New Art: How Movies Are Becoming Interactive
As everyday technology evolves, traditional forms of entertainment—like movies and video games—are also becoming interactive. Creators are striving to engage users or viewers directly in the plot and action of their video products. Video maker Yana Sosnovskaya explores the birth of a new genre at the intersection of these two industries.
In November of last year, renowned film director and producer Steven Soderbergh released the interactive series Mosaic. Instead of watching sequential episodes as usual, users of a free app for iOS and Android could determine the course of events themselves. By choosing how the story would unfold, viewers followed the action from the perspective of different characters, and their choices influenced both the plot and its presentation. Ultimately, the user would arrive at one of two possible endings. In January, Mosaic was released on HBO as a traditional six-episode series—but it was the interactive version that truly made waves.
The reason for the growing popularity of interactive cinema is clear—the modern world is becoming more interactive every year. At the end of last year, Forbes published an article about the explosive growth of the “Internet of Things” industry, including interactive home technologies, which nearly doubled since 2016. Mobile augmented reality games—like the once-sensational Pokemon Go!—have also become commonplace and carved out a significant niche in the gaming market. It’s only logical that as our interactions with technology become more interactive, so does the demand for interactive art.
Mosaic is probably the most well-known example of interactive cinema made by a director with real actors. Although there were similar series and films before Mosaic, most examples of this genre are still found in video games. To understand how this works, let’s look at some of the most notable interactive movies and games from recent years.
Heavy Rain (2010, Metascore 78)
While there were earlier experiments with interactive cinema, it was Heavy Rain—released in 2010 for PlayStation 3—that set the direction for the genre’s future. The story centers on a child kidnapped by an unknown criminal, and players must find the child using several different characters. Each character’s story unfolds in multiple chapters, where players make choices—often moral ones—that affect how the story develops. Some characters can die, either by the player’s choice or by mistake, which can radically change the plot. The game was incredibly popular: 1.5 million copies were sold in the first month after release.
Life Is Strange (2015, Metascore 85)
Another mega-successful video game—this time multiplatform, available for PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, OS X, Linux, Windows, and Android—but very different in essence from Heavy Rain. While the pioneer of interactive video games still retained some arcade elements and focused on a variety of user decisions and nonlinear storytelling, Life Is Strange is much more straightforward narratively and much deeper dramatically. This depth may be explained by the abilities of the main character in this teen sci-fi game. In Life Is Strange, players take on the role of high school student Maxine Caulfield, who can foresee disasters and accidents—and, if necessary, rewind time to prevent any misfortune.
Late Shift (2017, Metascore 59)
Director Tobias Weber envisioned Late Shift both as a video game and as a film that could be watched in theaters. In the latter case, viewers could influence the film’s events by choosing different plot options through a special smartphone app. Released in 2016, Late Shift was not a commercial success as a game, and its film version, despite being shown at some film festivals, proved technically challenging for most viewers. Nevertheless, Weber was quicker than Soderbergh in creating an interactive movie experience with real actors in a traditional cinematic format.
Detroit: Become Human (2018, Metascore 78)
Another project from Heavy Rain creator David Cage—and just as successful. As of now, Detroit: Become Human is the best-selling PlayStation 4 game of 2018. Cage places players in a sci-fi world set in 2038, where humans must coexist with androids who are indistinguishable from people in their daily needs—a plot reminiscent of Blade Runner. However, Detroit is more optimistic in tone and, of course, interactive. Apparently, these two factors were enough for its success.
The Future of the Video Industry
As the examples above show, interactive cinema is still mostly developing within the video game format. However, Weber’s Late Shift, Soderbergh’s Mosaic, and Detroit: Become Human—which features more pre-scripted action than typical video game action—are all signs of a rapidly approaching future. In this future, gaming and cinematic formats that engage the user or viewer in the plot and action will likely merge into a new form of art. It won’t be called a “video game” or an “interactive series”—instead, it will combine the best and most distinctive features of both. Just as home technology is becoming more interactive, so are traditional forms of entertainment—and it seems nothing can stop this trend.