【Artistic Views】
In the recent period of time, interactive film and television has been increasingly regarded by the market as a new outlet. In the field of interactive film and television, a number of interactive drama works that have aroused industry debate and user attention, such as "The Origin of the Buddha's Head in the Antique Bureau", "The Invisible Guardian", and "His Smile" have come out one after another. At the same time, iQiyi, Tencent Video, Station B and other video platforms have successively launched interactive video content. The successive entry of all parties has greatly boosted the confidence of the development of the interactive film and television industry.
The interactive drama mode of episode 13 of "Love Apartment 5" which was broadcast not long ago made many audiences shine: they cannot fast forward, choose the plot independently, and they will be forced to return to the beginning of the episode if they are not careful ... "I didn't finish Episode 13 after watching it for two hours. However, this "infinite" gameplay has received praise from most of the audience, and the show's word of mouth has also increased. How exactly does the Interactive Bureau interact? Where is the future development of interactive drama?
Find value proposition between film and television and games
Interactive dramas that use interactive media technology to let the audience control the plot are regarded as the "new track" of Internet content in 2019: iQiyi and Tencent Video continue to "match" the concept of interactive dramas in the first half of 2019, including iQi in the second half The intensive launch of interactive dramas such as "His Smile", Youku "Datang Female Forensic" and Tencent's "Fist and Boxing Quartet" pushed the interactive drama to the actual stage of "diffusion of smoke". The interactive drama is not a new species. At the end of 2018, the launch of Netflix's big IP drama "Black Mirror: Pandasnaki" brought the interactive drama to a high light moment; what is even more interesting is that the domestic market is in an explosive style. Without it, the competition between head platforms has entered a "white heat." If you only consider interactive dramas as a content innovation for the video platform under the traffic and IP failure, and retain members, it obviously underestimates its value. The “smoke smoke” points to new content contact under new mobile internet technology. To meet the new needs of users, and the potential for many changes in the industry.
The industry's most optimistic about interactive dramas is that it has realized the "breaking circle" of film and television and games, allowing a new form of connection between content and audience. The interactive drama draws the audience who "watches the mind" in the traditional film and television into the plot "can determine the fate of the protagonist like a director". The "view" drama becomes a "play" drama in the operational sense, with strong gameplay. The ensuing question is that the value of "interaction" has been proven by the game, so what is the value of interactive drama?
Interactive dramas and interactive games are essentially two different modes of content creation. Although the interaction is provided, the essence of the game is competitive. The interaction in the game is to get a better sense of manipulation and to be better than the end point. For example, the adventure game "Detroit: Change" has more than 1,000 branches of stories. You can also see how your choice compares with global and friend data. The interaction of the interactive drama is to experience the change of the relationship between the characters and the story. The interaction is only a form. The immersive experience of empathizing with the character because of the choice is the purpose. In other words, the game emphasizes "fun", the interactive drama emphasizes "good-looking", and the core is "drama" rather than "interaction". Therefore, interactive dramas have high requirements for story logic and character logic. A high-quality interactive drama should be a "story reactor": each time a user chooses to promote a new "creation" of content, this requires the script to interact The pursuit of sex should be restrained, and it should only be set where the plot is promoted or reversed. This may partly explain the highly skilled "Black Mirror: Pandasnaki" Douban score of only 6.9 points. Many netizens gave the evaluation of "form is greater than content".
Interactive dramas are very different from games in terms of maintaining the narrative structure, the integrity of the character's character, and the fluency of the movie viewing. Although no benchmarking works have yet appeared, the value of interactive dramas under the "broken circle" appearance of film games is precisely Positioning is undoubtedly the key point to open up the "new track" of this content.
The narrative uncertainty adds new charm to the play
The content of traditional forms, whether it is novels, comics, or film and television, the relationship between content and users is always one-way and linear, and users have no greater choice of content. The emergence of interactive film and television content has precisely given the choice to the audience, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the plot through their own choices, and to deepen their role into the emotions of the characters, thereby breaking the traditional film and television content viewing mode to the greatest extent.
