E1000: Interactive Cinema
Interactive cinema is undoubtedly a medium which still poses problems. We first began to explore this field in the 1990s, though it is only now, with technological advances, that things are really starting to move with regards to the possible ways of building bridges between films and viewers, and achieving a two-way communication between them.
The work we examine here, E1000 (produced in France by Djeff Regottaz, Loïc Herellou and Pauline Goasmat, in 2008, and which has a variable duration, between 5 and 90 minutes) has made use of the most popular way in which we relate to technology today: the fact that almost all living men and women are “fitted” with a mobile phone. Therefore, the idea behind E1000 is to create a film which can develop in different ways depending on the choices made by the audience, who can decide the fate of the film’s characters with their phone calls or text messages. In a complete turnaround from the classic request at the beginning of each film, E1000 is being marketed as “the only film in which we ask that you keep your mobile phones switched on”, as its makers have decided that the best way to increase its interactive nature is to make use of something which almost everyone carries in their pockets.
How?
With the help of Utopie Films, three young French filmmakers have combined their talents to develop this project. The team is made up of Djeff Regottaz, a professor of culture and communications and a researcher at the Paragraphe laboratory of Paris-8 University, where he experiments with tools such as videogames and mobile telephones. The second member of the team is Loïc Herellou, a designer and graphic artist, and the third is Pauline Goasmat, a filmmaker who has produced several short films and “making of” shows, and who has directed the film in the most traditional sense of the word.
In order to make E1000, a specific computer programme was created to plot out the film. It works like a tree, with each branch holding separate sections of the story, and the narrative progresses along different branches depending on the viewers’ choices. In fitting with the democratic aspirations of the project, all that is needed to show E1000 is a projector with a VGA port and a SIM card slot for the appropriate country. The computer hardware and software is set up by the production company, and the phone calls and text messages are free. Additionally, the filmmakers have taken it upon themselves to “spread the word”, by offering open source software and organising workshops on how to use it at art schools throughout Europe.
What?
In order to be as appealing as possible, the plot of E1000 is aimed at younger viewers. It revolves around a young man, Emile, whose name is a play on words with the film’s title: E1000 is a popular mobile phone model. The hero suffers a series of emotional dilemmas, beginning with a trip to the dentist, where he is fitted with a grotesque set of braces which act as an antenna, enabling him to hear the conversations and messages on the mobile phones around him.
The novelty of the proposal, which has more to do with its form than its content, opens up an interesting range of possibilities, and it is, in fact, presented as part of a larger project, as a travelling pilot which aims to gauge the responses of audiences and enable its producers to carry out any necessary improvements. It premiered at the Festival Pocket Film, at the Centre Pompidou, and has been on show at several international festivals.
For further information go to:
http://www.e1000.fr/site/
http://paragraphe.info/
http://www.festivalpocketfilms.fr
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