Film Narrative and Computer-Interface Design

Abstract

Some scholars have noted the link between film narrative and computer-interface design (Berg, 2003; Plowman, 1994). Similarities between early film and interactive multimedia in the establishment of narrative conventions such as intertitles and narration are clear. Burch (1981) describes the transition from early film involving a linearization of the narrative for viewers. Early film emphasized spectacle and the documentation of unrelated events. Events and individual shots were not woven into a coherent narrative until D. W. Griffith and others led to the development of montage and a cinematic narrative language. Some suggest that this same process of creating new media conventions needs to occur to increase the educational effectiveness of computer-based programs (Berg, 2003). Instructional designers working in computer environments do not have ready access to an established narrative language and consequently need to be more explicit in their structure. The user’s knowledge of film conventions allows the authors to feel confident that their narrative can be quickly and simply understood. Consequently, instructional designers need to spend time developing narrative conventions and making narrative elements clear to the learners.