1. Welcome

This is the arrival page for "PlanetDance," a proof-of-concept project on which I'm currently working (Fall, 2000). The viewable file is a Macromedia Shockwave Director movie of about 7 megabytes. You'll need a current version of the Shockwave plugin and a fast Internet connection. (This project is not really intended for Web delivery.)

View the Demo

2. General Description of Project (Abstract)

"Dance Around the Planet" is a spatial fiction in several media (3D modeled graphics, sound, text) that explores the panapocalyptic condition, or as Chico always says, "C'est la fin du monde... non?" Chico is a character in Wim Wenders' 1990 film, "Until the End of the World," from which I take my title (it is the name of a novel written within the film, and another name for the film as a whole), much of my premise, and certain aspects of my characters.

"Dance Around the Planet" places visitors in an explorable graphic/aural space that simulates a multi-user environment created by a troupe of interactive role-playing artists at some point in the early 21st century. The troupe has convened electronically to plan a role-playing event based on Wenders' film. As things develop, both the visitor and the characters become uncertain about whether the performance is yet to happen, is happening even now, or cannot possibly happen. This has something to do with the End of the World, the End of the World As We Know It, not to mention time, love, memory, word, and image.

3. The Present Version

"PlanetDanceBeta" is really just an elaborated test file. I have built only a very small corner of one space (though I've mapped and modeled the entire space). The final version will have many spaces. I'm also likely to change the interface design and interaction conventions, though the Cyan-style diorama and the Bryce/Poser modeling will probably carry over. I'll be trying to create a better fit between the environmental audio and the scenes. The character figures that appear in this version are early sketches should improve as I develop a better command of modeling software (and a better understanding of lighting). Of the writing in the present version, the little fantasia about Memex is just a placeholder; the "Winter" story may have more of a future.

4. Navigation (Guided Tour)

1. You are in a dusty, desert sort of place with lots of semi-transparent objects all around you. Several voices are murmuring repetitively (four, to be exact).



2. Click somewhere along the left margin of the screen. Your view shifts 90 degrees to the left. One of the four sounds becomes clearly audible, with two other tracks continuing at low volume. The prominent voice represents the signature sound for that view.



3. Click somewhere along the right margin of the screen to return to the original viewpoint. You should hear the signature sound for this point ("Where the organic center of all movement in time and space...").



4. Click at the right margin again to rotate a third time. You should see, in hazy outline, a sculpture of an ascending chain with (er) a broken link. (Monument 404?) Bill Gates is explaining that "students are the ultimate knowledge workers"--but you knew that.



5. Click on the sculpture. It becomes opaque and two characters appear in the foreground, a man and a woman. The sound continues to cycle.



6. Click on the woman. The signature sound plays solo one time and stops. A prose passage appears against a gray, semi-transparent matte. This is part of the "Winter" story, which is always associated with the woman. DON'T click on the text yet. (If you inadvertently do, click on the white asterisk to reset the demo and start over at step a.)



7. Click at the right margin again. You're back on the wheel, looking at a sort of miniature Easter-Island head. The voice here is Tim Berners-Lee.



8. Click on that head, then on the Ken doll in the white suit (the guy). The signature sound plays out and a second prose passage appears, part of a storyline that is always associated with the male figure.



9. Click on the text field. The scene dissolves to a new viewpoint, featuring another ghostly head and Wallace Stevens telling us about the center that he seeks. You can click right and left to navigate the circle or click in the center to see the focal object in opaque form, but there are no character selections here: one end of the tour.



10. Click on the white asterisk to reset. Clicking on the text field from any of the chunks of the Winter story (accessed by clicking on the woman) takes you to a third viewing point, which is also for the moment a dead end.



11. To quit, press the Escape key on your keyboard (or go to another page in your browser, if you are viewing the shocked version).