The Path
by linden
the pitch
synopsis
I've been tossing this idea around in my head for quite some time now, but after a weekend of being absolutely sick of what gets the green light now days, I'm ready to start refining it (warning: consult your physician before watching all the bad movie trailers on iTunes, and if you are pregnant or think you may become pregnant, bad movie trailers are NOT for you.)
Anyways, it all started when coming up with the idea for Classics [remix]. I began to get the feeling that the truly revolutionary stuff wasn't going to come jumping off a big screen near you, but rather the small screen. Also, with the success of open-ended plot driven shows like Lost and Heroes, Americans have stunned everyone by proving we actually have a stomach for complex, intriguing, and hard to follow entertainment and not just VH1 (un)reality garbage.
These two revelations gave birth to the idea for the first truly interactive viewing experience. Right now it's more concept than actual plot (hopefully to be added as the concept is refined):
The viewer would begin with an online sign up and a choice between one of two character-driven subplots. At the end of the first episode, each less than 3 minutes long, the viewer would be given a choice as to what the character does next. Subsequent episodes would be delivered weekly, presenting the viewer with a new set of choices. To experience the whole story all plot lines can be explored, but this shouldn't be crucial to the enjoyment of any single plot line. Also, throughout the course of an entire season small (2-3 episode) plot lines could be injected into the main story.
To help keep the number of possible episodes under control, plot lines and choices can merge together during the season ending with roughly the same number of possible outcomes that it all started out with.
Any thoughts on a potential plot? This would be an immense undertaking for any group of writers, and would require near religious attention to detail to make all the little pieces work.
vote
Best idea yet
This is the sweetest idea so far. It could totally work. I will start thinking on potential plots.
Very Cool
this really could work.
Could be very complex
I think that the idea is good, but it could get really complex. How would you make sure viewers aren't totally confused by what episodes / plot lines to watch next?
Yeah i am a
Yeah i am a big fan of this one. Not really anything out there like it, but dchen your right it could get really complex. I think thats what makes it so interesting. A tangled web of a story that the viewer can take an active hand in unraveling.
Nice
I like the idea a lot, would maybe be good to either base it on true events so the viewers can research what really happened or provide similar web based additional plot material for fictional stories. Just think that with such short episodes and a felling of interactivity this sort of extra content or research potential will keep people hooked - just look at how long people spend on Lost Forums discussing plots and trying to solve clues, riddles, hidden content etc.
good idea
Having some sort of tie in back to reality is definitely a good idea. Kind of like your idea The Editors. What real world events was lost based on?
clarify
Sorry probably wasn't clear in what I was saying, i dont mean Lost was based on real events (they'd be some pretty freaky events!!!) more that Lost fans spend vast amounts of time between episodes dissecting every detail + the makers of lost created websites for the Airline etc to keep people involved and thinking about the show between episodes, making the whole thing a deeper and more interactive experience.
Thanks for clarifying
I figured thats what you meant. This interactivity and depth outside of the actual viewing is what I wanted to capture and really push the boundaries of with this idea. There just seem to be so many opportunities to interact in new ways with the audience. But now, with Lost for example, that stuff takes a back seat to the actual show. Its kind of like a circus sideshow. I want that interactivity to be the main event.
Evolutionary, perhaps revolutionary...
...but I really don't think it needs to flow back into an "actual show" main event. I would consider it strictly a new media project specifically intended for an internet audience. Each segment of each pathway can cameo flashbacks, flash-currents, and flash-forwards across the timeline and across pathways to create pathway tie-ins and to add to awareness and peek the curiosity of viewers, if some benefit is foreseen. In real life, per the time-line experience of an individual, things happen serially. But in the larger context of all of the many concurrent parallel pathways, an individual becomes aware of things as they occur to themselves serially, as they are informed of them, as they research them, or imagine them.
