The Future of Film: Producing an Interactive Film

Submitted by the First Year College Students under the Multimedia Arts Course of St. Dominic

College of Asia

A.Y. 2018-2019

A Thesis paper presented to the

School of Business and Computer Studies

St. Dominic College of Asia

In Partial Fulfilment of the

Requirements for the Subject

Regulations and Ethics with Design Profession Laws

Prepared By

Busa, Kristopher John V.

Getubig, Micca Ave S.

Nazaire, Janelle P.
 CHAPTER I

I. Background of the Study

Today’s current generation used to be the future of the past. The technology of
the now will inevitably progress and while it is continuous, it gets harder for the
industry to create original inventions because every possible necessity is already
been invented, hence people innovate. Innovations can be done anywhere, including
movies. And while with new technologies on the rise; one of this is the concept
resurfacing and seems to be making a comeback, which is the interactive film.

Technologies that were initially developed to be applied within the domain of

video games are currently being used in experiments to explore their meaning and
possibilities for cinema and cinema audiences. As stated by MediaLAB Amsterdam
(n.d.). Interactive cinema is a cinematic experience that has game dynamics
integrated into it. This gives the viewer the option to influence the storyline to some
degree. In a regular cinematic experience, the viewer lacks the options to alter
events unfolding within the film. In video games, the player is given the freedom to
interact with the game and alter the storyline.

Before having the first interactive film, it was inspired by numerous choose-your-
own-adventure, a series of children’s game books in 1976. It describes a book with a
maze-like narrative. From game books, it adapted and popularized into interactive
games which successfully was produced thanks to the advancement of the
technology.

One of these popular interactive game is called "Detroit: Becoming Human"

which provides multiple options in a very limited time for players to choose from
when the protagonist decides in the game, giving them a sense of thrill and control.
One more example is “Until Dawn”; it is more of a story than a game. Player controls
a rotating cast of eight endangered teens trying to survive an ill-fated night at a
secluded mountain lodge. In this adventure – gameplay is comprised entirely of
exploring eerie locales, timing your way through action sequences, and making an
endless series of choices that shape the story.

Danielle Burgos blog (May 2019) indicated that most sources claim the first
interactive film was 1967’s Kinoautomat. Each viewer was given a small controller
with two buttons, and would vote for one of two options that would determine the
course of the film at selected intervals, during which the picture would freeze and a
moderator would walk onto the stage. Less than a year after a successful run in
Prague, this pioneering work of interactive narrative quickly disappeared from
memory. The film was banned by the ruling Communist Party of Czechosloakia,
stating the film intended a satire of democracy.

In 2019 a standalone extended episode of Black Mirror, written by series creator

Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade bloomed through the platform of social
media which allowed the viewer to make decisions for the main character, a
videogame designer called Stefan in the throes of building a groundbreaking (in
1984) multiple-ending game himself, and affect the outcome of the story.
 Although some aspects of videogames and movies may seem to merge, many
classical differences between the two of course remain intact. According to Bernard
Perron (2012), the interactive movie as a genre holds a place in the history of video
games for one main reasons: it is well known failure. Made possible by the increased
storage capacity of laserdisc and CD-ROM, the idea is to take “video game” literally
by combining full motion video of live action footage and cinematic techniques with
gaming experience. they came to have a bad reputation due to limited possibilities of
their branching structures, their lack of interactivity, the bad acting of their cast, and
in the case of the earlier interactive movies, their low-resolution pictures and the
dismal quality of their play back.

For one, the procedural rhetoric that is characteristic for videogames is not
applicable to cinema (Bogost, 2008). While in movies arguments are made through
the construction of words and images, in videogames ideas are conveyed through
the persuasive use of processes. These two different rhetoric styles invoke different
modes of engagement of its users. While in cinema, the viewer is expected to sit
back and experience the argument passively, with videogames, the user is required
to actively engage in the process. Within media studies, movie audiences and
computer users have therefore traditionally been said to differ profoundly, based on
these engagement styles. The term ‘lean back’ is used for media that allow the user
to sit back, relax, and receive information in a passive manner, such as movies and
television. In contrast, the term ‘lean forward’ is used for media in which the user is
able to interact and control the flow of information, as is the case while playing video
games (Katz, 2010).

