ITP Thesis Week 2009
Monday, May 4 - Friday, May 8

Paranoia: Emotional Perception in the Interactive Cinematic Experience

Ramona Pringle

Paranoia is an interactive video installation that explores the evolving role of the voyeur, and the impact of emotional perception in the narrative experience.

http://www.ramonapringle.com/thesis



Paranoia is an immersive narrative scene in which the user is an active participant, or [char]actor. Through the integration of interactivity with the classical principles of storytelling and editing, the traditional fourth wall of cinema is removed, allowing the user to enter the storyworld as both the watcher and the one being watched.

Psychologically, the piece’s narrative is given momentum by the role of the individual user’s assumption – based on the backstory of personal experience one brings, (s)he is likely to orient towards either the front screen or the rear, and to perceive his or her own role within the scene as either a threat, or as being threatened; predator or prey.

The user is at once an actor, a character, a player and a viewer. (S)he is given the autonomy as a viewer and interactor to choose who they are and what role they play within the established narrative context. As a central character in this scene, every user brings his or her own backstory with them based on personal experience and assumptions, which in turn impact how they interact with the scene and it’s characters, yielding different cinematic experience and personal emotional feedback.

The experience changes based on varying levels of interaction: A traditionally passive user will still have a complete experience, but it will be different from that of the very aggressive user, in keeping with intuitive feedback. Someone who stands back, while opting to be passive, is making an active decision on how they interact with the scene, and will as a result trigger the appropriate cinematic feedback.




Background

Paranoia evolved out of an earlier iteration of the concept. The first production of Paranoia was built as a single screen installation. The installation was built inside a long, dark space. On the far wall was the projected image of a woman walking alone, at night, down an unlit street. When the user is far enough back, (s)he can follow behind the woman as she walks down the street, but once the user approaches close enough behind the woman that (s)he enters her personal space, the woman on screen will turn around, sensing someone there.

It was the audience’s interaction with and reaction to this project that inspired the further exploration of viewer-as-actor and installation-as-scene. The experience of being caught for invading someone’s personal space, or for scaring them, was immediate and emotional for the majority of users, especially being caught by a cinematic projection, which we assume to be passive. User reactions to this experience differed person to person; some people wanted to see what the woman would do next and how far they could push her, while other’s would back off after the initial encounter, and other’s yet, having witnessed an aggressive user-encounter would stay far back claiming “I don’t want to disturb her.” The story, thus, changed based on the user who though not on screen, was definitely a part of the scene.

Through the integration of interactivity with the classical principles of storytelling and editing, the traditional fourth wall of cinema is removed, allowing the user to enter the storyworld as both the watcher and the one being watched. The classical film theories of Lev Kuleshov (The Kuleshov Effect) and Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon) are pivotal in the formation of this interactive story experience.