I've often imagined that this is the natural progression of fabricated entertainment, especially video and music, where the product is fully conceived as it is now but taking advantage of the extended capabilities of today's media and media transport allowing for multiple and varied experiences to emerge from a single project. As in real life, some things will remain unknowns in the mind of a particular observer. But, depending on the viewer's level of curiosity, this type of production would allow them to discover more by re-experiencing across multiple pathways. This is what we do everyday when we tune into our favorite news site, blog, and commentary from associates--pick up new information and new angles to add to our own direct serial experience.
True, a great song is a great song. But wouldn't it be as great and perhaps even greater if you could push a button and hear an original-artist-guided reshaping of that same great song? The same for a great movie/video? Imagine the extended viral shelf-life that comes from people discussing their similar AND varied experiences along the way and after the fact.
Complex and involved, for sure! But I say go for it! Perhaps produce a "pilot" and shop it or the entire multi-path video (MPV) concept to one or more of the many entities vying for eyes in the ever-growing online video market.
Agreed
I agree with you %100 BigMTBrain. You're right on about the new media experience being a process shared between the provider and the viewer. However, I question your statement on the "progression of fabricated entertainment...where the product is fully conceived as it is now".
I think this idea, along with a number of others, are a first step into an entertainment model where the product isn't 'fully conceived' until it has been modified and customized around each individual's preference. A viewer's experience with a certain product is dictated completely by that individual's taste and desire for more. I view these types of new media entertainment as a set of creativity tools, handed over to the user to do with as the please. The tone, pacing and content of a story depend on what types of tools you provide the user. Any thoughts?
Complexity and Purpose
dchen, interesting idea.
Upon first reflection, it sounds analogous to and as simple (?) to accomplish as what has been available in the music world for those who want to enjoy the fun, adventure, creativity and control found in reshaping their listening experience; that is, remixing musical material via provided audio samples that are fed to and manipulated with remixing software.
However, upon further reflection, it becomes clear that video remixing/reshaping is not as easy and perhaps not as desirable as it might be for music for several reasons:
Complexity:
1) Regarding the matter of 'fully conceived': Despite the wide range of available instruments and repertoire of sounds available to a piece of music, enjoyable compositions, for the most part, have structure, logic, and patterns that lend themselves to various forms and degrees of manipulation without corrupting the original theme. Music, particularly sans-lyrics, approaches you with emotional colors rather than a combination of cognitive information and emotional colors--it doesn't try or have to make sense--therefore, when you manipulate music you are merely toying with the emotional colors that it presents and it still works no matter what those colors turn out to be. Even most songs with lyrics have repeated patterns and phrases that can be amicably shuffled. In contrast, a video, regardless of whether presented on a single track or multiple parallel tracks, presents itself to you as time-dependent, cognitive information with emotional coloring--it must be progressive and it must make sense. (And that includes the "Momento"s, "Pulp Fiction"s, "Crash"s and "Magnolia"s as they are time-dependent and make sense [with intentional temporal shuffling for affect]) I can't say that I've fully thought things through, but it seems that a multi-path video (MPV) would have to be fully conceived to impart the intended cognitive AND emotional experiences.
2) I don't know if you were suggesting things to this extent, but technology-wise, audio remixing software allows you to place each instrument or instrumental sample on separate tracks and remix at will. Currently, video is not produced in this way where each character, each segment of dialog, and each visual element or segment is separate and free for independent manipulation. Therefore, the best that you could hope to do is to produce a story like "Magnolia" except for each separate parallel storyline a complete, separate movie is produced. Each movie is broken up into the same number of chapters/scenes. The length of a particular scene, say scene 25, for each storyline would not have to be the same length. The scene markers would only serve as track/storyline switching points where the viewer decides what track they want to experience for the next scene. This is the best (easiest, and technologically doable) method that I can conceive of off the top of my head. The rest will have to wait for advanced technology.
3) I think what makes the traditional form of movie so popular is that it doesn't require any user interaction beyond being mentally involved--set it and forget it, or plop 'n' view. Too much control in the hands of the viewer would keep MPV formatted movies in the niche category, especially if choices are required on the part of the viewer prior to and during viewing. Perhaps "randomize a new experience" and "save/freeze this experience" buttons would allow for the same plop 'n' view experience as the current, traditional video watching experience.
