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WEVP Interlude

Title

  • Un Pueblo de Nada

Characters

  • Rita Book. Host.

  • Maya. Earthworks artist.

  • Ron. Older man. Made a video of wild things. He falls asleep in the chair during the broadcast.

  • Nikki. Poet.

  • Elmo. Meteorologist. Silently does the weather report with transparencies on an overhead projector.

  • Cyrano. Musician.

  • Drew. On phone only. Boring monologue for 3 minutes or so.

Setting

Inside the WEVP studio, during their nightly broadcast. Outside, a nasty storm. The studio is gradually filling with water.

Videos

  • “Un Pueblo de Nada” - Chris Marker style mini-doc, historical, en español, like la jetée

  • “Wild” - Amateur footage of wild things

  • “Weather Report” - Weather report with liquid light show and music by Cyrano Cole

  • “Cave Art” - Early CG about caves and maybe flying trikes?

Video Outline

Rita welcomes the audience to the nightly WEVP broadcast. She reminisces about an earlier time when they had many different shows, but says she still enjoys the only remaining WEVP show, the one nightly local broadcast they produce.

Rita has made a documentary about the utopian community that lived in the town before the power company moved in.

Video: Chris Marker style (like “la jetée”) mini-doc en español

Rita introduces a guest, Maya the Earthworks Artist. They discuss the documentary.

Maya talks about her work. She is on a walking tour of the region looking for early indigenous earthworks, like burial mounds. They discuss the burial mounds in the town.

Video: Wild

Ron has entered.

All review the video and debate whether the things depicted in it are truly “wild” or not, leading to an informal discussion about what is “wild” vs. “feral” vs. “free.”

Video: Weather

Rita introduces the next tape, a selection from the video databank.

Video: Trike + Cave Art

Nikki enters.

The storm is really bad, and people are growing concerned. Rita suggests that they may have to cut the night’s program short.

Nikki reads her poetry. The signal cuts out, interrupted by Weaver’s intervention. That only plays for a moment, before the power goes completely.

Downloadable version

Setting

WEVP studio. It’s a very small building. It’s raining heavily outside and the ceiling has a few leaks; kitchen pots and bowls are placed under leaks around the room.

Areas in the room:

  • The shooting set, with two or three TV cameras pointed at it. Immediately next to the cameras is a table with a control board and video playback equipment on it.

  • A small lounge area/corner, with a sofa and coffee table. Ben and Bob are on the sofa, huddled over the coffee table. They’re working with soldering irons and small tools on an opened-up device that looks something like a VCR.

  • Somewhere near the sofa there’s a TV tuned to WEVP to see what is being broadcast.

  • A small desk covered in videotapes and notebooks, with a bookshelf next to it full of videotapes.

  • Elmo and Cyrano’s weather report setup: an overhead projector with liquid light show thrown onto a wall. Cyrano is on a stool next to the projection. A portable camera is aimed at the projection and Cyrano.

Characters

  • Emily

  • Rita

  • Maya

  • Ben

  • Bob

  • Elmo

  • Cyrano

  • Ron

  • Nikki

Notes

We play as Emily and spend a lot of time in Emily’s head with a first-person internal monologue as she is distracted by stray thoughts.

Outline

Rita is seated on set. Ron is operating a camera. Maya stands somewhere she can see the broadcast on the monitor, waiting. Cyrano and Elmo are hanging out by the weather report area. Ben + Bob are on the couch, working on an electronics project (a Ghost Box) on the coffee table.

The camera frames the front door & couch. We hear the storm & some ambient sounds for a bit, with no interaction. After a few moments, Emily enters through the front door.

Emily can walk around the room a bit for the player to get their bearings. She can examine a few things and greet people in the room. By using the camera or talking to Rita, she initiates the broadcast.

Rita does her intro monologue, which the player sees via dialog system. At some point she asks Emily a few questions & the player responds.

Rita starts talking about “Un Pueblo de Nada” and Emily decides to go cue it up. She fetches the tape from a shelf, puts it into a VCR, and switches the feed over when Rita is ready.

Emily approaches Maya and talks to her, then Maya enters the set and sits down. Rita, Emily and Maya chat briefly. The tape ends and the live broadcast resumes.