The term “cinema of attractions” refers to the exhibitionist nature of early cinema,
a cinema that had a visibility to break the self-enclosed fictional world to get the
attention of the audience or in the gamer. As indicated by Kevin Vael (n.d), the
cinematic texts are defined in part, by the audience lack of ability to alter events
unfolding within the films diegesis.

Interactivity is a tool to encourage activity in the audience and let them immerse
in the environmental content. Adding audience interaction in film increases user’s
engagement, because having an active role contributes to enjoyment, thrill, and
learning. The researchers developed this study to give the audience an output where
they have a sense of control in the film and let them engage themselves based on
their decisions in the film. Throughout the study, the researchers will know how
interactivity works as the power of the user to select the next scene or to access
additional information that boosts the film’s progress.

In this study, it propose to examine how narrative, interactivity, and engagement

are mutually reshaped, balancing and addressing both the production and the user
experience of new types of interactive film.

II. Objectives of the Study

This study seeks to discover and develop a more successful and well plot
interactive film. It also aims to entertain the audience with its unique approach.
Specifically, it aims:
  Firstly to produce an interactive film in the Philippines.
 Identify and study how interactive film works.
 Explore and improve the concept of an interactive film
 Create an interactive story by having decisional power on the audience.
 Have a chance to have multiple ending of the film.

III. Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study is to observe and point out the previous problems from
past unsuccessful interactive films, forming better solutions.

This study will provide the film students, scriptwriters, and producers with
information to understand the concept of interactive film, the important key factors,
planning and producing. This brings it the possibility to be more known and can
practice this type of film in the filming industry in the future. Specifically, it seeks to
answer the following questions:

 How does interactive film works?

 What are the applications used to operate an interactive film?
 What does it need to be improved compared from other studies?
 How can an interactive film be unique to other types of film?

IV. Significance of the Study

The significance of this study will help film-related persons understand, analyse,
and produce their own film. The output’s goal is designed to serve as a guide in
implementing an interactive film.

More specifically, the results of the study will be of great benefit to the following
people:

Multimedia Arts Students – This study will be a guide and an inspiration for the
multimedia arts students to produce short interactive films. It is also the hope to raise
the consciousness of films.

Game developers – This study will give game developers new ideas to innovate
and have new combinations of engagement in creating interactive games.

Filmmakers – This study will help filmmakers understand the important key
factors of producing an interactive film.

Future Researchers – This study will benefit future researchers by serving a

guide and reference with the same or related topic, or improvements of the current
study.
 School – The outcome of the study will aid the administration to effectively
explore and foster the environment in which students will learn effectively. The output
will be a guide and a learning tool to create an interactive film.

V. Scope and Delimitation

This study analyses the scope and delimitation of the proposed interactive film.
The general intent of this study is to know the major key points in creating an
interactive film.

This study scopes the process of scriptwriting, filming, editing, and programming
the interactive film. This also assesses the different factors that affect the making of
it. This study desires to identify on how can the researchers develop, improve and
balance the concept of cinematic and game experience in previous failed and
neglected interactive films.

This study will be conducted with limited amount of financial resources and time
framework.
VI. References

1. Are Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Movies Finally About to Become a Thing?

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gq.com/story/are-
choose-your-own-adventure-movies-finally-about-to-become-a-thing/amp

2. Burgos, D. (2019, May 02). A Brief History of Interactive Film. Retrieved from
http://endcrawl.com/blog/brief-history-interactive-film/

3. Correia, R. G., & Machado, L. S. (2013). Methods for Interactive Cut for a Virtual Reality
Framework. 2013 XV Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality.
doi:10.1109/svr.2013.27

4. Game Studies. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/veale

5. Marchiafava, J. (n.d.). Until Dawn Review – A New Dawn for Interactive

Storytelling. Retrieved from
https://www.gameinformer.com/games/until_dawn/b/playstation4/archive/2015/0
8/24/until-dawn-review-game-informer-playstation-4.aspx

6. Mitchell, A., Fernández-Vara, C., & Thue, D. (2014). Interactive storytelling: 7th
international conferene, ICIDS 2014, Singapore, Singapore, November 3-6, 2014,
proceedings. Cham: Springer.

7. O'Brien, L. (2018, May 24). Detroit: Become Human Review. Retrieved from
https://sea.ign.com/m/detroit-become-human/135857/review/detroit-become-
human-review

8. Wolf, M. J. (2012). Encyclopedia of video games. The culture, technology, and

art of gaming: A-L. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.