From Wired.com
Watch Late Fragment straight through and you won't really understand why a young woman kills her doting father. Take control of the film, unlocking hidden footage and shuffling scenes around, and you learn that Dad may dote a little too much. Because the truth is, our perception of stories and characters shifts as we learn more about them. On this filmfest-and-DVD-only feature from a trio of Canadians, you delve deeper by using your remote: Click at the beginning of a scene and you'll be taken somewhere totally different than if you do so at the end. Any given viewing might weave 90 or so of the 139 available scenes into a Pulp Fiction-like circular story arc.
Inspired by videogames and multi- and nonlinear films like The Usual Suspects and Memento, the auteurs linked the scenes together with an interactive video system used by the likes of Daft Punk and Radiohead. "Audiences are getting used to participating in their entertainment experience," says Ana Serrano, one of Fragment's producers. "And we wanted that participation to be on two levels: physical, by clicking the remote, and also cognitive, where audiences are trying to figure out what's happening in front of them."
Next, Serrano teams up with Fragment codirector Anita Doron to make an interactive musical, which will use Blu-ray technology to let viewers save specific scene paths. "There are users who become obsessed with their cut of the film, and they won't stray from it," she says. Sounds like every director in Hollywood.
How it works
In Late Fragment, group therapy scenes function as a visual menu. Click when Theo is in the frame to find out why he cuts himself, or click when you see Faye to learn who she's visiting in jail. Why is Kevin waiting so calmly for the police? Click your remote to learn more.
The LATE FRAGMENT homepage