My views on the concept of social film

By Lucy Standring

‘Social film’ or ‘social experience’

I feel that the concept of ‘social film’ may have be wrongly define, and that projects such as Kill Cam Live would better suite the term ‘social experience’.

Within this presentation I will go on to talk about my reasons for thinking the above. I will also take into consideration aspects that allow for projects to be defined best as ‘social films’.

Doing this will allow me to draw a final conclusion on whether social film is the most suitable phrase, or whether social experience would be a better phrase.

Film storyline & episodic nature

Projects such as The Inside Experience (TIE) can be described as having film-like storylines. This idea was reinforced within TIE by the episodes which had been pre-recorded, giving the project a set start middle and end, like films. The definite start and end in TIE were that Christina had been taken captive, but eventually managed to escape. This was bulked out with a plot in which clues were pieced together to discover Christina’s whereabouts.

Taken from: http://theinsideexperience.com

Film storyline & episodic nature

The concept of film is further added to with the idea there is only one storyline throughout these projects. Take Kill Cam Live for example, where the basic storyline is that a person is killing off a group of students who are taking part in a social experiment. This single storyline differs to typical episodic projects, such as televisions series, which contain multiple storylines taking place in one episode.

Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/user/killcamlive2011

Film storyline & episodic nature

The episodic nature of online interactive projects such as Kill Cam Live and The Inside Experience can sway the favour to the term ‘social experience’. This is because when watching a film, it is usually done in a block. By this I mean that films are usually watched all the way through, rather than being stopped and started again at a later date. This idea is similar to that of television series where the storyline is split into episodes; which are then shown on television at different points.Taken from:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hollyoaks/4od

Hollywood production

Another idea that favours the term ‘social film’ is that some of these online interactive projects are created like a Hollywood production would be. The main example of this is The Inside Experience, in which the budget of the project was obviously a reasonable amount. This budget it can be assumed, was only so great due to the projects aim, to advertise a new product for Intel.

Also within the project the production team used a reasonably famous actress.

These aspects all add to the idea that the project was similar to a Hollywood production, and thus could be define as a ‘social film’ rather than ‘experience’.Taken from: http://theinsideexperience.com/laptop

Hollywood production

Regardless of this, not all of these kinds of projects are created using a large budget and know actors/actresses. A good example of this is Kill Cam Live, where it is obvious to the viewer that the budget is not a great amount. This may be because the project did not have sponsors and was not created to sell a product, like The Inside Experience was. Another reason for this lack of budget could simple be that the producers did not have much money. Despite this I do not think the low budge has affected the quality of the project, and ultimately feel that Kill Cam live was executed a lot better than TIE was. This is mainly due to the number of platforms which users given to interact with the project on.

Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/user/killcamlive2011

Interactivity

Interactivity within certain online projects I feel limits them from being defined as a ‘social film’. This is because typically films are not interactive, people simply sit down and watch them. Where as within online projects such as Kill Cam Live users are given multiple platforms on which to interact with the project as a whole. This can be seen in Kill Cam through the use of multiple social networking sites such as Facebook an Twitter.           

Taken from: http://www.facebook.com/kessaoleary?ref=ts

Interactivity

Despite this it could be said that some films are interactive. An example would be the 1967 film Kinoautomat by Radúz Činčera. At multiple points during the film the action would stop, and a commentator would appear on the screen asking the audience to choose between two scenes. A vote was then taken and the scene with the highest votes was then played. The idea that the audience themselves could ultimately choose the outcome of the film, I believe is what defines this as a ‘social film’.

Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flfBxtpq-PI

Real time

Online interactive projects are typically carried out in real time. This means that when the participants are watching or taking part in something related to the project, it can be said that it is happening at that same point in time. An example of this in Kill Cam Live is the live streaming, which like the name suggests, happens live. These real time aspects of the projects I feel stops them from being defined as 'social films’, as films are typically set over a period of time rather than just the few hours that they are on for.

Taken from: http://killcamlive.com/main.html

Real time

Despite this it could be interpreted that some aspects of online interactive projects are similar to that of a film, the main one of these being the episodes. Take Kill Cam Live as an example where the episodes are set over one or multiple days, just like films. The lack of real time in these episodes means that these could contribute to online interactive projects being defined as ‘social films’ rather than ‘experiences’.

Although to contradict this, I previously stated that the episodic nature of the projects helped towards defining them as a social ‘experience’. This is because films are not split up in to episodes and are typically watched straight through.

My conclusion – ‘social experience’

From the ideas I have stated I have come to the conclusion that online interactive projects such as Kill Cam Live and The Inside Experience would be better defined as ‘social experiences’. My main reason for this is the episodic nature of the projects, which helps to dismiss the idea that the projects are film-like, as films are seen in bulk not in episodes. Another reason for this conclusion is that I feel the interactivity of the projects means they cannot be defined as films, as films are typically not interactive. Finally my last reason for this conclusion is that the projects are often carried out in real time, which again films are not.

References

WIKIPEDIA (2011) Kinoautomat [WWW]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinoautomat [06/11/11].