The punishment poll : a different form of interactivity in film

Raessens (2005, p.378) describes interactivity as ‘a distinctive mode of relating to audiovisual representations or fictions'. When thinking of interactivity in computer games I immediately think of the Sims. When playing Sims you become the narrator, that is, you can create a character that represents you or someone completely different! The player can choose the Sims behavior and ultimately the course of events.  I will add a clip of the Sims 4 Trailer that sees gamer interactivity at an all time high! Just quickly, who isn’t excited about the new Sims 4………

Apart from video games/computer games I wanted to discuss interactivity in films and books. Now I’m sure somewhere in your life you have stumbled across a book where it says flick to page 52 for option A or page 73 for Option B. The reader has a choice on how the book will end. It may just be me but if I choose option A, I always go back and read option B because somehow I always regret my choice!

Now, lets discuss interactivity within films. According to Metz (cited in Raessen’s 2005 p. 378) ‘film viewers can be characterized by a perceptive, affective, and cognitive participation’. There are a variety of films, more specifically DVD’s to which the viewer can choose an alternate ending, for example, Final Destination. Whilst researching this topic, I came across a film that used interactivity in a different way. The horror film Mr. Sardonicus (1961) featured a punishment poll at the end of the film. The director, William Castle, would pop up on the screen and invite viewers to vote with either a thumbs up or thumbs down glow in the dark card to whether the evil protagonist deserved more torture or should be killed.

By doing this the audience were positioned to be a character in the film (Raessens 2005, p.379). Furthermore, Verdugo et al (2011) states ‘through a detour narrative model it is possible to engage audiences in a constructive hypermedia experience while at the same time minimizing the amount of footage required.’ This is true in the case of Mr. Sardonicus as William Castle only filmed the ending where Sardonicus was tortured and killed. In relation to the reading, audiences want to influence the course of events, and whilst they did have that opportunity, what would of happened if the majority of the audience wanted to keep Sardonicus alive?

Until next time…

References 

Corro, P, Navarrete, P, Nunnez, P, Nussbaum, M, Verdugo, R 2011, ‘Interactive Films and Coconstruction, ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications & Applications, vol. 7, no. 4 , p.39, retrieved 6 September 2013, http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=e93c4cd8-ba9b-4622-878d-063614f85633%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=16&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=iih&AN=88143012

First Look: The Sims 4 Official Gameplay Trailer 2013, YouTube, The Sims, 20 August, retrieved 6 September 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPPjU8OARg

Raessens, J 2005, ‘Computer games as participatory media culture’, Handbook of computer game studies 2005, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 373-388, retrieved 6 September 2013.

The Punishment Poll from Mr. Sardonicus 2007, YouTube, Annubis44, 27 May, retrieved 6 September 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJjK9njAwu0

Ant Film School site 2013, 'The William Castle Blogathon Review: Mr. Sardonicus, retrieved 6 September 2013, http://antifilmschoolsite.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/the-william-castle-blogathon-review-mr-sardonicus-1961/