The Future of Storytelling.
A theme I enjoy touching on every now and again is storytelling. Storytelling is what makes the world go 'round. It's an art-form that few possess, and even fewer are able to use effectively. It's an art that is pliable to one's senses, and can be understood by many in the most obscure ways.
Storytelling is the way in which stories are told to convey something. To convey feeling. To convey love. To convey loss. To convey happiness and sadness. Storytelling is the life that we live and the world is the medium where they story is told. Philosophy is the storytelling of the fundamental nature of life. Science is the storytelling of the beings and functions that make up the entirety of everything. This blog is storytelling my thoughts and beliefs through probing from Professor Reppert's assignment list.
Life is storytelling. So, I've decided to make predictions on the future of storytelling, through various mediums.
Movies
Movies are probably my second favorite pastime after video games. I try to go the movie theater at least once a month and I've collected every movie ticket I've bought for the past five or so years. It's not seeing the movie that makes going fun, it's the experience you have. It's about grabbing some food with a friend then catching a flick. Sitting around while trailers crawl across the screen and deciding what movie I'll waste some money on next.
I have a suspicion that after all this quarantine mess is over, the movie industry is going to have a massive shake-up. Trolls: World Tour released digitally nearly two weeks ago and did just fine at the virtual box-office. Scoob! will be following suit by skipping the theater release. So what does that mean for our future of going to the theater? I think you'll begin to see more movies releasing digitally over the box-office, especially smaller market indie-films. We'll likely see an increase in online distributors willing to deal out some cash to promote and sell smaller market films due to the possibility of a surprise hit. The quarantine has everyone sitting around watching shows and movies and soon a business model will capitalize on this better than Netflix and Hulu.
I'm willing to bet that the digital marketplace is the new 'straight to home video', with a much higher quality of course (hopefully).
Streaming
We've seen just how far streaming can go this year, and I think it will go further. There are only so many shows and movies on Netflix and Hulu, and they can only replace old ones so fast. Sooner or later, there won't be much else to watch except the critically despised films, so what will they do then?
The Criterion Collection streaming service is going to skyrocket. We'll be diving into the best of the past and that will shape our future. Films have halted filming and shows have stopped shooting. While we wait for things to return to normal, people are gathering inspiration. Inspiration to tell stories in ways they've never been told. We're going to need the oldies for that one.
I'm also waiting on a streaming service that solely produces interactive content. A week-to-week broadcast that has the subscribers vote on certain outcomes in the show. Then, next weeks episode is tailor-made to that vote. Kind of like how comic fans killed off Robin, but in a TV show.
Video Games
Now we're onto the good stuff. Video games at this point have already become interactive films (or novels, I don't discriminate) and that can only be pushed further. Sooner or later, we'll have full body virtual reality gear that can detect the movements of every part of our body. Suits that emit forces onto our bodies when we bump into something in the game, or heat up when we step to close to the fire. We're already on our way with that with PlayStation's DualSense controller, which can adjust tension in the triggers based on what is happening in the video game (for example, the triggers being difficult to pull back while pulling back a bow in the game).
There will be a psychology to rectify from video games. Games already have us making decisions, hard decisions, that affect us outside of the game. The psychology of video games will be documented and games will be able to change based on our emotions, whether it be detecting this through a suit, a controller, or a camera of some kind. The artificial intelligence will be able to react to this emotional stimuli in unique ways for every player playing. We can always go deeper!
Books
Eh, they're books.
And that's all I have regarding the future. I really hope our future robot overlords don't find this and take my blog down.
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