A Different Train of Thought
interactive narrative on computer-controlled videodisc
1985-1986
Strohecker, C. (MIT Media Laboratory)
- CS role:
- creator, videographer, editor
- Related computational environment:
- Photo from iStockphoto
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"This is a story about a woman ... who meets a man ... on a train. You're there too, with all the other passengers. Their thoughts, and your thoughts, tell the story ... in many ways."
Depending on how and when you interact, you get different senses of who the characters are and therefore what the story means. Documentary footage of Budapest intersperses dramatic footage to re-enact a real-life story about how people manage to communicate even when they don't share a spoken language. Tender images of life in the city contrast darker scenes on the train. The train imagery emerges from real footage and studio set-ups. Members of the Wooster Group in 1985 responded to short readings by improvising to recreate interactions among curious passengers, the sometimes lecherous / sometimes avuncular conductor and the bewildered woman.