Interaction is the instinctual demand of human beings. The interactive drama allows the audience to participate in the plot and experience the results of uncertainty, which is very suitable for the needs of post-00s young people who are accustomed to autonomy and individuality. However, participation does not mean "what you want is done", but you have to bear the fate of the character "more real". In "His Smile", the actress Chidori is a little careless and will usher in a "combination failure" Destiny, forced resignation "; and in" Black Mirror ", the protagonist returns to his childhood in a dream, if you choose" to take the train with his mother back to the grandfather's house ", the protagonist will die peacefully in reality and end directly Watching the show turned into a small adventure. Many changes in the plot result from the details, and the follow-up of the story triggered by different audience choices is also very different. It is this game between destiny and free will that brings unique dramatic tension and sensory shock to the audience. . In fact, uncertain and diversified interactive narratives often inspire users to treat drama viewing as a "maze", and some users deliberately choose some unreasonable options to experience and interact with a different story.
The uncertainty narrative of interactive drama is just a reflection of the uncertainty of real life. For example, the appeal of "His Smile" is that it is just like real life in the workplace and in love. There is no "standard answer". In one episode, there are 21 choices and 17 endings. The audience has experienced a variety of different experiences, as if it were Life itself. A person has many choices in his life, sometimes accidental choices can make a complete turn in life, and sometimes the end result is the same no matter how he chooses. The charm of interactive drama is that it takes the audience to a relatively high philosophical level, chooses between contingency and necessity, experiences love and sacrifice, conflict and understanding, and makes people unexpectedly see their true heart and weakness.
Therefore, interactive drama is the inevitable result of conforming to the trend of the content industry's integration and development and the continuous upgrading of users. From the perspective of content creators, interactive film and television provides a new way of story presentation for content creation, and provides more possibilities for expanding the development of stories, which cannot be achieved by traditional film and television narrative techniques.
Film and television interaction will become the next outlet
It has been more than 100 years since the birth of film and television art, but due to the limitations of media technology, there has always been a "fourth wall" between the audience and the story, and the interactive drama is based on the mobile phone as an interactive medium to spread the story In this sense, interactive drama is based on media technology and is truly "art and technology dance together" content that belongs to the era of mobile internet. At present, interactive film and television has formed a relatively stable product form and market size overseas, and some interactive masterpieces have appeared frequently, such as "The Night Shift" and "Detroit: Changing People". It can be said that the overseas market of interactive film and television has gradually moved from naive to mature.
In China, although the current interactive drama can only provide "Yes / No" sliding screen shallow interaction, and there is no explosion, but with the maturity of 5G, AI and VR technology, more physical senses and story characters Interaction, "Going into the story to travel" will no longer be a luxury, but a reality. The imagination space of interactive narration is far more than interactive dramas. If it can produce a "chemical reaction" with variety content, advertising, live broadcast and other content industries as a low-level technology, it will definitely bring the network entertainment industry into a new stage.
Although the future of interactive drama looks "burning," challenges and opportunities coexist on the way to the "wind vent". The production of interactive film and television content is more difficult and the experience of direct reproducibility is lacking, so more in-depth exploration is needed. First of all, the improvement of the content level is subject to technological development. At present, technology can only provide the most basic capabilities such as branch plots, screen information exploration, and perspective switching. It is still technically necessary to better achieve lens connection and interactive expression and improve user experience. Promotion. Secondly, the pressure of production costs at the operational level, multi-line plot means that making one episode is equivalent to making four to five mini-series, plus later broadcast and marketing, it is undoubtedly difficult for small and medium-sized startups to enter the track. Third, audience attention at the user level has always been a scarce resource, and it is still unknown whether interactive dramas that are frequently used for several hours can attract a more ubiquitous audience. Therefore, the industry needs more professional and diversified talents and more resources to cultivate the market environment, which is the key for the interactive film and television field to thrive. Finally, a new content form must have new regulatory standards. How to review and supervise not only challenges managers, but also the pressure that producers must face.
"Interaction" is not a gimmick, but an organic component deeply embedded in the plot. Although the development of interactive film and television is constantly deepening, and Internet platforms are constantly trying to produce interactive content, the situation where challenges and opportunities coexist urgently requires interactive drama to find the next direction. At present, the rise of interactive film and television has at least given a clear direction, that is, the film and television industry is widening the boundaries of video content. In the near future, "travel into the story" may become a reality.
(Author: YAT Associate Professor Department of Fujian Normal University School of Communication)