Interactive film: Difference between revisions

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Origins: <ref> January 1982 Creative Computing articles for Rollercoaster videodisc game
 
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In 1975, Nintendo's ''{{ill|EVR Race|ja|EVRレース|vertical-align=sup}}'' was a horse race betting arcade game that used [[Electronic Video Recording]] (EVR) technology to playback video footage of horse races from a [[video tape]].<ref name="iwataasks1">{{cite web|date=2009-08-07|title=Iwata Asks: Punch-Out!! - The Proposition is to Use Two Televisions|url=http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/punchout/0/0|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111064027/http://us.wii.com/iwata_asks/punchout/vol1_page1.jsp|archive-date=January 11, 2010|accessdate=2009-08-07|publisher=[[Nintendo]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kohler |first1=Chris |title=Nintendo Has Now Been Making Video Games For 40 Years |url=https://kotaku.com/nintendo-has-now-been-making-video-games-for-40-years-1796650347 |access-date=19 May 2021 |work=[[Kotaku]] |date=July 5, 2017 |language=en-us}}</ref> Before each race, players would place bets on each horse, with the machine dispensing medals (tokens) to any player that successfully chose the winning horse. ''EVR Race'' was Japan's highest-grossing [[medal game]] for three years in a row, [[1976 in video games|from 1976]] to [[1978 in video games|1978]].<ref name="GM159">{{cite magazine|title=調査対象5年間のベスト1|trans-title=Best 1 of the 5 years surveyed|magazine=[[:ja:ゲームマシン|Game Machine]]|issue=159|publisher=[[:ja:アミューズメント通信社|Amusement Press, Inc.]]|date=15 February 1981|page=1|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19810215p.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201000303/https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19810215p.pdf|archive-date=1 February 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Another horse race betting game, Electro-Sport's ''Quarter Horse'' (1982), was the first arcade game to utilize a laserdisc player, and operated in the same manner as ''EVR Race'', with the laserdisc being used to play back pre-recorded non-interactive video footage of horse races; Gameplay was limited to the player placing bets before the race.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Horowitz |first1=Ken |title=The Sega Arcade Revolution: A History in 62 Games |date=2018-07-06 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-1-4766-3196-7 |pages=71–2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qZhDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>
 
An early attempt to combine random access video with [[computer games]] was ''Rollercoaster'', written in BASIC for the Apple II by [[David Lubar]] for [[David H. Ahl]], editor of ''[[Creative Computing]]''. This was a text adventure that could trigger a laserdisc player to play portions of the 1977 American feature film ''[[Rollercoaster (1977 film)|Rollercoaster]]''. The program was conceived and written in 1981, and it was published in the January 1982 issue of ''Creative Computing'' along with an article by Lubar detailing its creation, an article by Ahl claiming that ''Rollercoaster'' was the first video/computer game hybrid and proposing a theory of video/computer interactivity, and other articles reviewing hardware necessary to run the game and do further experiments.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lubar |first=David |title=Adventure in Videoland - Rollercoaster A Computer/Videodisc Adventure |magazine=Creative Computing |date=Jan 1982 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=60–78 |url=https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-01/page/n61/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Ahl |first=David H. |title=The Rollercoaster Game Dissected |magazine=Creative Computing |date=Jan 1982 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=80–83 |url=https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-01/page/n81/mode/2up}}</ref>
 
