The Rise - AR children's book
OVERVIEW
Most kids today are extremely dependent on the internet and video content for learning instead of books. A book like this is an attempt to adapt the tangible experience of print media to the evolving landscape of technology for learning and storytelling.
TEAM
Mentored by Parag Chitale
Voiceover by Amal N
Photography by Parth C
Cardistry by Atharva W
YEAR
2021
PROCESS
What is The Rise
Tangible experience
Why AR
Story Synopsis
Static Illustrations
Plot Twist
Animated Illustrations
Decoding the brief
Idea generation
Narrative building
AR execution
Printing and assembly
Detailed script
Just click on the button to jump directly to that part of the process
Immersive story telling
The Rise is an interactive children's book that blends two parallel stories communicated by a conventional storybook and an AR-enabled audiovisual narrative. It is a fictional story about the evolution of playing cards.
The story revolves around the hierarchy of the suits that act like communities where the spades are the most powerful, followed by the hearts, the diamonds, and lastly, the clubs. The face cards in the deck are the actual characters in the book known as the king of hearts, the queen of diamonds, and the jack of clubs in the order of power.
The structure of the book is like a complex accordion. The tangible interaction with the book resembles the experience of card dribbles and shuffles.
Why Augmented Reality
The objective was to create an impression of a linear narrative that a user could easily follow, but in the end, introduce them to a parallel narrative that makes them realize that there is more to the story. For this, the AR version of the book is introduced where the visuals of the book are animated with a voiceover where plot twists are introduced.
PROCESS
Written and illustrated
Each character in the story receives a letter from an anonymous person from the spades community asking them to submit their power in order to become the most powerful person in the exchange. At the house of spades the King of Hearts♥️, Queen of Diamonds♦️ and the Jack of Clubs♣️ release their power on the command of that anonymous man.
This man steps forward, revealing his identity. He was the 1 of Spades♠️, the person with the least amount of power from the Spade community. With his cunning wit, he managed to fool others to acquire power just to transform himself into the ‘Ace of Spades,’ the most powerful card of the deck.
But this story doesn't end here.
There is an AR version of the book that reveals the plot twist for this story. The visuals on the pages are now animated videos with a voice-over narrative. The story further proceeds with the involvement of another mysterious man who is seen spying on the characters. This man is a magician who helps 1 of the Spades to turn into Ace of Spades♠️. Eventually one discovers that the magician was actually manipulating Ace and convinces him to bring everyone with power under a roof just to absorb all four suits. He uses the power acquired from all spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs and turns himself into the Joker, the ultimate trump card of the deck!
Thus the name of the book evolves as the story progresses and comes to an end. Now the book The Rise is called
The Rise of the Joker!
PROCESS
Documentation
‘A book that is not just a book’ was the given brief. The book was supposed to be experimental and inspired by a prompt word. The prompt I was given for this classroom project was ‘Gnossienne’ from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.
Prompt word
Gnossienne n. a moment of awareness that someone you’ve known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life, and somewhere in the hallways of their personality is a door locked from the inside, a stairway leading to a wing of the house that you’ve never fully explored—an unfinished attic that will remain maddeningly unknowable to you, because ultimately neither of you has a map, or a master key, or any way of knowing exactly where you stand.
Interpretation
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The feeling of never knowing someone fully.
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There is always more to a person than what you think you know.
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You never know what you don't know.
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Mysterious and curious
The idea was that through my narrative, I wanted to give the impression of a linear narrative that a user could easily follow, but in the end, introduce them to a parallel narrative that makes them realize there is more to the story.
Concept plot
When people gamble, they risk money or anything of value to predict the outcome of a game, where assumptions or miscalculations could lead to unexpected results. While you may think you can read through someone's game in a game like rummy, there is always a chance that they will play in a surprising way and win. In other words, you never know what you don't know. I tried to weave parallel stories around playing cards, it is called ‘The Rise.’
Visual Design
Printed Text
The story text has the symbols of Spades♠️, Heart♥️, Diamond♦️or Club♣️ wherever the words are mentioned. This makes it easier for kids to make associations while reading. Eg. King of Heart♥️
Packaging
I wanted the unboxing experience of the book to be exactly like the experience of opening a deck of cards. Thus it looks like an enlarged box of playing cards with the book inside.
Augemented Reality (AR)
The AR version for the book was executed on Artivive. On the last page, after reading the book like a conventional story book, there are instructions and a QR code to download the Artivive app. With the Artivive camera held over the illustrations, the reader is expected to revisit the book as instructed. The visuals of the book are animated with a voiceover and a new story where plot twists are introduced.
Kindly find the detailed script for the printed book and the audio-visual version here.
