noitCARetni-interACTion

Underground Bounty Hunter. Cinemadventure

It's a tuesday evening at 5pm and there is nothing too interesting to comment about how i passed my time since my class ended for the day...I was just surfing on the net and suddenly, I came across something pretty cool which i believe many of you (those who happen to be reading my blog *Hi Alex and anyone else! :P*) might be interested in. I've cut and pasted the news article from this website http://news.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/0,39029682,49283095,00.htm onto my blog for easy reading. So do scroll down and read it k? It's about an online project that Screenwriter and producer Darryl Quarles came up with. It essentially combines movies with videogame interactivity. How cool is that?! :P I was tempted to give it shot but it costs 15 bucks (i think it's in USD) and you have to pay by visa or mastercard, none of which i have. What's the catch? If you manage to solve the mystery, there is money to be won and hehz...it could be an interesting research paper too. (hmm..so why am i sharing this with you, you wonder..) Well, good things must be shared! (and...anyone wants to sponsor me for this game? *grin*)



Anyway, here goes the article:

Screenwriter and producer Darryl Quarles didn't fully comprehend how much work would be involved when he came up with Underground Bounty Hunter, an online project that combines movies with videogame interactivity.
Quarles is writing, directing and shooting all ten episodes. Players take on the role of the eponymous bounty hunter in order to capture an unambiguously bad guy. To do this, players interact after each 3- or 4-minute scene. What they do and the decisions they make determine what course of action the heroic hunter takes next.
All of the settings are resolutely urban and characterised for dramatic effect, Quarles says. There also are dubious characters known as snitches that are available -- for a consideration -- should players get stuck.
"There's a snitch on each page you can pay for information, but it may or may not be helpful," Quarles says. "The odds are one in three that they will provide a great clue. You have to decide."
The idea for Underground percolated many months before solidifying into the genre Quarles christened 'cinemaventure'.
"I've always been fascinated by how you could have a feature film that crosses into the videogame world and the Internet world," he says. "I wanted to come up with something I thought was original and fresh, something with a new edge."
He also found inspiration from watching his kids stay intently absorbed with videogames for hour after hour and learned from what captured their attention.
The Underground interactive movies last about 80 or 90 minutes end to end, but Quarles has to write, direct and shoot each of the different outcomes separately. He therefore had to put all of his other work on hold for about a year.
"It was a huge task," he says, "and we can't tell even the actors what's going on because that would give away the clues."
That discretion is more important than with many games, since there are cash and other awards along the way to the grand prize of $100,000 and a role in the next episode of Underground Bounty Hunter. Players must be at least 18 years old and pay a $25 (£13) entry fee for their chance to capture the criminal.
Underground is self-financed. "For me, it really was one of those big challenges that I had to do," Quarles says. "If you can get out and flex your creative muscle and do something you haven't ever done before, you get even better as a screenwriter, director and producer."
He also gained a new appreciation of exactly how much work goes into making a movie because he has to handle pre-production, post-production and everything in between. "I now know all those aspects of the 14- to 16-hour shoot days, too," Quarles says in mock weariness.
Now that the interactive series is under way, Quarles is able to balance working on the second episode of Underground with writing a Sanford and Son script for Sony Pictures. Those will be added to a list of credits that already includes Big Momma's House, Big Momma's House 2, Black Knight, Soldier Boyz and Rat Race.

posted by shamanthayan @ 2:56 AM