Purpose:
1) I think the main reason for why any artist produces a work of art is so that they can communicate THEIR ideas and emotions. While allowing consumers to manipulate artistic works may be fun for the consumer, a work of art is a work of art and intended to be presented to the consumer in the spirit of the artist.
2) You'll have to check with linden on this, but I think an MPV would just be a vehicle and format for movie producers to create "Magnolia"/"Crash" type movies that allow viewers to "select the track for the next scene for discovery" rather than being passively spoonfed.
3) There are several ways in which MPV can be implemented: a) as indicated above where complete separate movie tracks, whose characters flow in and out of the various tracks, depict separate yet related and perhaps intersecting storylines, b) alternate experiences where each track of a particular scene is divergent from the others in some way but that still allows the viewer to switch to a different track for the next scene and still have things "work" (VERY COMPLEX!!), and c) per lindins original idea of production according to consensus--the "next scene" track segments are by voted-on ideas.
dchen, I do think your idea is interesting and will probably be all the rave one day. I just don't think we are technologically ready or sophisticated enough as viewers just yet to take that on at present.
Well stated
Well stated, and I agree that remixing video in the same vein of remixing music currently isn't an attractive model and all your points are valid. However, I was speaking of customizing the experience more along the lines of allowing the user to choose his path through a fully realized entertainment piece, not necessarily in sequential order and not necessarily in its entirety.
For instance, today you could just watch a TV series and if you wanted more you could participate online, read a parallel story in comic form, etc. I think it becomes interesting when you begin to close the gap between the 'main event' and these auxiliary pieces. The entire experience becomes seamless and a user can customize how much of it he or she wants to consume.
Thanks for clarifying
I read you now dchen. Mixed media experience. Cool!!!
Sorry, it turns out that my view was limited to slightly expanding traditional media. Your way pulls in any media available to the artist/producer which would lead to freedom of experiential choice for the consumer.
What about this...
BigMTBrain, Dchen-
What do you think about this... I started filmforay in hopes of a marriage between the traditional Hollywood process and the interactivity of the web. As time goes on, I have begun to get the feeling this pair really was never meant to go together. Opportunities using the web exclusively seem much more exciting. What if we took an idea like "the Path" (or this idea itself) and defined a very loose request for a pilot episode(s). I could set up the tech infrastructure to host / vote / comment on these submitted pilots. As well as a way to upload and insert footage into a "choose your own path" type model. We would then move forward with producing an entire season with the group behind the most popular submission.
Oh, I see...
Hey linden,
I think I may have misinterpreted your original idea.
But I think there's room for all iterations of entertainment models. The cream will rise to the top. So, I don't think you need to switch gears and look at "web exclusive" model(s). In fact, when I said:
"I would consider it strictly a new media project specifically intended for an internet audience."
I should've added:
"and blu-ray and hd-dvd video formats as they both allow scripting (I think) and therefore enable the type of track switching that I propose in the so called MPV format."
The idea that you present in your last message reminds me of the premise of two or three other social networks that I've heard of, but darned that I can't recall their URLs. I'll keep searching though. Pretty much they all allow members to begin stories, add to plotlines, vote on submissions, etc. After so many submissions the most highly rated submissions for a particular story become the story. On one of the websites, after stories are completed in this fashion they are pitted against other stories to determine which one, during a particular submission "season", will be turned over to a movie production group.
There are so many directions in which you can take filmforay. Keep your mind and direction open for now. You can always segment your site into various models, if ever it comes to that. I think a variety of creative models would add to filmforay's appeal as it would then present more than one playground on which creative minds can frolic.
yep
This is the type of discussions I was hoping to see on the site!
Open minded
Thanks BigMTBrain, I am definitely trying to keep an open mind when it come to the direction of filmforay. There are so many possibilities and I want to make sure and keep the environment fun, competitive, and educational.
Post new comment