Documentary and intro videos from I'm Your Man! (bonus flowchart included)

Here are both the original theatrical intro(starring A. Whitney Brown) and a short documentary on Interfilm from the I'm Your Man! DVD.


As promised, here's a bonus flowchart!

(click for full size)

Video Gaming Torpor

I've been in a gaming funk lately. I've been trying to finish playing games I start all the way through for the past year or so but it gets tough when you play a couple of terrible titles in a row.

Spongebob Squarepants: Creature From Krusty Krab seemed promising. I recently played another Squarepants title, Battle for Bikini Bottom, which was an excellent platformer but this one was horribly simple and repetitive. It's especially sad because it looks amazing and it's very well made, the game play just falls way short. It would be a great starter game for those new to video gaming, but it's hard to recommend it to anyone else.

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc is another depressing situation. Rayman 2 was an amazing game, I'd easily place it somewhere high in my top 10 favorite 3d platformers. With just Rayman 2 and Beyond Good and Evil, Michael Ancel has secured his place in gaming history(...and my heart) but unfortunately, he didn't really have anything to do with Rayman 3 and it really shows. The controls are really strange, the worst being when you jump, the forward momentum slows while you finish a floaty slow motion jump. It's baffling and hard to get adjusted to. The camera is also very oddly dynamic and hard to control. Again, the game looks beautiful, it's just a shame that there's no game play to match it.

Crime Patrol Strip Club video

Here's the entire strip club level of the arcade game Crime Patrol from American Laser Games. Tacked on to the end are all of the results of missed shots. I took this off of the DVD version released by Digital Leisure.

This sequence makes me wonder why there aren't strip clubs that sell Yoo Hoo by the box in my area.

Lucky Britain

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...England gets all the good shitty licensed games:

(ACTUAL SCREENSHOT)

Game Haven's Crystalcade

Kotaku posted a story yesterday about someone finding a four thousand dollar arcade emulation box/joystick thing in a Skymall catalog, but I think they missed the big picture. The same company sells a full-sized clear light-up color-changing arcade emulation machine with a mirrored bezel and joysticks plated with precious metals. Game Haven presents unto the world...Crystalcade:

I'm pretty sure that they should have called this thing the PimpCade. Prices aren't listed but as they say, if ya gotta ask...

I'm Your Man DVD booklet essay

Here is another piece of writing found with the I'm Your Man DVD, this time from the enclosed booklet. It's very informative and mildly depressing as this was the only ChoicePoint release, despite the cheery outlook. Once again, I've retained the original formatting and odd punctuation. No spelling mistakes to fix this time!

---

You just bought the first interactive movie ever on DVD. In fact, you own the first interactive movie -- period. And now that you've proved just how forward-thinking you are, maybe we should explain ourselves.

What is A ChoicePoint Film?
Thanks for asking. ChoicePoint Films are the first form of DVD entertainment to pay equal attention to both the movie and game experience. They pull off every stunt that the DVD format is capable of and few have truly used. By taking live-action film and combining it with interactive programming. A ChoicePoint Film lets you construct your own movie from multiple plots. You call the shots!

This stuff just isn't possible with any other home entertainment platform, but it's nowhere near as simple as it sounds. And it certainly didn't happen overnight There's much more to it than that.

-Where'd I'm Your Man Come From?
"Plastics" was The Word in the late 60's. In the early 90's, it looked like The Word
was "Interactivity." Computers and software were no longer the tools of the strictly techno-savvy. Entrepreneurs and artists had them, and they wanted to make something
of the new medium. So, Goth-driven 3D games and Verne-inspired CD-ROMs exploded on computer screens everywhere. E-mail and networked computers paved the way for the World Wide Web. Interfilm Technologies -one of the first to pioneer space in New York's digital neighborhood, Silicon Alley- set out to explore interactivity in ways that are still considered ground-breaking.

The concept of Intertfilm combined the old and the new. It was founded by two guys named Bob Bejan and Bill Franzblau. With an eye to the past they patterned themselves on the film factories of the 20's-the idea being to rapidly produce and distribute films of every genre. The other eye was on the future of technology, so each of these films would be incredibly interactive. Pistol grips mounted on the arms of theater seats would let the audience collectively decide each movie's direction.

