{"id":2550,"date":"2019-02-06T20:35:13","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T20:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/?p=2550"},"modified":"2019-06-25T14:38:33","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T14:38:33","slug":"brief-history-interactive-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/brief-history-interactive-film\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Interactive Film"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Usually relegated to the dustbin of cinematic gimmickry, interactive\u2019s back in the news again thanks to &#8216;<b><i>Bandersnatch<\/i><\/b>&#8216;, an episode of Netflix and showrunner Charlie Brooker&#8217;s sf anthology series <b><i>Black Mirror<\/i><\/b>\u00a0that follows a young programmer who\u2019s (wait for it) adapting a choose-your-own-adventure book to interactive video game in the totally coincidental year of 1984.<\/p>\n<p>Navel-gazing aside, the illusion of autonomy for historically submissive audiences is enough of a hook for some filmmakers that the genre has developed a traceable timeline:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ou4Xidb3fVE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>1961\u00a0\u2014 Mr. Sardonicus<\/h5>\n<p>Most sources claim the first interactive film was 1967\u2019s <b><i>Kinoautomat<\/i><\/b>, but that does a grave disservice to America\u2019s king of silver screen gimmickry, William Castle. For <i>Mr. Sardonicus<\/i> \u2014 a film about a man whose face becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing his father&#8217;s grave \u2014 Castle cooked up the &#8216;Punishment Poll&#8217;, a chance for audiences to vote on Sardonicus\u2019 fate using glow-in-the-dark thumbs handed out before the film. He claims he was inspired by Columbia Studios\u2019 insistence on a less grisly ending, though his autobiography notes, \u201cInvariably the audience\u2019s verdict was thumbs down.\u201d It\u2019s unlikely that an upbeat ending was ever filmed (Castle claims there was), but even the mere illusion of choice for a knowing audience qualifies <i>Mr. Sardonicus<\/i> as the earliest participatory film.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x1TLcz3UFg8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>1967 \u2014 Kinoautomat<\/h5>\n<p>One of the big hits of <b><i>Expo \u201867<\/i><\/b>, this black comedy\u2019s strengths lay not in its commercial potential (which a demanding Hollywood never successfully exploited, as the film was considered property of the Communist State), but in its effective satire of democratic systems. Czechoslovak writer\/director Rad\u00faz \u010cin\u010dera\u2019s storylines \u2014 about a man who believes he was responsible for his apartment building burning down \u2014 cleverly re-converge at each point of decision, spawning two parallel narratives instead of multiplying branches for all nine decision points. A moderator tallied votes in the 127-seat theater on a numbered border around the screen for all to see, but there was only one ending \u2014 the inescapable apartment fire.<\/p>\n<h5>1974-1993 \u2014 Full Motion Video<\/h5>\n<p>Full Motion Video is an umbrella term for interactive games and films incorporating pre-recorded live-action elements. The full history of interactive video games deserves its own in-depth examination, but for now we\u2019ll skim the surface to see how they meshed with interactive films.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qmdOHmnbYHw?start=80&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Designed by Gunpei Yokoi (creator of the Nintendo Game Boy) 1974\u2019s <b><i>Wild Gunman<\/i><\/b> arcade cabinet displayed 16mm footage of enemy cowboys on a video projection screen; when their eyes flashed, players used a light gun to \u2018shoot\u2019 them \u2014 successful timing jumped to a clip of the gunmen falling, a \u2018miss\u2019 saw the cowboy draw instead. Gameplay was similar to 1983\u2019s Bally-Midway\u2019s <b><i>Astron Belt<\/i><\/b>, whose laserdisc-based technology set the stage for the Don Bluth-animated <b><i>Dragon\u2019s Lair<\/i><\/b>, where interactivity amounted to hitting a button or nudging a joystick when prompted. There was a plot, but it was a fixed, linear storyline.