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ow fitting that the Hnewest innovation in
film-making should have been hatched at BAFTA. Smack bang inside the building, in fact. “I was sitting on the sofa by the bar waiting to go
into a screening of American Beauty,” remembers Simon Rose, film critic, screenwriter and now creator of the world’s first interactive movie.
“I was reading in the paper about video games and how they were affect- ing movies. It was like a red rag to a bull. I couldn’t really enjoy the film because I kept on thinking of a way for movies to fight back.”
The result is Running Time, a web- based movie divided into twenty five- minute segments. We follow KJ, a sexy motorbike courier played by Anna Bolt. Her brother is kidnapped and the rest of the film is about trying to get him back. Or is it?
Because quite frankly, not even director Suzie Halewood (One More Kiss) or the lead actress know what’s going to happen next. At the end of each episode, which can be found at www.itsyourmovie.com, it is down to the audience to choose what they want to see. They vote and the results are given to writers who craft the next instalment. “It’s very difficult,” says Bolt. “I go to work in the morning and I don’t know what they’re going to ask me to do. It’s really strange.”
“We haven’t got anything in the can,” explains Rose. “It’s kind of like going back to Dickens. He published his novels in episodic form and then got lots of comments from the public, absorbed a lot of those and rewrote his books.”
But behind the killer idea, there is a legitimate business. Recent winner of an Orange Screenwriting Prize, Rose set up Interactive Motion Pictures (IMP), the company behind the project, with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty). They eschewed the normal funding route of Arts Council or venture capital and
instead called in favours from City con- tacts Rose still had from his days as a stockbroker and financial journalist.
And unlike the majority of British movies, they hope to see big returns. Over 300,000 hits in the first three days would indicate everything’s going to plan. The company has also just struck a deal with Apple that will raise the film’s profile on the other side of the Atlantic.
S SU UR RF FE ER RS S C CA AL LL L T TH HE E S SH HO OT TS S
But away from the commercial side, more important is the ensemble nature of the film. “Once we get our webcams,” continues Rose, “you’ll be able to see us doing it. We’re going to have footage up there showing us actually making the movie as we go along.” Perfect then, for the armchair filmmaker who can now visit a movie set from the comfort of their PC. They don’t even have to worry about bad onset coffee.
“It’s great to be working on some- thing that’s never been done before,” says Bolt. “And I think the idea of try- ing to amalgamate the excitement of video games with the emotion of movies is extremely exciting.”
And should you miss out on Running Time, never fear. This is just the beginning. Says Rose: “We have a lot of ideas and Running Time is our way of leading people into interactive movies. It’s like leaping off a cliff and wondering whether you’ve got a parachute after you’ve jumped. We want to make it exciting and dangerous.” ■ Ben Irving
www.itsyourmovie.com
LOGONFORTRAINING
Focus On Interactive
All the world’s a film-maker. Or so it could prove with the announcement of the Global Film School which will offer professional training through the internet. This ultimate in “distance learning” is an ambitious joint venture between Britain’s National Film & Television School (NFTS), the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (AFTRS) and America’s UCLA School Of Theatre, Film & Television.
Students at computer ter- minals in any city or village in the world will, it’s said, be able to study directing, pro- ducing, screenwriting, edit-
ing, design, cinematography, music composition and more online.
Additionally, they will plug into a community of aspiring and professional film-makers, sharing information and screening their films.
The initiative arrives in response to a demand for education in film-making which presently far exceeds supply. Quite when it will all be properly up- and-running is still a bit fuzzy. There is likely to be some free access to materi- al from the autumn but the main cours- es won’t probably kick in until early 2001. ■ Quentin Falk
www.globalfilmschool.com
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Photos: Stills from Running Time and above, Simon Beaufoy