“I'm Your Man” was the first product of the Interfilm studio. Produced in the spring of 1992 for just over $200,000, it was filmed in and around Interfilm offices - in one week. In the cast were Kevin Seal (MTV's 120 Minutes), Mark Metcalf (Animal House) and Colleen Quinn (Loving). The script was by Bejan and several future founders of The State comedy troupe. Bejan, a longtime Joe Jackson fan, contacted the musician and convinced him to score the film (for a fee which included computer equipment and training). Movie exhibitors were wildly receptive to the Interfilm proposal and a theater at the Loew's 19th Street Cinema in New York City was quickly outfitted with a prototype Interfilm System. This engineering feat combined video projection, laserdiscs and a computer to deliver frame accurate, on-the-fly response. Its creators, the founders, and inventor Kevin Centanni were awarded a patent.

Upon its release. "I'm Your Man" was an instant media sensation, attracting attention everywhere-from the Wall Street Journal to The Today Show. It played to raucous crowds for weeks. And with "I'm Your Man" as proof of its interactive concept. Interfilm Technologies went public in February 1994, raising millions. The first interactive film
Studio was established.

You Either Get It Or You Don't – How Does The Future Get Left In The Dirt?
This began an incredible period of productivity. Over to 40 theaters across the nation were outfitted with Interfilm Systems. More than 25 scripts were put into development, with contributions from Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and Paul Malmont (Lovestruck). Interfilm matinees were created and released by producer James Graham. And the next two films, "Ride For Your Life" and "Bombmeister," were produced. Even Hollywood got into the act. Bob Gale, creator of "Back to the Future," embraced the new medium with "Mr. Payback," the first Interfilm to be produced outside the fledgling studio.

They say pioneers are the ones who get shot full of arrows. A year and a half passed after
“I’m Your Man"-an eternity in the evolution of new media. By Interfilm's second debut, the zeitgeist had moved on. The Internet was the thing, and the interactive consumer
was at home, staring into the computer. So, in the spring of 1995, Interfilm Technologies
closed its doors. The era of interactive filmmaking-which had just barely begun-seemed
to be over.

So Now What?
"I’m Your Man" has been re-designed, taking full advantage of the DVD technology. Planet Theory Inc., the producers of "I'm Your Man" and future ChoicePoint Films, have been able to restore the film and its vision of interactive filmmaking that is stil ahead of it's time.

Be sure to watch for the next ChoicePoint Films, No genre is safe from interactivity -
children’s titles, horror, comedy and suspense, to name just a few. This is a concept
whose time as come. Again!

Bit O' Madden

Much like children's MMOs and casual gaming, most enthusiast gaming blogs like to to ignore the gaming elephant in the corner and most recently it's been Madden NFL 08. Even though I can't play the game(nor do i care to learn), I have to admire the juggernaut that it continues to be and can always find something interesting to write about it.

While perusing the Madden producer blog I see that the "current gen"(PS2, Xbox, Gamecube and PC) versions of the game have an exclusive Fantasy Challenge mode that isn't on the next gen Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. While still retaining the complicated control of Madden, the rest of the mode is truly fantasy based with players who disappear, cheat, grow in size, etc. Even the venues are uniquely bizarre.




I also found this video that show EA's dedication to realism. They motion capture on what appears to be real grass.

Interfilm mission statement/design document

This was found on the I'm Your Man DVD and described therein as "The original Interfilm mission statement is presented here for the first time" although the back cover calls it a "design document". The formatting is left intact but I corrected the numerous spelling and punctuation errors. Originally presented as a series of still frames, I removed the repeated pages and rearranged them to what I assume what should have been the correct order.

---

Introduction

The following pages will outline the process and configuration of the Interfilm medium.

It is our hope that this first attempt at documenting and mapping the trial by which we were able to create this first Interfilm episode will lead to a better understanding of what is needed to effectively create interactive cinematic experiences. As well as provide a template for the creation of subsequent episodes.

For purposes of clarity and ease of reading the document will be divided into three sections.
1) Story Development
2) Production
3) Presentation.

With that said, let us move on to the process itself.

Story Development

Despite the fact that Interfilm represents a commitment to interactive branching entertainment, there are many of the classic rules of drama and storytelling that apply in the format.

It goes without saying that the ability each audience has to make organic changes in the story makes an Interfilm episode non-linear... however, the mere fact that an audience member can press a button and turn a character from a hero into a coward is not enough to sustain interest and excitement past the first few moments of the experience.

