What�s the Story?

Wednesday 18 February, 3:00pm � 4:30pm
The Princess Anne Theatre
BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LN

Carl Reiner�s �Dead Men Don�t Wear Plaid� and Woody Allen�s �What�s Up, Tiger Lily?� explore the concept of re-mixable films. Films like �Matrix Revolutions� and �Tomb Raider� attempt to bridge the film-game divide. Interactive technology is facilitating story re-use as never before.

As part of BAFTA�s Interactive Festival, What�s the Story? put storytelling craft in the spotlight, focusing on the state of the �interactive story� and its influence on contemporary arts and culture. Despite obvious failures, why is the dream of interactive storytelling still alive? What has worked? What is happening when an audience member or player experiences empathy or agency while engaging with on-screen storytelling? How do we create new ways for people to engage with stories?

Chaired by Michela Ledwidge, the session explored ideas on how to open up interactive media to a non-gaming audience, and how storytellers use interactivity to reach out to new audiences. Interactive developments influencing the film and game industries was discussed including Sampling Culture, Pre-Visualisation, Online Communities, Interactive Fiction and Machinima.

The event was a unique opportunity to hear leading creatives, on both sides of the film/game divide, talk about their work and give their perspectives on the future of narrative, including how film and game creators increasingly work in tandem.

A panel of renowned film-makers and game designers, Peter Molyneux (Lionhead Studios), Marc Evans (Dir. My Little Eye), Jason Kingsley (Rebellion) and Don Daglow (Stormfront Studios) talked candidly about how their two worlds make use of interactive media and how they, as individuals, relate to it for their own creative processes. Current professional use were compared to grassroots creativity by audiences. Newly emerging forms of storytelling, stemming from films and games, were examined.

The second half of the event was a Q&A session where the audience put questions to the panel. Live machinima (a virtual world spoof of the venue and the participants) formed a light-hearted backdrop to the debate, depicting the panelists and the story worlds with which they are most associated.

The event was produced by thequality.com, in collaboration with Strange Company and Mod Films.