Hello everyone,
I’d like to begin this post with a quote from Bill Viola’s writing that I feel perfectly illustrates Viola’s vision of the potential of technology.
“Leaping directly into the farther future for a moment, we can see the seeds of what some have described as the ultimate recording technology: total spatial storage, with the viewer wandering through some three-dimensional, possibly life-sized field of prerecorded or simulated scenes and events evolving in time.”
In truth, we have achieved this very situation he describes. It could be argued that modern day video games represent this vision, a three dimensional space where a “participant” explores a pre-rendered world as events unfold around them. If we choose to consider this vision solely in the form of cinema, then Bandersnatch is a prime example. The viewer is provided choices as the story progresses, changing the story dependent on the choices made, until the viewer kills the character or resets the story to previous decisions.
Yet, Bandersnatch can at times feel similar to the classic choose your own adventure stories many of us have experienced. The story becomes increasingly “meta”, totally shattering the fourth wall at points. It’s innovation comes in the repeated scenes with alternate choices resulting from the viewers other previous choices. This changes theme drastically compared to previous choose your own adventure works where the structure follows and rinse and repeat pattern. Which, as it turns out, is something Viola also discussed in terms of nonlinear story telling.
“As a start, we can propose new diagrams, such as the ‘matrix’ structure (fig. 31.4). This would be a non-linear array of information. The viewer could enter at any point, move in any direction, at any speed, pop in and out at place. All directions are equal. Viewing becomes exploring a territory, traveling through a data space.”
This vision is revolutionary thinking. It places the responsibility of creating a cohesive story to the viewer or participant. If all the information becomes accessible at any point, all the time, the line begins with the viewer and follows them through their journey.