<\/p>\n<p>Released into arcades that same year, Data East\u2019s laserdisc-based <b><i>Bega\u2019s Battle<\/i><\/b> recycled footage from the Rintaro anime <b><i>Harmagedon: Genma taisen<\/i><\/b> (featuring character design by <b><i>Akira<\/i><\/b> creator Katsuhiro Otomo), blending top-down shooter and FMV elements to offer an actual branching storyline and a variable cast of non-player characters. In 1984, Data East recycled the <i>Bega\u2019s Battle<\/i> hardware for <b><i>Cobra Command<\/i><\/b> (<i>Thunder Storm<\/i> in Japan), an interactive blend of anime and cockpit shooter, while Bluth released his <i>Dragon\u2019s Lair<\/i> follow-up, <b><i>Space Ace<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4iplXu8jXc0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>Control-Vision<\/h5>\n<p>In 1985, former Rolling Stone music critic Tom Zito teamed up with Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell and, with backing from Hasbro, developed what would become the ill-fated Control-Vision console (internally code-named NEMO). The system used VHS tape instead of laserdiscs or ROM cartridges, with multiple channels interleaved and software controlling which stream to play. Several interactive film-games were developed internally before the project was shuttered, including a murder-mystery called <b><i>Scene of the Crime<\/i><\/b>, a sleepover slasher called <b><i>Night Trap<\/i><\/b>, and a music video featuring The Cars\u2019 single <i>You Might Think<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ia29PSVOXL4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>1992 \u2014 Night Trap<\/h5>\n<p><i>Night Trap<\/i> was originally intended as a <i>Nightmare On Elm Street<\/i> tie-in, but when the studio deal fell through, Zito reworked it as a stand-alone story. Players controlled security cameras and traps to protect a group of teen girls (including <i>Diff\u2019rent Strokes\u2019<\/i> Dana Plato) from \u201cfledgling vampires\u201d. Shot on 35mm in 1987 by future <i>Forest Gump<\/i> cinematographer Don Burgess, ASC, the game didn\u2019t see light of day until 1992 \u2014 literally; Zito stashed all the assets in a Rhode Island storage unit \u2014 when Sega needed content for its new CD-based system. In 1993, <i>Night Trap<\/i> came under Congressional scrutiny after Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) claimed sight unseen that \u201cthese games teach a child to enjoy inflicting torture\u2026\u201d Sales exploded.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mx4NeJe9CJI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>I\u2019m Your Man<\/h5>\n<p>North America\u2019s first interactive theatrical film was 20 minutes long and screened in Lowes Theaters refitted with software and pistol grips at a cost of $70,000 per theater (slightly more than a Dolby sound system at the time). Audiences picked one of three choices that flashed on-screen by hitting a color-coordinated button. Three bucks got viewers an all-day pass to play through every permutation of a story involving corporate malfeasance, codewords, and a clueless party guy crossing wires at an art opening. The technology was removed from theaters in 1994.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fpREyMjFoYc?start=335&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>1993 \u2014 Ground Zero Texas<\/h5>\n<p>After <i>Night Trap<\/i> and 1992\u2019s FMV first-person shooter <b><i>Sewer Shark<\/i><\/b>, became cross-platform hits, Zito\u2019s Digital Pictures leveled up the production value for their next title, a game about aliens attacking a small town made with a full Hollywood crew that included <i>Marked For Death<\/i> director Dwight H. Little and <i>Robocop<\/i> writer Edward Neumeier. Doing business with the guilds must\u2019ve gotten Tinseltown\u2019s attention&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0tp8av0SesI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>Mr. Payback<\/h5>\n<p>&#8230;because Sony New Technology and\u00a0<i>I\u2019m Your Man<\/i>\u2019s Interfilm tapped\u00a0<em>Back to the Future<\/em>&#8216;s Bob Gale to write and direct this revenge tale, where viewers help a cyborg called Mr. Payback (Billy Warlock) creatively punish bullies and thugs.<\/p>\n<h5>The Rest of the 90s<\/h5>\n<p>By 1993, the 15-year-old laserdisc format still hadn\u2019t caught on with consumers and DVDs were still around the corner, but new CD-ROM technology provided fertile ground for \u201cinteractive movies\u201d in the home PC market. Adventure game developers experimented extensively with the medium, producing <b><i>The 7th Guest<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>Under a Killing Moon<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>The Pandora Directive<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>Voyeur<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>Star Trek: Klingon<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>Star Trek: Borg<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>Snatcher<\/i><\/b> (directed by <i>Metal Gear<\/i>\u2019s Hideo Kojima), <b><i>Black Dahlia<\/i><\/b> (starring Dennis Hopper), <b><i>The X-Files Game<\/i><\/b>, <b><i>Phantasmagoria<\/i><\/b>, and The Residents\u2019 <b><i>Bad Day on the Midway<\/i><\/b>. Notable action titles include <b><i>Wing Commander III<\/i><\/b> (&#8220;Don&#8217;t watch the game, play the movie!