Now a company in Germany has brought that technology to the movies. While I don't think people will want to interact every time they come to the theater, I certainly think that this kind of technology can and will be used quite well to create special events at the theater. It's also a great way to create a different experience in-cinema, something that could drive repeat business to the same movie. I think that one of the problems that I'm Your Man had was that since people could vote more then once, you didn't always how your vote counted. But with something like this, if you're chosen, then you can certainly see the impact that you're having. And people will like that. Of course, like anything else, content is king, so making good movies will be critical to the success of technologies like this.
What's more terrifying than a call coming from inside the house? The call coming from inside the theater. That's the thought behind Last Call, an interactive horror film in which the main character calls a random audience member for help.Even though they knew their efforts were useless, moviegoers have long tried to help the ill-fated protagonists of horror movies. "Run!" "Hide!" "Don't go down there!" In Last Call, a new German movie, the characters are finally willing to listen.
Audience members supply their cell numbers at the beginning of the screening and, at one point in the movie, one phone is selected to receive a call from the character on screen. Voice recognition software listens for the moviegoer's commands and the story unfolds based on their instructions. From the looks of things it seems like it's a "left" or "right," "stay" or "flee" type of thing, so your exhortations for the main character to take off her clothes will likely go unfulfilled.
As you may know, I led the team at the Brand Experience Lab that developed the first in-cinema game, the msnbc.com NewsBreaker Live experience, so I've spent a lot of time in movie theaters watching audiences engage with the motion capture work. I think that there's great opportunities to captivate the in-cinema audience and we're just beginning to see what's possible. Serialized content; games that start at home and move into the cinema and the kind of interactive experiences like the ones on this page are just the start. I think that there will still be times that we want to just sit and watch a really excellent movie, but adding levels of interactivity around the movie make a lot of sense for the cinema experience.
In This Horror Movie, the Call Comes From Inside the Theater - lastcall - Gizmodo.