A commitment to character depth and solid storytelling is essential to a successful interactive experience.

To that end, this first episode was written through the implementation of a writing team approach.

Unlike a normal writing team situation where all of the writers would concern themselves with storyline, plot development and characters in the global sense of the script, the Interfilm team worked very differently. The team was lead by a head writer. The head writer worked primarily as a referee... responsible for the structural integrity of the story. Making sure that events that were happening in real time on different levels were actually jibing together. In addition he had a responsibility for the plausibility of each situation. What is meant by this, is keeping the story fun and interesting rather than resort to the classic “and then I woke up” scenario.

With this "hub" in place, the remaining members of the writing team focused on the voices and actions of specific characters. In this way the writers were free to really concentrate on the way a character would react in any given set of circumstances.

Rather than having to be burdened with all of the incumbent baggage of multi-plot line development of the ramifications of any of their character's actions on the plot of other
Characters, they could instead concentrate on making sure that dialogue and action rang true for the character and that the jokes were funny

[THREE PAGES MISSING]

expected of them during the course of the picture. He also serves a similar role to the head writer in that he defines the rules of play to the audience. Finally, he introduces the audience to the three principle characters of the episode.

With this introduction accomplished, the audience is ready to move on to the next act and begin developing the next set of skills that are required of them.

Act Two: Audience as editor

Interfilm was created to be a group activity on purpose.

So much of technology is isolationist in nature. The objective of Interfilm is to create a satisfying group experience that utilizes technology to its end.

This intention, however, has its pitfalls. First, the fact that the experience is had by a group requires that in branching situations. The majority wins in the decision.

The obvious problem with this truth is that if you take a group of strangers, put them in a dark room and make them vote right off the top of an entertainment experience. Two thirds of them are going to be mad at you because they didn't get what they voted for. We had to find a way to introduce the audience to the characters without making them vote for organic change in the script.

For act two, we play upon a characteristic that has developed in almost all of us when we watch television... we graze, moving from channel to channel looking for something interesting enough to keep our attention for a period of time.

The difference is that with Interfilm, the channels that the audience is grazing through all relate to each other. Each is a movie created in a specific and different style that focuses on one of our three principle characters. These movies play in “real time” although all of them are very different in every way we realize that, as we watch them, the characters are about to find themselves in close proximity. That is to say, close enough that they will be able to interact with each other. In many ways, the easiest way to visualize this is to see a chess table with the pieces put away. Act two is really the setting of the table for play, one by one, in “real time” the pieces are assembled on the table. Each of the pieces is very different, possessing a unique character with different needs and powers, but all of them arriving at the same place about to share the same experience.

The audience is then encouraged to "group graze" through the use of a cumulative voting process. The channels change as half of the group chooses to watch a specific character. Once The change is made, the tabulation of votes resets to zero and the process begins again, over and over, as many times as the audience wants.

This accomplishes several things. First, it allows the audience to get a sense of each of the characters and learn a little about their stake in the situation. Second, it makes the audience comfortable and articulate with the hardware. It's easy so there is no reason not to play with it and have fun. And third, perhaps most importantly, it gives the audience a sense of itself.

Because the tabulations are projected below the picture, the numbers are speaking for the audience. At least at the beginning. The numbers will serve as the voice of each individual of the audience... each one making his or her statement. Then, as each of them becomes more and more involved in the story and their role in its outcome, they will begin to speak for themselves... calling out the choice that they want to see... campaigning to get the segment they want to see.

Once this sense of self is established, it becomes much easier to ask the group to vote on organic change in the story... the reason being that they have now become inextricably linked not only to each other, but also to the picture itself…they have a direct effect on the outcome of the plot.

At each choice point the audience is offered either two or three choices. They are then given ten seconds in which to decide Where to send the characters or the situation. In duration we tried to give the audience an opportunity to partake in the film every 1 1/i2 to 2 minutes.

It does not take long to figure out that two to three choices over ten minutes of film times three characters could create an almost infinite number of possible courses and changes.

Why the intersection applies:

The reason that the intersection scene is so important to the Interfilm process at this point is because we are, for the near term at least, limited by the capabilities of tested, robust hardware.

Because we are utilizing laser disc technology to store and play back the movie’s elements. We are limited to 45 minutes of media per disc. At the time of the writing of this document, an Interfilm retrofit consists of one (1) laser disc player. It is, however, reasonable to assume that over the next 24 months that storage capability will be doubled.

