1. Horia Radu, Felix Simon Oesch, Aleksandra Djurica
Digital Humanitites
Fall Semester 2012
Measuring and visualizing the increase in
narrative complexity in TV series
2. Outline
• The State of The Art
• Definition Of A Research Question
• Methodology
• Project Plan and Milestones
4. #dh101
The State of The Art
• 2 books:
– “Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary
Television Storytelling” by Jason Mittel
– “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's
Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter” by
Steven Johnson
• Visualization of narrative complexity:
– Lostalgic
– Moviegalaxies
– xkcd
6. #dh101
Definition Of A Research Question
• Did narrative complexity in TV series increase?
increase
over the last 20 years?
• 1928: very first TV show:
Queens Messenger
• 80s/90s:
NYPD Blue, Seinfeld
http://www.earlytelevision.org/queens_messenger.html
7. #dh101
Definition Of A Research Question
• Did narrative complexity in TV series increase
over the last 20 years?
– technology
– experience
8. #dh101
Definition Of A Research Question
• Does narrative complexity vary based on the
genre of series?
http://girlstalkinsmack.com/lost-to-live-on-as-a-theme-park/ http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100425195709/bigbangtheory/images/5/5a/Season_2_Promo
_Pic.jpg
9. #dh101
Definition Of A Research Question
• Do more people tend to watch more complex
and elaborate series?
• Or does the majority prefer simple forms of
entertainment, a series that doesn’t require
them to watch every single episode?
11. #dh101
Series
• Past:
– Twin Peaks
– Black Adder
– NYPD Blue
– ER
– Beverly Hills 90210
12. #dh101
Series
• Present:
– Battlestar Gallactica
– Desperate Housewives
– Dexter
– Game of Thrones
– Breaking Bad
– Big Bang Theory
13. #dh101
Narrative complexity?
• 3 factors
– Number of characters
– Number of places
– Number of narrative threads
14. #dh101
Narrative threads
• Number
• In parallel/concomitant
• Time continuity?
15. #dh101
Gathering data
• Assumption: a series doesn’t change
significantly during its lifetime
– Especially if they are successful!
• Watch only view the first episode
– Extrapolate
– Use prior knowledge of the series
16. #dh101
Gathering data
• Keep track of:
– Character appearances and interactions
– Place changes
– Narrative threads
• which is being shown currently – time frame
• Single / multiple
• Use prior knowledge as final identification criteria
17. #dh101
Visualizing
• Character
visualization
– Graph based
– Indentify clusters