I am confused about how Experimental Films classify as Interactive Media – I am sure they do, I just don’t see it. I understand they are trying to elicit a response in the audience, but so do many Hollywood films. And to be truly interactive, their response should have an effect on the film. Any opinions on this? These are just my thoughts after today’s Survey of Interactive Media. This class frankly left me a little confused and worried as I have no background in film (besides watching it :^) ) but I am sure that all will clear up after a few lectures. Anyway, my 2.5 cents.
Interactive Media and Experimental Films
6 Responses to Interactive Media and Experimental Films
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It’s not that experimental films classify as interactive media, it’s that they address some of the same conceptual concerns. Unlike commercial cinema, experimental films often invite us to reflect on the nature of the medium — this is sometimes described as “defamiliarization” or the process of making a naturalized medium like film seem strange. If we are able to look at film as something strange, it allows us to think about it with critical distance, rather than merely being passive observers who accept and respond to the codes and conventions of the medium without questioning them. I believe this process is directly relevant to thinking about interactive media design in a program like this one. If all we wanted was to accept and mimic the conventions of a commercial medium, we wouldn’t need to get a graduate degree or study theory. Thinking more deeply and with theoretical sophistication about what we are doing when we design interactive media is, I believe, fundamental to this program. We will continue to watch carefully selected experimental films and videos in the 505 class — some of these will be more difficult and defamiliarizing than others! I also believe it is important to know how pre-digital media have addressed some of the core concerns we deal with in an interactive context: our experience of narrative, the construction of space, time and bodies and the nature and limits of perception.
I’m with you on this. I remember that we looked at a lot of experimental film in undergrad (among other strange things…) and it wasn’t always immediately apparent why they were classified as “interactive media”.
Like the glow-in-the-dark bunny. I mean, seriously. Though maybe that wasn’t interactive media as much as it was just “new art”. I digress.
I think I’ll just stay safe and say that basically everything we’re going to look at is going to be very blurry around the edges. And if all else fails you, remember that film can be an important part of narrative — among other things — in the games we all know and love, so learning how to get your point across in a static film is not altogether useless.
Thanks for clearing the waters guys, I was just under the impression it was supposed to be interactive media and I couldn’t see the connection :^). And thank you Prof. Anderson for explaining their purpose in things; I get what they are supposed to teach me now. Sorry for the confusion! I just thought I was being uber-dense – glad to know I’m only semi-dense ;^)
Yeah, sometimes just go with it and enjoy being exposed to new things. We watched Koyaaniqatsi in my first semester at IMD, and while seemingly pointless at the time, I can’t even count how many times it has come up as reference material.
Thanks for keeping an open mind, Brandi! I promise not *all* of the screenings will be designed to inflict pain and frustration. And please call me Steve!
Interesting discussion here!
I kind of look at experimental films as part of a growing trend in complexity: both in narrativity and visual expression.
This complexity has been brought about through the explosive growth of interactivity ‘enablers’ like the internet as tools not only for social networking and self-expression, but also for higher cognitive functions like multi-tasking, way-finding and data mining and processing.
A culmination of which is the plethora of game titles that titillate these mental functions.
my $0.2