Interfilm trailers for Bombmeister and Ride For Your Life

Here are trailers for the 1995 interactive films Ride For Your Life and Bombmeister. Neither have been released on DVD and Bombmeister remains completely unreleased as it didn't even come to theaters. BoostVideo purchased all of the rights to the Interfilm properties in 2006 and plan to release Bombmeister online soon. Both trailers can be found on the DVD version of another Interfilm title, I'm Your Man.

Game Wizard Belt Buckle

I have quite the belt buckle fetish so you can imagine the unbridled joy that came across me when I obtained this presumably 80's era gem that I am wearing right now as I type this:

"GAME WIZARD"

I particularly love the vague, non-copyright infringing video game characters but perhaps most telling is the only inscription on the back, "L7".

Even the buckle is laughing at me.

DVD Game Madness

While doing some research on FMV games in general I started looking into the console, PC, and arcade games that have been converted to DVD video format. This took much longer than I thought it would. Everytime I searched for a picture or link, more titles would pop up. A lot of these titles are fairly hard to find, even on the internet. I'm pretty sure this is the most comprehensive list of US released DVD games anywhere, as depressing as that might be.

England has a many, many more DVD games that the US does. Based on gameshows, long running soap operas, comedy shows, reality tv, the list goes on and on. Most of the DVD game titles over here are usually part of a board game, I've only listed titles that use just the remote.

In the US, Digital Leisure have released the most easily obtainable titles. So for there are 16(!) DVD games converted primarily from laserdisc arcade titles.

Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp
Dragon's Lair III
Space Ace
Thayer's Quest
Mad Dog McCree
Mad Dog McCree II: The Lost Gold
The Last Bounty Hunter
Crime Patrol
Who Shot Johnny Rock?
Drug Wars
Space Pirates
Hologram Time Traveler
Shadaon

Dragon's Lair III is an odd one because it's actually just comprised of in-game footage of the Dragon's Lair 3D console game which you then control like a traditional Dragon's Lair game.

Are You All That? - DVDi developed this trivia party title and Digital Leisure published it but you wouldn't know by looking at their site. The only way I discovered it was by browsing their online shop. They also have a media page that I only was able to stumble across with a Google search. The company line says it all:

"Dr. Know-It-All Browne keeps score (so you don't have to). In his own charismatic, slang-infused style, the doctor will "dis" or give "props" to players as he sees fit."

That sure sounds "Off Da Hook" and "Bumpin", isn't that what the kids say these days? I also like how they portray the fact that repeated questions are unavoidable:

"Any repeated question is a valid question for the player who receives it. It will earn or lose a player points, just as any other question. Dr. Browne believes in rewarding players for paying attention and being sharp enough to remember previous game play. "Consider it a bonus gift... from me to you," he says."

Yes. It's a gift. I hope you're grateful to Dr. Browne.

Another video game to DVD game conversion is Lara Coft Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure which uses footage from the 6th game The Angel of Darkness. It's out in the UK but the original December '06 US release was missed.

Speaking of video game to DVD conversions, I stumbled across a whole batch that have quite a sordid history. Here's what I was able to gather. Just before the dot-com bubble burst, Brilliant Entertainment had a browser plug-in that played 3D graphics movies based mostly on licensed properties. The software, called B3D, was eventually revealed to contain a spyware/adserver/distributed computing thing called Altnet that was in cahoots with Kazaa somehow. More info here and here. There were tons of different episodes and even more planned. You can read about those here and here.

You can actually still watch/play the Superman episodes on the UK Warner Bros site. It has the plugin to install and everything. Of course it will still be detected as spyware and/or a virus so downloader beware. I got it to run for a bit on Win2k and xp before my scanners decided otherwise.

How does this dead web software apply to DVD, or even games you ask? The episodes were all essentially no-lose choose your own adventure stories. Some were released as CD-ROM titles and thankfully for mankind, many of them were eventually ported to DVD video. They even received ESRB ratings. This is what I think is a complete list of titles:

Xena: Death in Chains
Xena: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Gravity Angels: Alien Discovery
Gravity Angels: The Betrayal
Gravity Angels: Payback
Gravity Angels: Death Force
Superman: Menace Of Metallo (unreleased)
Ace Ventura Pet Detective: The Case of the Serial Shaver
KISS Immortals
Choose Your Own Nightmare: Night Of The Werewolf
Choose Your Own Nightmare: The Curse of the Mummy
Choose Your Own Nightmare: Halloween Party
Choose Your Own Nightmare: Evil Pen Pal
Choose Your Own Nightmare: Bite of a Vampire

Silent Steel - A port of a Tsunami Media CD-ROM game, it's the first DVD game ever put onto a disc(1996)...but it wasn't actually released until a few years later.

