~ Brendan Quinn

Despite some incredible evolution in camera technology, visual effects, innovative cinematography and experimental structure, the idea of what a “movie” can be defined as remains rather stagnant. The gimmick of 3-d remains just that, something quirky to entertain children and allow film companies to charge an extra buck while adding very little of substance to the act of story telling.

Meanwhile, the world of video games is evolving in a different way. Long gone are the days of simple plots like “saving the princess” or “find the yellow key”. Strong narratives, complex plots and robust and believable characters are a must for any game or series looking to succeed both critically and financially.

The industry is no longer a realm for children and nerds, with games now reaching the billion-dollar mark in sales within a week of launching; numbers that very few films ever see. Despite mainstream media’s continued ignorance and pigeon holing of the industry as a form of simple entertainment, and the enormous debate about whether or not a video game can be considered “art”, the world of film and video games grows ever closer together and will eventually reach a singularity where the line will be completely blurred.

Over the last few years, companies like Oculus Rift have been diligently working on affordable consumer virtual reality headsets. In response to this, or perhaps parallel (as major innovations in consumer technology seem to happen simultaneously) major companies are all working on crafting their own takes on the VR headset. Sony is pushing the Morpheus, a VR headset designed to work in tandem with their PlayStation 4 gaming console. The PC gaming colossus Steam has teamed up with HTC to bring customers the SteamVR, and Google is going after the budget market with the Google Cardboard.

Whilst some cinephiles will assuredly shake their head dismissively at these devices, spouting phases like “trend” and “gimmick” while watching German art house films and drinking boxed wine, others are jumping on the train early, hoping to get a foothold in what will certainly be a paradigm shift for the entire idea of film.

Dave Reynolds is the man behind Realm Pictures, an experimental film company out of the UK. Realm recently made huge waves in the gaming world with the release of their zombie themed project, the Live First Person Shooter (Chatroulette Version). In this brilliant, and surprisingly successful trial version, users on Chatroulette and Omegle were tasked with taking control of a real, live human being and directing the characters actions in a manner familiar to anyone who has ever played an FPS video game. Everything was done live, with real people in real time, combining the interactive and choice driven nature of a video game with the human touch and realism of a film.

“As a film company, ideas like this are pretty much our bread and butter. We take a very specific approach to all of our projects. There’s always a behind the scenes angle, some level of innovation in terms of the tech pushing the art forward,” Reynolds says.

“Everything we’ve ever done has had some element of reinventing the wheel and overcoming those engineering challenges.”

Like many people in this new generation of filmmakers, Reynolds isn’t reluctant to embrace new forms of story telling. Rather than fight innovation, Realm Pictures has made a choice to be on the forefront of this new wave of interactive media.

“I think things like virtual reality and augmented reality will be the gateway to that. If you look at what we’ve done from a technical perspective, it’s not a viable experience for a lot of people. But as soon as you start to bring technology like the Oculus Rift, Morpheus and the like, then that’s going to be everybody’s experience,” he says.

Of course, there is something to be said of the theatre experience. With television quality increasing exponentially and streaming services slowly but surely encroaching on the territory of cable television, will movies in the future be a solo experience?

Well, that remains to be seen. Despite the rapid growth of mobile technology and fears that we’re becoming a generation of detached screen gazers incapable of human interaction, hordes of people are still lining up in droves-and often in costume- for movie premieres, and screenings of classic films at local theatres continue to bring in large numbers of people both young and old. One only has to look at last year’s 30th anniversary re-release of Ghostbusters, which saw huge audience numbers. So while we are certainly on the cusp of a revolution, it seems that there will always be a place in filmgoers’ hearts for the classic experience. There’s no reason the two can’t exist side by side.

Brendan Quinn is a blogger for The Civic Theatre.  Outside of writing, Brendan enjoys snowboarding, mountain biking, and studying the First World War.