th e l y ti c cy c l e

The conceptual basis for this metaphor can be broken down into four main areas of focus: control of a reanimated organic system; coordination and control in a less than “real” real-time environment; the re-representation of the real-world environment to a distant audience using rendered animations; complex interactive movie interface. With the emergence of A-Life, emphasis is being placed on reissuing biological commands to digital creations. These reassignments are usually based very loosely on dated biological understandings. This process of mimesis has given birth to concepts such as fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, and neural networks. We are reclaiming the organic and presenting it through a digital context placing emphasis on the false representation of the molecular system. Our creature is an assemblage of several different organisms; both found and dissected, repositioned in our own dictated environment. The control of the mechanism is limited, making the user's interaction one of great difficulty. Effective control and navigation of the creature in the real-world environment is a skill developed over time. One reason for the difficulty in control is that the user is given access to a camera in the real-world environment but through the limits of streaming video, can only view the world at about two frames-per-second. During the missing time sequences, action is occurring, but the user must anticipate the action during those dropped frames. The movie that is presented to the viewer is one of yet another set of representations. The real-world environment of the creature is re-represented using 3-D renderings and animations. The movie is navigated through by the actions of the creature in the environment. This becomes a complex interface between the user and the movie he/she is viewing on the screen. The plot is no longer linear, and is transcribed by the viewer’s interaction with the creature and the creature’s interaction with the world. The recontextualization of the organic into a digital interface allows for several metaphors to be generated. We wish to engage the viewer in this dialogue with his/herself about their own role in the process of mimesis.

The story will be a narrative based on a biological function of a cell. The main character will play the role of a virus. The identification with a cell will not be literal, and the environment will only suggest the construction and mechanics of a cell. The environment will be a building, which will be metaphor for a cell. Each room is a different part of a cell from the nucleus to the mitochondria. Camera moments will mimic looking through a microscope. Quick zooms and pans will bring the camera in and out of focus, while struggling to keep the subject in frame.

The virus enters the cell through a hole in the cell wall. The virus is a lanky unnourished looking creature, and is much too tall to fit in the cell comfortably. In the room the virus enters there are cell workers collecting nutrients that are entering the cell via pipes. The virus decides to take a taste of the nutrients, which are being collected into labeled canisters. The cell worker fights to take back the nutrients since it is loosing valuable material while it is not being pumped into the canister. The virus gives it back and watches as the cell worker delivers the canister to another worker on the other side of the wall. Another canister is filled with nutrients and the cell worker puts in under the door to deliver the canister to the other worker but the virus reaches around the door and takes the canister and consumes the contents before leaving that room. The virus then enters the nucleus. In the nucleus is a ladder that goes up through the ceiling. The virus looks up the hole in the ceiling and sees that above the cell is another cell in the process of being constructed. The virus grabs hold of one of the beams of the new cell and pulls it, knocking down most of the new cells construction. The virus then leaves the nucleus. The virus then enters the storage area of the cell. In the storage area he finds the construction material, nutrients, and the blueprints for the cells construction. The virus then has the plan to redo the blueprints for the cell's construction to suit his own needs. After the virus completes in alterations it goes back into the nucleus. It crawls through the hole in the ceiling and finds that the cell workers have altered their construction according to its specifications. The virus now has used the mechanics of the cell to suit its own needs.