Peter Lunenfeld - The myth of interactive cinema

What is the myth of interactive cinema? Why is the promise of interactive cinema so enticing? How can multimedia design further develop the potential to achieve more interactive environments?


Waves by Kumiko Kushiyama. Interactive sculpture - touch-screen display, which then shows an image of water moving in reaction to the viewer's touch. Retrieved from http://silicon-valley.siggraph.org/MeetingNotes/ArtGallery2003/waves.jpg

The myth of interactive cinema is that there could be a non-linear narrative that was chosen by the viewer of the film. The promise of interactive cinema is exciting because the viewer would be in control of their own cinema experiences rather than just watching a narrative being told. It is a myth because when you try to make non-linear narratives, that the viewer has control over, it is never possible, because all choices have to have been pre-planned and pre-filmed and there isn’t real choice and creativity on the part of the viewer, but just limited choices that have been created to choose from.

Multimedia design can further develop the potential to achieve more interactive environments by creating hyper-contexts that allow real choice and creativity and involvement by viewers. Examples of how multimedia can design more interactive environments are found in art that distil narrative to make the viewer/listener participate in constructing the narrative and making meaning in the work. Another example is in constructing a larger narrative, with many simultaneous narratives that therefore allow the viewer to be part of the experience, and not to fully be able to see all the possibilities and to have to make choices about what to view.