Week 10 Research / Reflections

In Caracciolo’s research of dreams in media (specifically video games) in conveying an experiential and distorted perspective, I found an interesting diagram that describes types of experiences in how we take in information using our senses.

Caracciolo M (2014) states our experiences can range from feelings and senses we recognise with our bodies of a higher order cognitive functions which include conceptual thoughts, imagination and recognising languages. This then creates links to experiences made up of artefacts, beliefs and values relevant to cultural practices across the world. I see this diagram as valuable in thinking of the representative meanings of the footage we collect such as feelings of nostalgia or a scary type of anxiousness. It then leaves room for each of our shots to be very interpretive of a dream experience of senses inside a dreamstate to also potentially relate to meanings they share with real world events and feelings .   

Yume Nikki (2004) is an example I found in video games where the aim of it is to explore different dream states of the protagonist and collect items from these settings. The use of strong contrasting background scenes such as isolating elements on a black screen I find can assist in emphasising a specific motif (e.g an artefact) of a common dream pattern and what it may mean. Also the use of Yume Nikki contrasting the exploration of eerie and anxiety inducing areas with calming and nostalgic areas can be helpful in creating an engaging flow with a structured pacing of shots to keep the visual interesting in their sequence.  

References 

Caracciolo, M 2014, ‘Those Insane Dream Sequences: Experientiality and Distorted Experience in Literature and Video Game’, in M-L Ryan & J-N Thon (eds), Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, pp. 185–199

Kikiyama (2004), Yume Nikki, PLAYISM