Publication: Spectators of Videogames
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2009-06-05
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Abstract
Cinema and videogames are analogous audiovisual mediums that share the aim of entertaining the spectator/player and also reflect, in some sense, the beliefs, fears and value system of the society in which they were created. In the last few years both mediums have tended to converge, not only in their aesthetics and arguments, but also in their economic ambitions and conventions. Films have adopted the visual narrative of videogames as it is possible to observe in The Matrix (Wachowski and Wachowski, 1999) and Run Lola Run (Tykwer, 1998) and videogames are adopting cinematic narratives as in Grand Theft Auto and other First Person Shooter games. New technological and digital imagery is continually being discovered and investigated, and the concept of interactive and personalised films, in which every spectator will have their individual film ‘built’ to his requirements, is no longer science fiction. Therefore, if we wish to explore the future of cinema we should look to the videogames industries and the possibility of accessing virtual/alternative worlds where responsibilities are reduced to a minimum, boredom is eliminated and satisfaction maximised. Hybrid forms of films and videogames have been explored recently with the apparition of machinima, games that are recorded and dubbed, providing a new film language not restricted by the real world. The boundaries in the virtuality of the games and the future of the interaction in cinema become clear with the physicality of the interfaces, something that video consoles such as Wii are reducing with the virtual/real connection of the player and the avatar. Thus, the challenge for the future is to create a connection between technology and the nervous system as Cronenberg illustrated in eXistenZ (1999).
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Artículo presentado en la conferencia "Under the Mask: Perspectives on the gamer". University of Bedforshire: 5th June 2009
Keywords
Videogames, Cinema, Spectators, Interactivity