I wrote The Shot as a thought provoking, first person narrative that follows a thoughts, actions, and reactions of a futuristic sniper protagonist who has been tasked with assassinating a prominent General at a major communications outpost deep in enemy territory. The narrative would greatly benefit from being converted into an E-Lit because the various properties of the style would enhance the audience’s ability to perceive the main character’s emotions, facilitate a fluid progression of the plot, and provide a more vivid depiction of the narrative’s setting.
As we discussed in class, one must balance these traits so that they enhance the work, as opposed to either distracting the reader from the intended effect or overwhelming them entirely. Having established this constraint, I went back through the pre-class assignments for the week and examined them again. After some more exploring, I determined that the six primary elements of E-Lit that I would add to The Shot are:
- A musical score
- Story Segmentation
- Background sounds
- Hyperlinks
- Images
- Video
The first item I would add would be a musical score, that is, orchestral music that plays in the background in order to superimpose a mood on the story and anyone who delves into it. My inspiration for this actually came from the title page for “These Waves of Girls” which features laughter played in a loop. However, I would utilize a more ominous tone in order to reinforce the gravity of the narrative for the protagonist; a mission that he has prepared for months, even years for is about to reach its pinnacle. Having an orchestral song with a long buildup playing in the background would hammer home the intensity of the moment.
Although the story itself was relatively cliché and dull, “The 21 Steps “ intrigued me because of how it utilized a progression of short, semi-independent narratives to depict a much larger story. This style seemed to place a much heavier emphasis on the significant of each of the protagonist’s actions than a traditional narrative would. In order to emulate this same effect, I would break up The Shot into several segments that could both function on their own and still maintain the integrity of the plot as a whole. Moreover, the story takes place in a single location, so I would be inclined to allow the reader to transition between segments by simply clicking a button that said “next”.
Since the story follows a sniper, who by trade must operate under a veil in order to survive, let alone complete a mission, I would like to include several sounds in the background that would play as the protagonist readies himself to take the shot. For example, as he locks the stock of the rifle onto his armor, or draws in his breath to take aim, the corresponding sounds would play in the background.
Furthermore, I would like to utilize hyperlinks to convey the frustration the protagonist undergoes when things go awry. As the notes suggested, I would prefer to structure several links that would operate in a roundabout fashion, in addition to others still, which would lead the reader to various dead ends. This would stimulate the main character’s frenzied progression of thought and allow the reader to experience similar tumult. I would also hyperlink to images that could enhance the seriousness of the moment, such as a link to an article on the torture of captured spies. In addition, I would like to hyperlink in some “Easter eggs”, which would reveal where my inspiration for the story came from. This would be accomplished using techniques similar to those used in the E-Lit “The Possession of Christian Shaw”; in other words, embed links so that they do not become apparent unless a cursor is moved over a certain word. However, my programming skills are just above those of an Easter egg, so I’m not sure how much of this I could actually accomplish in the first place and may need to stick to the basics.
As the famous quote goes, “A picture’s worth a thousand words”. Using relevant imagery at the proper time can go a long way in establishing a great foundation for the audience to construct a relationship with. The main character is a sniper in the distant future, fighting in equally distant environment. In order to help the reader to better perceive the setting, I would like to include several images to help clear up any issues with the environment that could detract from the story as a whole. Specifically, I would like to include a picture of the protagonist as well as a picture of the mountainous environment that would serve as the background for the E-Lit.
Finally, I would absolutely embed some videos to the E-Lit in a similar vein to the way I would use the images in terms of setting the stage. However, I would use them to show the flashbacks of events in the past the influence the plot, especially the speech made by the sniper’s instructor that plays a vital role in how he handles the crisis.