Maya and Rita start talking. Emily listens to a little bit of it, then starts talking quietly to Ron. Ron cues his tape up as Emily wanders away to talk to Ben & Bob and poke around the studio a bit.

After spending some time talking and looking around, Emily can return to the control board. Ron is seated with Maya and Rita. Emily switches the feed to the live broadcast. Maya, Rita, and Ron talk about the tape, “Wild.” Emily’s thoughts wander for a bit.

Emily switches the feed over to the portable camera capturing Elmo’s weather forecast. She walks over and talks quietly to Elmo while he runs the overhead projector.

As Elmo and Cyrano’s presentation ends, Emily walks back to the camera. Rita and Maya talk briefly, then the phone rings. Emily patches the call through: Geoff talks for a long time, during which the player can wander around the studio, talk to Elmo, Cyrano, Ben, and Bob, and explore the small space.

Emily returns to the camera / control panel area. Ron has fallen asleep in his chair. Geoff drones on a bit longer and then is suddenly cut off. Emily cues up and plays the “Cave Art” tape.

The sound of something outside collapsing in the storm wakes Ron. He gets up and heads out to check on the damage from the storm.

The “Cave Art” tape ends. Rita and Maya talk for a moment and are interrupted by a momentary power outage. Emily goes around the studio checking on equipment to make sure everything is running. Nikki enters through the door, soaking wet. Emily talks to her for a moment and then she walks over to the broadcast area to meet Rita and Maya.

Emily returns to the camera. Nikki reads her poem. While Nikki is reading, Ben or Bob yell out for Emily to come see the broadcast on the studio TV. She walks over and sees that Weaver’s pirate broadcast has taken over.

Loud thunder and wind sounds, and the studio loses power again and the environment goes completely dark. Using action modals and the dialog system, the player navigates Emily in darkness to help the others evacuate the studio as it collapses around them (evoking the moment in act 1 when Shannon helps Conway in the dark after the mine tunnel collapse).

Conversations

E1. Introduction - Introduce setting and Emily

    0. Emily enters through the front door. A few objects/people in the scene that can be examined/explored/greeted in any order before Rita’s opening monologue.  
    1. (Wevp_01_RitaOpening.xml) Rita opening monologue  
    2. (Wevp_02_EmilySearchesShelvesForUPDN.xml) Emily searches shelves for Un Pueblo de Nada.  
    3. (Wevp_03_CueUPDN.xml) Emily returns with Un Pueblo de Nada tape, cues it up and plays it.  
    4. (Wevp_04_MayaAndEmilyWatchDoc.xml) Maya and Emily chat as Maya watches the doc on the monitor.  
    5. (Wevp_05_MayaAndRitaAfterDoc.xml) Maya and Rita chat after Maya enters set.

E2. Development - Ghosts abound

    6. (Wevp_06_EmilyBenAndBobDuringWild.xml) Emily talks to Ben & Bob while poking around.  
    7. (Looking at stuff in the studio)  
    8. (Wevp_08_MayaRitaRonAboutWild.xml) Maya, Rita and Ron talk about “Wild.” Emily’s thoughts wander.

E3. Twist - Weaver

    9. (Wevp_09_EmilyAndElmoDuringWeather.xml) Emily talks quietly to Elmo during the weather report.  
    10. (wevp_10_rita_and_maya_then_phone_rings.krtzw) Rita and Maya talk briefly after weather report and then the phone rings, Geoff talks for a bit. Emily wanders off.  
    11. (Looking at stuff in the studio, Emily recalls moments from Weaver’s interventions)  
    12. (wevp_12_after_geoff_call.krtzw) Emily returns to camera. End of Geoff call. Ron is asleep, etc. Play cave art. Chat with all on set. Loud sounds outside and Ron gets up to check it out. “Cave Art” ends. Rita and Maya talk. Power outage.

E4. Conclusion - Is Weaver a ghost, or are we all ghosts?

    13. (Checking status of studio equipment, Emily considers ghosts)  
    14. (wevp_14_nikki_enters.krtzw) Nikki enters, Emily greets her.  
    15. (wevp_15_nikki_poem.krtzw) Emily returns to camera. Nikki reads poem. Ben yells to Emily that the broadcast has been interrupted again, that she should check out the monitor.  
    16. Emily watches Weaver’s pirate broadcast. Power outage.  
    17. (Evacuating the studio in the dark)