It's like reality TV, but without reality. Or the TV.

June 30, 2007 7:13 PM

You Choose the Cliff (NYT). In Emmy-winning Satacracy 88, as in other films by itsallinyourhands, viewers' votes determine the next episode. Other films invite more personal interaction. In Mystery at Mansfield Manor viewers interview suspects. In the BBC's Wannabes (produced by Illumina), characters seek viewers' advice. [More Inside]
posted by honest knave (6 comments total)

Hypervideo has a long history, with a prototype(pdf) in development at PARC, some academic theory, and even a commercial editing tool. Has interactive film's time finally come, especially with the arrival of Youtube Mobile? (disclaimer: Hypertext researchers are colleagues; a friend from uni is in Wannabes).

The question of technique is more interesting. In the New York Times article, Heffernan notices film techniques designed for small screens:

The ingenious response by "Satacracy 88" has been to give screen time to tactile objects shown in actual size. Watch for star turns by an imperfectly peeled hardboiled egg, base makeup on a triangular sponge and unsmooth hair in a ponytail holder.

When the "Satacracy 88" camera is turned on faces, they often appear in extreme close-up, which means that viewers get the experience of life-size body parts again -- a single, wary eye; a trembling thumb; brown and broken teeth.
posted by honest knave at 7:15 PM on June 30, 2007

...your disclaimer is.... unsettling.

And here in the states, we already have such a thing. In fact, it's wildly popular.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:15 PM on June 30, 2007

Do you have an answer, Linda?
posted by phooky at 8:21 PM on June 30, 2007

baby_balrog: how so? Also: Votes are not new. But for a weekly fiction work?
posted by honest knave at 11:39 PM on June 30, 2007

Interesting.
posted by riffola at 5:47 PM on July 3, 2007

Seriously, thanks for posting this.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:47 PM on July 3, 2007