The development of various new technology and the popularisation of the multimedia brought us into an interactive social era. Is the creative form of the real person plus the live-action filming like <late shift> will be the new direction of the entertainment in the future?
Firstly, I think there are two different main type in the interactive movie. One is based on the movie and provides the audience with some simple operational elements. For example, the ‘Destiny Choice’ mode in the film <Final Destination 3> (DVD Version), it allows the audience to make a choice when the story at some specific moments which can lead to the different story.
<http://finaldestination.wikia.com/wiki/Choose_Their_Fate>
The most important revolution of the interactive movie is making the audience involved in the development of the movie. On the one hand, the audience could control the conflict, storyline, also the end With God perspective, they will have the maximised psychological satisfaction. On the other hand, the curiosity of human can be satisfied, the audience are willing to try, even every different development to satisfy their curiosity. Therefore, the interactive movie put forward a higher logic requirement to the filmmakers.
But in my opinion, this type interactive movie (based on the movie), it is reasonable as an extension of personal experience of watching a film, but it is hard to popularise among the audience widely. There are two main reasons, and one is the current technology and the design of the cinema unable to afford the chance for every audience to experience the interactive movie. So it cannot satisfy the needs of the diverse audience. The second reason is the audience will lose the fundamental discussion because of the film structure also the storyline is changeable. The audience will share their feeling based on their individual choice. ‘If the movie involves us, we leave our problems and preoccupations outside the theater, and enter a reverie state’ (Ebert 1994, para. 4).
The other main type is a game type. It has the cinematic narrative style, many twists, numerous options, and stronger sense of immersion. The player does not need too much operation, and the storyline is pushed forward by the different options at the important moment. It can bring a more immersive gaming experience by reducing operational freedom.Some games like <Red Alert> series used the real-shooting video as the cutscene before. But the full-motion video game like <Late Shift> is definitely a new attempt. Also, there are not many this type of game on the market.
<http://scientificgamer.com/thoughts-red-alert-3/>
I do think the ‘interactive’ part in <Late Shift> is successful, every option can match different storyline perfectly, and the player only has 3 to 5 seconds to decide to put forward the story timely. Therefore the players are required to concentrate on the story.
<http://fmvworld.com/lateshift_screening.html>
Compare with a typical commercial film. Obviously, the cost of <Late Shift> is minimal. ‘The £1.2m-budget film, created with three times as much footage as a normal movie’(The Irish Times 2016, Para. 5). But the interactive movie game needs to contend the market not only with the game companies but also the film companies, and it is not easy to attract the audience who already used to watching those big-budget commercial movies. But from the multimedia perspective, the interactive movie games can break the limitation of the equipment, which means it can be operated on almost any smart device. Undoubtedly, the interactive movie games will trigger a boom in the future, but whether it can be the mainstream influenced by many factors especially the perfect script and actors.
Reference List:
Ebert, R 1994, ‘Dim future for interactive film’, Roger Ebert’s Journal, viewed 4 March 2018, <https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/dim-future-for-interactive-film>/
Ganatra, S 2016, ‘Late Shift – the big-budget interactive film that allows viewers to decide the plot’, The Irish Times, 16 March, viewed 4 March 2018, <https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/late-shift-the-big-budget-interactive-film-that-allows-viewers-to-decide-the-plot-1.2575445>.