==Specialized hardware formats==
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[[File:Heavy Rain logo.jpg|alt=The logo of the Heavy Rain videogame|thumb|''Heavy Rain'' logo]]
At its release, ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' (a 2010 video game by [[Quantic Dream]]) received very positive reviews and won several gaming and film and television awards. What is most striking, however, is the unanimity of critics in defining it an interactive-film more than a video game.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Matt |date=February 10, 2010 |title=Heavy Rain And The Birth Of Interactive Film |url=https://www.gameinformer.com/blogs/editors/b/gimiller_blog/archive/2010/02/10/heavy-rain-and-the-birth-of-interactive-film.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517102844/https://www.gameinformer.com/blogs/editors/b/gimiller_blog/archive/2010/02/10/heavy-rain-and-the-birth-of-interactive-film.aspx |archive-date=May 17, 2022 |access-date=May 17, 2022 |website=Gameinformer}}</ref> This definition is certainly inspired by the phenomenon, typical of the Nineties, of films available in [[home video]] or computer that presented to the viewer a series of pre-recorded sequences, at the end of which it was possible to make choices that directly influenced the direction of the story.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Fassone |first=Riccardo |title=Cinema e videogiochi |publisher=Carocci editore |year=2017 |isbn=978-88-430-8558-3 |location=Rome |language=it}}</ref> [[David Cage]], head of Quantic Dream, defines his ''Heavy Rain'' as an interactive film<ref>{{Cite book |lastlast1=Accordi Rickards |firstfirst1=Marco |title=David Cage. Esperienze interattive oltre l'avventura |last2=Romanini |first2=Micaela |last3=De Gregori |first3=Guglielmo |publisher=Edizioni Unicopli |year=2012 |isbn=978-88-400-1607-8 |location=Milan |language=it}}</ref> and, in fact, the goal of the video game coincides with the type of film just mentioned; to combine the interactive potential of the video game with the expressive richness of cinema. However, unlike its predecessors, Cage chooses not to work with [[live action]], but to use only synthetic images, avoiding, at least in part, the effect of estrangement typical of interactive films in the passage from moments of exploration to sequences of narrative exposure.<ref name=":0" /> From the interactive films on DVD Cage assimilates two different aspects in his videogames, respectively the use of [[Quick time event|quick time events (QTE)]] and the freedom of choice left to the player to determine the development of the plot. In the gameplay of ''Heavy Rain'', however, QTEs are not used solely for the purpose of succeeding in certain actions but also as a vehicle to perform the countless narrative choices placed on the player. In the first case the player finds himself testing his reflexes by pressing the keys that appear on the screen. In the second case, up to four different keys can appear to be pressed, each of the which represents a choice that affects the narrative of the video game. As for non-interactive phases, it is difficult to distinguish from the interactive phases, as what can appear as a simple cutscene can often hide several QTEs. Regarding identification with the main characters; ''Heavy Rain'' removes each element of the challenge typical of [[adventure game|graphic adventures]] is removed to ensure that the player can be fully focused on it. Also, as already stated, in ''Heavy Rain'' there is no [[game over]]: depending on the player's actions and choices, the video game shifts to different storylines, culminating in one of the many endings planned for the story.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Accordi Rickards |first=Marco |title=Storia del videogioco. Dagli anni Cinquanta a oggi |publisher=Carocci editore |year=2020 |isbn=9788829003006 |location=Rome |language=it}}</ref> The identification with the characters is not given only by the type of actions that we are asked to perform but also by how, at game design level, the player is required to complete QTEs that aim to make the player feel the physical effort of the [[playable character]]. In an interview, director Cage stated that the game was designed with a focus on physical immersion by letting the player control the animation of the character with the right [[analog stick]]. The idea behind this is to put the player further in the same physical space as that of the character.<ref>{{Cite web |last=MacDonald |first=Laura |date=August 3, 2005 |title=Quantic Dream - David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumiere |url=https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17865 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518123728/https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17865 |archive-date=May 18, 2022 |access-date=May 18, 2022 |website=Adventure Gamers |language=en}}</ref> Although the innovation given by this type of mechanics in the gameplay is undoubted, interaction remains a very small part of the experience offered by David Cage's titles; the relationship between gameplay and cutscenes in Cage's works is broken by what we could define as the insertion of the first into the second creating interactive cutscenes.
Another example comes from ''[[Quantum Break]]'', published by [[Remedy Entertainment|Remedy]] in 2016. Between the game's acts, episodes from a TV show filmed in live action are displayed to the player: the scenes in these episodes change conforming to the decisions the player has taken and the objects he has interacted with.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Andy |date=April 7, 2016 |title=Quantum Break review |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/quantum-break-review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518135037/https://www.pcgamer.com/quantum-break-review/ |archive-date=May 18, 2022 |access-date=May 18, 2022 |website=PC Gamer}}</ref> The looks of the characters are maintained between the live action sequences and the 3D computer generated ones, thanks to the use of the motion capture technique.
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Other games like ''[[BioForge]]'' would, perhaps erroneously, use the term for a game that has rich action and plot of cinematic proportions—but, in terms of gameplay, has no relation to FMV movies.
 
The term is an ambiguous one since many video games follow a storyline similar to the way movies would. Games that highlight a linear story at the cost of the player's freedom may be better described as ''story-dominant games''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Skolnick |first=Evan |title=Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques |publisher=Watson-Guptill |year=2014 |isbn=9780385345828 |location=New York |language=en}}</ref> This is also the case of videogames that offer long and detailed cutscenes with a cinematographic aesthetic, as seen in [[Hideo Kojima]]'s ''[[Death Stranding]]'' released in 2019, which critics described as a videogame movie or interactive film;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ehlrich |first=David |date=November 4, 2019 |title=‘Death'Death Stranding’Stranding' Is the Best Video Game Movie Ever Made |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/death-stranding-review-best-video-game-movie-1202186590/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519183935/https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/death-stranding-review-best-video-game-movie-1202186590/ |archive-date=May 19, 2022 |access-date=May 19, 2022 |website=Indiewire}}</ref> in this example, the player's actions have no direct consequence in the storyline, and the interaction is limited to the field of the gameplay.
 
==Further reading==
*[https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1982-06/mode/2up Byte Magazine] - Interactive Videodiscs, June 1982
 
== See also ==
* [[Web documentary]]
* [[List of interactive moviesfilms]]
* [[Interactive cinema]]
* [[Interactive video]]
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* [[Interactive Adventures]]
* [[Chad, Matt & Rob]]
* [[Full -motion video]]
* [[Cheer screening]]
* [[Adventure game]]