Interlude, a startup backed by Xbox, is innovating film with a choose-your-own-adventure style that lets the audience decide where the story will go next.
Recently showing the short film "Possibilia" at the Tribeca Film Festival, Interlude provides a unique movie experience with a range of scenarios that still flow together into one story, Yahoo Tech reported.
"There's immersive and there's interactive," Interlude CEO Yoni Bloch told Yahoo Tech after the screening. "I had some really cool filmmakers watching it and saying, 'This is like 3D for the script.' That's what we like. It's harder, because it's not just taking what exists and enhancing it; it's building something new."
Founded four years ago, Interlude is in talks with Xbox, which plans to integrate Interlude technology into the Xbox One and Xbox 360.
The startup showed two short films at the festival, both of which have "nonlinear" storylines. "The Gleam," which is a documentary about a small town newspaper in Alabama, shows the viewer a shuffle of squares to click on. Each square has a different person and story. If viewers don't pick a square, the film will randomly select the next interview, while the ending is randomized as well.
"Possibilia" uses a six-minute script that was shot with a range of different scenarios; viewers can touch the screen to switch between options. The interactive experience is intended to draw the audience members in and make them feel as if they are involved in what's happening onscreen.
"I'm self-conscious about screening this movie in this theater, because I'd rather you'd be touching it," said Daniel Scheinert, one of the film's directors, as quoted by Yahoo Tech. "It's built to be an experience where you put on headphones and you discover things and you're confused and you're implicated in the story and you're like, 'Oh, no, it's my fault they're still breaking up.'"
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