Ok so its not about bibliographies or retro games, Sorry.
Well, In a group viewing of triangle and mixed drinks we came across the possibility of a film that was so twisted that we had spent longer working out the film than where we had seen the actors from before or what was going on at the present storyline of the film. The films name is triangle, Basically silent hill without the zombies, mutants, nurses and psychotic mind warping effects (Though some could answer that the story line alone was enough to do that)
In the film a woman goes through numerous repeated trips around an abandoned boat that involve her saving or running from a unknown gun toting maniac. Eventually she repeats the storyline until she becomes said maniac herself and washes up ashore and returns to her house to (what she thinks) continue her life with her son. When she returns it goes back to a psychotic nature as she sees herself beating her son and berating him. She proceeds to set a trap for herself by killing the irate version of herself in the past causing a semi paradox where she has killed herself in front of her son who she then cuddles and assures him it will be ok. She takes the body to dump and makes an escape with her son for a unknown territory, A distraction causes a upset which shows that the storyline had already been played before and many times and that the audience knows she is still in the middle of it all before she traps herself into the triangle again. She eventually goes to the start of the movies location in order to save her child from a death caused by her and leads the audience into creating their own interpretation of the true nature of the film.
You may read this and think, Wow hes butchered it thank gosh he hasnt entered a film critic competition, Believe me. Ive simplified it if anything.
The film can be interpreted in many ways but the one that we evaluated upon (For an entire hour after the film in anguish) was that her lifestyle of abuse towards her child and her poor parent status in his life caused her to be cast to hell where she had to relive the moments of insanity in her life as though she was alive in a third universe of some sort where she could go back and stop it, Each time learning more than she had learnt before about the previous line using the knowledge she had acquired from the time before that. This is comparable to the Sixth Sense where the dead do not realise they are in fact dead, They continue what they wished to do in life but to whatever reason could not continue to do because of issues relating to their death.
Now onto a relevant subject, How could these interpretations be broken down into game creation terms? Well imagine it as the film takes place in a fish tank. The walls are the rules, They determine that whatever the character does in the tank will be confined to that space and will not interfere with the outside section of the tank. The dynamics could be interpreted in the way the characters motives and mind works that constantly restarts and disrupts the objective of the player with a multi path circle that resolves in the character coming to the start with the same knowledge as moments ago but with no memory of how to stop the issues. At the same time the aesthetics could be applied to this as they control the elements of interactivity and the surreal nature that seems to keep the character tricked into their false sense of objective and to gage their interaction with an intent to trick with malice.
The artificial storyline that plays for the audience's amusement can be interpreted by playing the game Left 4 Dead by Valve. In the game players must work together to fight through hordes of zombies whilst saving comrades from the attacks of mutated zombies known as special infected with different specialised abilities. The real beauty comes from the AI Director that controls the undead and that is where the game comparison comes in, The director evaluates the players progress and determines stress levels using a complicated system of statistics to do with on screen actions. For example if an aggressive player battles through the game with a shotgun and dual pistols with ease, The AI will remove the shotgun option from the next weapon point as an attempt to handicap the player into a fair game or as an act of malice on its behalf. The same could be said for players struggling where the game seemingly applies a pity program of dropping health and ammo at the next checkpoint. In reality its simply making the game more playable and not a product for breaking controllers or televisions in game related stress fits. The director will normally go back on its kindness shortly after when it spawns many more zombies in an effort to get the players to waste ammunition and supplies.
So the director could have well taken notes from the film? After all the final storyline in the film seemingly gives her what she wants until it cruelly shows that after all she is stuck. This is a similar effect to the MDA vs ADM aspects of games where 2 players who call themselves avid game fans will view the actual products in separate ways. For example, Player A who enjoys playing games for the luscious and avid colours used to portray the video and game aspects will view it as ADM. Only taking notes on how it is made after they have determined whether the graphics are up to their personal standards and if it is worth their time on that basis. Player B will do the opposite and see a well designed game for the masterpiece it is and will often deter from eye candy pieces that have a short lifespan because the production went all on animation, graphics and colours. The film shows how people will see products and break it down by being so confusing and disorientating.
Player A views of film.
What is the significance of the mask?
What is the significance of how bleak the boat is?
Why does the food turn rotten minutes after one crew member takes an apple?
Why doesn't she explain it to them instead of killing?
Player B views of film.
What is the purpose of hiding her identity of someone who knows her identity well?
By confining the film to a boat, Is the director creating a sense of helplessness by sealing them on the boat without escape until the next restart?
By attempting to stop the events, Does she accidentally create the same event but differently as shown in final destination? Or do her actions create a infinite amount of possibilities?
The back stab nature of the film to the woman trapped inside it is subject to parody by Player A and B. For example A will find the graphics side of games creation enthralling but may feel cheated that the concepts or level designs were simply taken from photos from a mobile phone that happened to be on view in the photographers journey. Player B will find that the level designing tools or scripting tools may be easy to use but to get the full result they will have to do more training than necessary to understand them to a level that will get them into that profession. By creating these paradoxes into game creation a truly amazing game could be accomplished by simply asking the question, "What if the player can get out of the level?" Will they be treated or punished? Could a easter egg placed specifically behind a wall be better for social interaction? Or could a death screen placed behind it in case of glitches be more effective in the deter of abuse?
The film could in fact be described as a game itself of sorts. The main character is played by the viewer in order to enthral and envelope them into the storyline where they are told to kill whoever is on board. The characters react with such hostility that it turns essentially into a custom level of unreal based upon a ship, The spawn points could be linked to the player constantly winning a game of last person standing where upon victory the rest of the players again spawn on the boat and the level plays again with one player knowing all the tricks that they had previously learnt, This explains the way the woman in the film reacts after realising she must kill everyone to escape and stop them going to the ship in the first place. A paradox is born but a storyline that wraps the player into a cocoon of concentration and interaction is made which grows into self interaction until a better understanding is achieved and the film is made enjoyable.
I highly recommend watching the film for the full effect as I feel once you have viewed it you can understand the terms used to describe the film's likeness to a videogame.
Fuzz <3
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