&#8221;) and <b><i>Star Wars: Rebel Assault II<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GyZQa59UezU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Processor speeds and storage capacities kept doubling every two years, while the cost of producing and buying them halved at relatively the same rate. Polygon counts were growing and graphics were improving, but producing quality motion picture content was still prohibitively expensive and a challenge to deliver. By the end of the decade, video games were starting to feel more like films, not the other way around.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2591 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-1024x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-1024x672.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-200x131.jpg 200w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-300x197.jpg 300w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-768x504.jpg 768w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-860x565.jpg 860w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-680x447.jpg 680w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-400x263.jpg 400w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching-50x33.jpg 50w, http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/switching.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<h5>2003 \u2014 Switching<\/h5>\n<p>The first Danish interactive film was developed specifically for DVD viewing and doesn\u2019t offer any prompts beyond actors\u2019 glances. Like the bad relationship it depicts, the film loops endlessly through the same scenes until viewers choose to end it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wkdiwkxXqGk?start=5&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>2007 \u2014 Late Fragment<\/h5>\n<p>This nonlinear DVD-based 2007 TIFF entry about three strangers who meet at a \u201crestorative justice\u201d therapy session sounds utterly exhausting, with a 168-minute runtime and one review breathlessly claiming \u201cin Chapter 5 alone there are 3.26 billion story trajectories along which audiences can go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gaHw97l7-Lc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>2015 \u2014 Her Story<\/h5>\n<p>In this criminal investigation game, players poke around an archaic computer interface, piecing together a story from police files and interviews with a missing man\u2019s wife. The game\u2019s popularity likely stems from setting up a Rashomon-style mystery where player participation means spinning their own theories, instead of picking artificial \u2018choices\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YqQOY-aQGzM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>2016 \u2014 Late Shift<\/h5>\n<p>The straightforward story of mob entanglement uses a seamless form of playback where the film doesn\u2019t pause, or wait \u2014 as the literature says, \u201cno decision is also a decision.\u201d First released in European cinemas, it was published to the Nintendo Switch in 2018.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XM0xWpBYlNM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>2019 \u2014 Bandersnatch<\/h5>\n<p>Current technology\u2019s made \u2018nonlinear\u2019 the default mode for most media, but film has largely resisted nonlinearity (save in storytelling) or ceding control to the audience. Gaming\u2019s gone in the opposite direction \u2014 extensive world-building, morality options, alternate endings, and side quests have made immersive, interactive participation the norm. (<i>Her Story<\/i> exemplifies the difference \u2014 choices feel forced and limited when imposed on narrative works unless there\u2019s additional engagement, and most interactive stories are too thin to hold up to repeated viewing once the novelty of new information is gone.)<\/p>\n<p>Cinema\u2019s a group activity \u2014 even if you go alone you\u2019re part of an audience, while gaming is solo by default, with group engagement optional. A medium will tend towards the form of storytelling best suited to it, and as <i>Bandersnatch<\/i>\u2019s buzz is already dying down, it seems unlikely interactive will catch on \u2014 barring a season of <i>Serial<\/i> where audiences race to solve the crime in real time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some movies aren&#8217;t finished until the audience completes them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[118,116,95,117],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2550"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2991,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550\/revisions\/2991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}