Why Black Mirror Bandersnatch is the future of movies?
How many times have you felt that the ending of the movie was not nice? How many times have you watched HISHE, to satisfy yourself with an alternate ending? I am pretty sure that all will have a list of movies whose ending was not as they liked.
You pay for the movie and you spend your time watching it, but the movie doesn’t end the way you liked it. Doesn’t that sound unfair?
Most of the directors follow up with fanbases for both standalone and non-standalone type films to include what the fans are looking forward to in the film.
A poll conducted by IMDB showed that 57% of movie watchers are unsatisfied with the ending of about 73% of the movies released every year in the US. That’s quite a big number indeed.
Many others stay in touch with people through social media and followup everyday trends to stay updated with what the viewer needs in a film. But still, they can only satisfy the majority of the people.
For example, one guy may want the hero to do an X errand and the other guy may want the hero to do a Y errand.
How can the Filmmakers deal with this?
Most of these issues can be solved if the normal movie evolves into a more advanced movie. One of the plausible solutions includes making a movie similar to Netflix’s Bandersnatch. The movie involves the actual participation of the viewer. The viewer decides what the hero does. It is somewhat a hybrid between game and movie i.e. Game cum Movie. In such types of movies, all the alternate versions can be programmed or filmed and the viewer decides how the plot should proceed further. This was the case with the Bandersnatch movie. They have filmed the plot for each unique set of decisions that the viewer makes.
All the technology we use actually evolves from time to time. Things that resist the evolving process will stay back and become outdated. So a day will come for movies to evolve into something else.
What’s up with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch?
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is an interactive film in the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror, Netflix. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade.
In this film, the viewers are asked at the various crucial points of the plot to make a choice that affects the storyline and the ending of the film.
The viewer has ten seconds to make choices, or a default decision is made. Once a playthrough ends, the viewer is given the option of going back and making a different choice.
Doesn't that sound fascinating? You are the decider. You can see the alternate versions of the movie. Alternate Endings!! You can play and watch a movie at the same time!!
The filmmakers have made a plot for all unique sets of choices you make and each different set of choices, affects how the story proceeds.
So, the hero can perform X errand or Y errand. That’s in our hands.
This is the exact opposite of the normal movie where the plot is predetermined by the filmmakers.
You can change the course of the movie the way you like. You can go back and see how the plot continues for a different choice. If your choices end up in a sad ending, you can go back and change the plot to a happy one. This movie is worth watching or playing, whatever, you may like to call it.
Even though Bandersnatch has eliminated the cons of an ordinary movie, still the plots and available choices are predetermined by the filmmakers. But Bandersnatch is absolutely a breakthrough in filmmaking.
Now, think of AI-powered movies. A movie where the viewers can interrupt anywhere in the middle of the movie and make whatever change they want to change the course of the movie. The AI will determine the output for the changes made by the viewer and proceed with the movie. Sounds insane right?
We have games like The Choices where you make choices every now and then and play the game. We are talking about a similar kind of movie. Who knows what the future holds? Something looking weird and abnormal now can one day become normal. All we can say is only one thing. These types of movies have a fascinating future.
