30 Mar 2010
13th Street: Last Call
Author: Keith Little | Filed under: Film, From the Web, TechnologyI haven’t seen one of the new 3D movies. We didn’t go watch Avatar when it was in theatres, and personally I think the technology seems pretty hokey. But what about choose your own adventure?
The clip below, from a company called 13th Street is advertising a new kind of cinema, one in which the viewer can interact with the film and change the outcome. In this case, it’s done by phoning different viewers in the audience and changing the outcome of the film based on recognized voice commands. Is this the new step in immersive horror films or just another hokey Hollywood breakthrough?
What do you think? Leave a comment.
Do you remember the computer game-Cross-country Canada? You got to be in control of a trucker who had to make long hauls across the Country. The character was controlled by typing in commands like: get into the truck; start the engine; drive north; and the ever popular command (at least in my 5th grade glass) fart. The problem was that the games would reply to the last command with something like: I don’t understand your command.
What would the movie do if the person on the phone didn’t respond? What if they said something that the voice recognition didn’t understand?
At this point it seems more like an amusement park ride than the makings for a good film. I think the novelty would wear off pretty quick-especially for those not on the phone.
Also, what if you ended up getting the protagonist killed? Would they have grief counsellors waiting to debrief with you?
Ha ha. Leave it to the OT to suggest grief counselors.
You’re right about the logistics. I wonder how it would work if it couldn’t recognize your commands, and how interesting it would be for the people not on the phone. In the clip, it looks like everyone in the audience is screaming things out, trying to sway the person on the phone to choose their option, so it seems like there is a lot of interaction even for those not on the phone themselves. But, it looks like a pretty big gimmick to me.