The relationship between gaming and cinema part 2-storytelling.
As part of this three piece analytical look at two of entertainment’s most profitable and coinciding medium’s, the focus moves onto essentially a core aspect that is present in both-storytelling. Both of these mediums have produced unlevelled creativity with this aspect that has been refined in several ranging ways. There are far ranging examples in both genre’s that take these mediums to new levels of hybrid narrative delivery. The purpose here is to analyse two examples from each medium in analysis in what has been accomplished as well as established in narrative form and then analyse how gaming has been able with only a brief history managed to replicate cinema into interactive entertainment.
INCEPTION (Christopher Nolan 2010): With a short list of quality films including the universally acclaimed picture: The Dark Knight (2008), Nolan managed to secure rights to publish his own film that he had initially created himself. Inception was nothing short of a widespread success by nearly grossing in excess of $1 billion. The film itself boasted superior special effects to the competition it faced in wake of its 2010 summer release and as well as a solid cast, Inception made a name for itself by taking a bold direction in narrative form.
The story is about a thief but no ordinary one. He steals information by jumping into dreams and unlocking thoughts to obtain information that he has been tasked to obtain. However, the more protected the information, the further he has to go i.e. dreams within a dream. The thief is then tasked by doing the opposite for a suitably wealthy businessman-place information to substantiate and provoke an emotional response to manipulate the subject which is only done by dream within a dream within a dream.
Take a breath as this took to the minds of its viewers and proved to divide them on the overall understanding ( if you are still reading I assume you did so well done). A bold and controversial approach to what is a very watchable summer release that proved be succesful in narrative delivery. Inception was a big budgeted film that did away with pre summer release tags and proved that Hollywood films of this calibre are capable of delivering various forms of entertainment and narrative delivery to a wide ranging audience.
HEAVY RAIN (PLAYSTATION 3, DAVID CAGE 2010): For this generation of consoles i.e. Playstation, Xbox and Wii, each has their own audience base. The Xbox generally appeals to social gamers who play together in a competitive online environment. The Wii is massively succesful and its more than likely that your gran has one as its popularity is bewildering. It is widely seen that this is classed as a casual user base where familes, easily accessible titles are present. Sony have shown capabilities for both and while it can be argued it may not be on par with both. However, Sony’s (Playstation) business tatics of aquiring studios to exclusive develop for the console gives an unprecedented chance of creativity and David Cage (CEO-Quantic Dream) did just that with a genre smashing title which is nothing short of revolutionary.
Heavy Rain is a well received title. It dissapointed some with its linear approach with gameplay i.e. limited exploration into environments and an awkward control scheme. What it excelled in however like nothing else in entertainment is multi-layered plot and narrative form. You as the player control four characters each with thier own purpose and agenda in a city plagued by a serial killer known as the Origami killer.
A dark drama full of suspense as each character has their own link to the killer but more so the player has control over the whole story as the dynamics of the game employ there is no game over. So if a character dies, the game carries on playing with the three other characters narratives and seeing those out until the ending. Also to note, the player can choose outcomes of certain set pieces in the game to dictate the outcome of the entire game therefore meaning it has multiple paths leading to various endings.
Both Heavy Rain and Inception for both mediums have established wide recognition for their approach to narrative form. The creativity and evidence of talent is polished over both the film and game however a big qustion lies. How can a game tackle a dark drama plot, replicate the plot in an interactive title and represent it to the point where critics are claiming it plays like a movie?
There is no easy answer and there probably is not a right one. What will probably be a more suitable answer is that gaming is treated as an expansive medium with qualities identical to film therefore attracting the talents that can replicate cinema and narrative from film to gaming/interactive entertainment with quality as well as appeal.
Leave a Comment