Interactive movie lets you choose your own ending

Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books that were all the rage among young people back in the 1980s? Well, it looks like technology has lent a helping hand this time around, letting you have a hand (literally) in interactive movies. Of course, you will still need to use your eyes to see what’s going on, but there will be a whole lot less reading involved, as your choices will result in different scenes instead. The film known as Turbulence was developed by Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Nitzan Ben Shaul, where it centers around a trio of Israeli friends who reunite by chance in Manhattan, two decades after going their separate ways.

During key points in the story line, selected “action items” will glow on the screen, for instance in one scene, a character who is wondering whether to send a text message or not will have his cell phone glow. Should you want the character to send a message, just touch the glowing phone on the touchscreen display and the plot will progress in that direction. Sans an iota of viewer interaction, the film will run at 83 minutes, but with interaction, it can last anywhere from one to two hours. Viewing Turbulence on a traditional mouse-equipped computer is possible, but it is a whole lot more fun doing so on mobile touch screen devices including iPads. Something tells us that the adult entertainment industry is going to capitalize on this, never mind that they have a porn version of Tron going on already.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Photo-Video, Top Stories
Tags: israel, movie