Chapter 12Nonlinear Structure

Understanding Nonlinearity

Nonlinearity is a broadly used term that can be applied to many aspects of the media-making process—the story, the production and postproduction process, and, finally, the distribution medium. A traditional narrative story (linear) might be shot on film (linear), edited digitally (nonlinear), and distributed first theatrically (linear) and then on Blu-ray disc (nonlinear). The goal of a video game might be to fight dragons in a predetermined order until you can capture the magic chalice (linear), while watching video cut scenes (linear) made with a computer-animated process (nonlinear) that can be experienced in a different order every time you play (nonlinear) and distributed online (nonlinear). ...

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