DVD Adapting Film for

learning outcomes Analyse how films are adapted for their DVD release and how this adaptation can lead to new viewing experiences/contexts. Discuss whether films released on DVD are new forms of media or just an example of remediation and respond to other people’s opinions.

A mock-reality live webcast in which 5 housemates brought together by ‘the company’ compete for $1 million. Unbeknown to the housemates they are not competing for $1 million but instead have been conned into being part of a high-stakes online gambling game in which multimillionaires pay to watch the webcast and then place bets on when the housemates will be murdered. Disc one has two viewing modes. Standard viewing mode allows viewers to watch the theatrical release of the film with or without audio commentary. The interactive browser mode, allows viewers to choose to see selected scenes from different camera angles, watch housemates’ audition tapes, and eavesdrop on ‘the company’s’ conversations. Disc two provides many of the paratextual entities that audiences have come to expect from DVDs - behind-the-scenes footage trailers deleted scenes. My Little Eye

Interactive Mode In order to access the interactive mode of the DVD the viewer must first enter a four digit code. The code, 0405, can be located on the DVD sleeve. Think about how the words ‘Credit Card’ link to the film. Also, how finding the number changes the viewing experience.

Interface Interactive Mode: Replica of the film’s website Screen were film is streamed Icons of the housemates with gambling odds Empty box on occasions has a camera symbol in it – this is when the multi-camera mode is available The interface changes the viewing experience. ‘[t]he viewing position is subverted from one of passive onlooker to a suggested (and fictional) active participant’ (Atkinson: 2007: 27).

Audio Commentary As Atkinson notes in her analysis of the DVD: This reveals the actual nature of the five main protagonist’s imprisonment inside of the house, and substantially alters the perspective of the viewer’s experience of the film. (Atkinson, 2007: 27). What has been transformed is the syuzhet (plot) not the fabula (story). Syuzhet - ‘the actual arrangement and presentation of the fabula ‘ – how the story is told. Fabula – the fabula is constructed by the viewer through inferences and assumptions – what the story is. (Bordwell, 1985: 50).

Multi-camera Via this feature, the viewer is again positioned as a gambler, and in choosing between the camera angles the viewer is actively ‘editing’ together their versions of the scenes. This feature affects the viewer/producer dichotomy. Whilst this quite clearly is an interactive feature which requires active participation from the viewer, how much freedom to alter the film does the viewer actually have?

Interactive Narrative? Structures of Interactive Narratives: Nodal Plots Modulate Plots Open Plots (Mark Stephen Meadows: 64-66). The My Little Eye interactive viewing = a nodal plot Nodal plots - ‘a series of non- interactive events, interrupted by points of interaction’ (Meadows: 64 Lowest amount of interactivity.

Paratexts Paratexts help to ‘brand’ a film and as Gray (2009) suggests, give depth to a film’s meaning. E.g. Directors commentaries - authorial vision to the film, that it is worthy of study or viewing. Elitism – e.g. ‘special edition’ The nature of the behind-the- scenes documentary alludes to the notion that the filmmakers and cast are sharing in-jokes and on-set secrets with the viewer, as well as informing them of the production process of the film. Key Debates: Are DVDs just examples of remediation? Can they be considered a new media form? Do they change film form or the film viewing experience?

discussion topic “It is extremely difficult to find any type of original programming for DVDs. The great majority of DVD content we see today has begun life in another medium – as a movie, a TV series, a documentary, or a classic video game – before being ported over to this new platform” (Handler Miller, 2004:366).

references Atkinson, Sarah (2007) ‘The Versatility of Visualization: Delivering Interactive Feature Film Content on DVD’ in Nebula, Volume 3, Number 2, pp Bordwell, David (1985) Narration in the Fiction Film, Great Britain: Methuen and Co. Ltd. Gray, Jonathon (2009), Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts, New York: New York University Press. Meadow, Mark Stephen (2003) Pause and Effect: The art of interactive narrative, Indiana, New Riders Publishing. Handler Miller, C (2004) Digital storytelling: A creator’s guide to interactive entertainment Oxford: Elsevier. My Little Eye, Marc Evans, UK, 2002.