Interactive technologies like the web have already revolutionized the reach of human expression -- as long as it is easily encoded as computer data, for instance, text.
But this interactive revolution has not fully benefited the dramatic arts -- live performance, motion pictures. The dramatic form is still our most powerful way of understanding the world and changing our culture. The goal of the Consumer Light and Magic project is to create accessible tools that will bring the power of computation to the world of storytelling.
Google has generously given Interactive Technology Program (ITP) a three-year grant to explore these new possibilities by building an interactive playground called the (Future of) Storytelling Lab.
In the lab, we are creating a venue for merging the astonishing range of skills and experiences of the Tisch faculty with the creativity, drive, and idealism of Tisch students. We hope to encourage these creative communities to collaborate in the lab, to feel at home in this emerging playground, and to use the facility to tell stories in new ways.
–Dan O’Sullivan, Associate Dean, Emerging Media; Chair, ITP
In 2014, Google provided ITP with an award through The Future of Storytelling program. Google looked to support projects that explored the relationship between the art of storytelling and new and emerging technologies, from production through consumption.
Through Google’s support, ITP will explore the new possibilities of interactive technologies that to date have revolutionized the reach of human expression but have not yet fully benefited the field of dramatic expression. ITP’s tools and research will bring the power of computation to the powerful world of storytelling. By creating a micro-studio called the (Future of) Storytelling Lab, ITP will bring together the great skill and experience of the Tisch faculty with the creativity, drive, and idealism of Tisch students. The goal: encourage students and educators to collaborate, experiment, fail, and succeed in the lab, using the facility to tell stories in new ways.
Google has also previously supported the work of students in the Department of Undergraduate Film & Television at Tisch. Google provided use of Google Glass to students, who used the product in influential ways to tell their stories.