new approach to multiple data streams for television?

September 4, 2010 11:15 AM

searching for new approach to 2-dimensional presentation of multiple streams of data for television series that goes beyond CNBC and "24"

one thing at a time doesn't work anymore, and yet the presentation of data on networks like CNBC and ESPN's SportsCenter don't quite work either - with a talking head, or taped package, and a ticker running horizontally below. the scripted series "24" used multiple Mondrian-style boxes to show simultaneous events, but mostly it was a transition device from one scene and place to another. for a new series we're looking for a way to deepen the viewers experience and ability to absorb several levels of data at the same time, portraying the macro and the micro level and related stories and facts all at once. a viewer could watch just one part of the screen, or absorb the full complement at once - for instance in one box someone might be talking about the first GUI at PARC and in another we're seeing it and in another there's a moving graph showing the number of high tech companies over a period of time.
thanks.
Tod

posted by TMezz to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Not at all an expert on this sort of thing, but perhaps have the different streams revolve around a common, invisible focal point? The stream that is supposed to be the focus is in front, then if something on one of the other streams is being referenced, it can be "spun" into the front of the viewer's perspective, then "spun" back so the main stream is in front again?

This is presupposing a sufficient screen that the non-focal streams can still be interpreted when not in front.
posted by Golfhaus at 11:26 AM on September 4, 2010

I find it fascinating when characters interact with complex computer/display devices, and would love to have an overlap between the 'camera' view and what the character is seeing. You get this a little bit in movies like Minority Report and Iron Man and Avatar, but I think you could pull it out into another dimension of display outside of the story line to good effect.

Sports commentators get to do a primitive version of what I'm imagining when they diagram player and ball movements over video footage.

The 3D Compiz effects package that lets Ubuntu users rotate virtual displays with their mouses would be a cool interactive feature for a movie/dvd.
posted by carsonb at 11:27 AM on September 4, 2010

Consider using treemaps and something like the Map of the Market. MeMail me for consulting :)
posted by gregglind at 12:37 PM on September 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

I mean, how art-y do you want to get here? The Tracey Fragments is cool (the actual film is like that, it's not just an effect cooked up for the trailer). But maybe not appropriate for your purposes?
posted by juv3nal at 4:09 PM on September 4, 2010

Response by poster: really helpful answers. Carsonb your response made me think of the bullet-time effect used in the Matrix - which is cool, but expensive; maybe possible in a virtual environment. and I've never seen The Tracey Fragments - the trailer is amazing and gripping. and treemaps are cool, but seem best suited to static presentation of information, unless I have it wrong. many thanks.
posted by TMezz at 5:45 PM on September 4, 2010