The sites we visited for last class introduced me to several new ways that one can use the internet to tell stories in a unique way. The use of floating text, visuals, videos, and sounds was surprising to me and I had never imagined using them to create a story. Different effects can convey feelings and create images that we cannot with traditional text on a page.
In order to make my story come to life, I would use moving text, changing contrast, and sound effects.
- Moving text: The text would come one sentence at a time on a white background, but the speed at which it comes and goes would change depending on the mood of the particular part of the story. A more intense emotion would be evident by a faster-moving text. The fastest speed would be little more than a quick flash of text on the page that one can just barely read. This would create the confusion and panic that the main character feels.
- Changing contrast: The contrast between the text and the background would get increasingly bright as hysteria mounts. As we lead up to the main character fainting, the white would get very bright to the point of discomfort as the bold black words flash upon the page. This would create the blinding effect of lights on a stage.
- Sound effects: The sounds would start as the low hum of a crowd as the main character walks on stage. As she begins to panic, the sound would mute to a quiet ring that grows in intensity until she falls. After that, there would be silence until she returns to her feet and the hum returns. This would show the isolation the main character feels when put in front of the huge audience.
- Pictures and gifs: In the middle of various sentences, there would be words linked to pages showing different pictures of what might be going on in the story or gifs showing a small action like an eye blinking. Similar to the links directing you to different parts of the story in These Waves of Girls, these are meant to give extra information and add to the emotions of the story.
- Scrambling text: At the most tense and overwhelming part of the story, the words will begin to separate and slightly scramble. This is meant to mimic the difficulty one might have reading a speech under high pressure and tension. In Slippingglimpse, the words were out of order and floated about randomly, causing confusion and frustration.
Just before the main character faints, the text would be flashing across the page, the screen would be the brightest and the ringing would be the loudest. Once she falls, the sounds would stop and the screen would darken and gradually lighten as she works towards getting back up. At the end, the screen would be a comfortable brightness, the low hum of a crowd would return, and the text would move at a reasonable reading pace.
The effects would mimic the actual reaction going on within the character’s mind and help the reader to imagine the emotions as they happen. They create empathetic feelings in a way that a traditional storytelling cannot.