The Drama-Driven Model of Interaction and Optional Thinking

Abstract

Interactive films are defined here as an audiovisual narrative flow aimed at creating drama along with its characterizing suspense, curiosity, and surprise. Interaction is defined as an audiovisual alignment that allows the interactor to intervene or steer the story progression in different ways (by voice recognition or touch screen options). Interaction forms an added layer comparable to the addition of sound to silent movies. As with the addition of a soundtrack, an added interactive layer to the sound and image layers creates new narrative forms and audiovisual compositions. These new narrative forms include the new data-base narrative form discussed by Lev Manovich, often expressed through new digital enabled audiovisual compositions such as morphing. However, adding an interactive layer poses a series of challenges which concern the need to script, direct, edit and design a coherent work when the story, the characters and the drama may not engender immersion due to out of fiction interactive actions. Hence, story multi-bifurcation upon interaction impedes the cognitive processing of the story logic. Likewise, interactive actions may obstruct the narrative flow, thereby leading to viewser split attention and miscomprehension. This study suggests a solution to these common problems through the drama-driven model of interaction implemented in the interactive movie Turbulence.