I'm Your Man - Along with Mr. Payback, Ride For your Life, & Bombmeister(unreleased), it is one of four titles made with the Interfilm process and designed to be shown in a regular theater. Roger Ebert's review of Mr. Payback sums up the output. I'm Your Man is the only one on DVD so far. Each play through is only about 20 minutes.

The Misadventures of James Spawn - The first ever interactive movie produced specifically for DVD. A fresh off the boat stereotypical Indian man receives a ring that lets him wish for stuff. That description combined with the cover picture should give you an idea of the quality.

Stab In The Dark! - A murder mystery party on a DVD from what I can gather. It's put out by Drew's Famous so it could suck a lot.

Choose Your Own Adventure - The Abominable Snowman - And animated feature from the same company that publishes the classic books comes this animated feature featuring the voice talents of William H. Macy, Frankie Muniz, Felicity Huffman, and Lacey Chabert. It looks pretty interesting.

Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure - I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this one, it seems to have a bit of an underground following. It was released by Rhino and there's even a Special Edition version.

Tender Loving Care
Point of View
Created by some of the makers of the pioneering CD-Rom titles 7th Guest and 11th hour, these are a couple of the most well-known interactive movie titles. Both are less adventure game and interactive movie that changes according to the various psychological questions. The first four chapters of Point of View can be played online here. A great Gamespot article detailing the rise and fall of Trilobyte tells how Tender Loving Care caused some problems in the company before they split off as Aftermath. Tender Loving Care was also released as a normal movie in the UK.

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Dracula Unleashed
Both of these titles were widely released on various consoles and computers about a decade and a half ago so it's nice to finally see them with a nice video clarity. The easiest way to obtain both of these is from the Infinite Ventures online store.

Disney Dogs Edition: Blue Ribbon Challenge
Disney Princess Edition: Become The Ultimate Princess

These two Disney DVD Game World aren't just for kids, especially the Disney Dogs version which has a special difficulty level for hardcore Disney-ites.

Adventureville: The Cosmic Kitty Adventure - Look! Another "first".

Brain Quest: Ages 6-8
Brain Quest: Ages 8-10
Nancy Drew: Curse Of Blackmoor Manor
All from Brighter Minds Media, the Nancy Drew game is converted from the PC title of the same name.

Phantom of Inferno
Day of Love
Amusement Park
Tea Society of a Witch
Hourglass of Summer
Ishika & Honori
Exodus Guilty
Dragonia
All of these Herameki Anime Play titles are essentially visual novel PC titles converted to DVD Games, subtitles and all. The animation is fairly nonexistent, relying on still images with narration instead. More titles were planned, but they were eventually canceled in 2005.

Shrek Princess Club
Shrek Pick-A-Pair!
Shrek Castle Races
Shrek Totally Tangled Tales
Over the Hedge Wacky Moments in Human History
Madagascar Animal Trivia
JumpStart Power Prep
JumpStart PreK-1st Grade: Frankie's Field Trip
Discovery Channel American Road Trip
The Bible
Time Troopers
Show Me the WILD!
Santa's Trivia Game

b EQUAL has a large number of DVD games all based on licensed titles from Dreamworks, JumpStart, Discovery and History Channel, and oddly enough the classics Rankin-Bass TV special Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.

Doctor Who: Attack Of The Graske is a well made, fully playable online FMV game that seems as if it was developed for DVD, especially the bit about The Doctor syncing your remote with the sonic screwdriver.

Here is a nice 1996 essay exploring the current state of interactive media and movies.

Another 1996 DVD game article, this one approaching the topic from the technical aspect. Registration required(and highly reccomended).

The Cigar Deadline - An interactive movie of sorts on youtube.

InteractiveMovies.org - A nice list of FMV titles in various formats.

Interactive-Film.com - Proof that interactive movies aren't dead with more than a dozen recently made and playable online titles.