far too important to be taken seriously."      |
|                                                         |
|                                          -- Oscar Wilde |
-----------------------------------------------------------