On the 28th of May 1993 the film industry and the video game industry were brought together for the first time with the release of ‘Super Mario Bros.: the movie’ (excluding the 1986 Japanese only, VHS released ‘Sūpā Mario Burazāzu: Pīchi-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen!’). This link has remained intact ever since, though you’d be forgiven for never really giving it much attention until recently. In fact, I’ve started this blog with something of a lie; the two industries were in fact joined in 1982 with the release of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ for the Atari 2600 gaming system. The reason for excluding this title, as well as all the other film to game adaptations that preceded the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, is because they were precisely that: film inspired games, and no-one other than gamers really cared much. But when a game was deemed substantial enough to create a movie from, well, that was something else entirely; it was a chance for a new audience to experience the world of a game for the first time. Super Mario Bros. may have butchered the world of that little red and blue plumber, but somehow the connection this movie started remained, and is now becoming stronger and more significant than ever.
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| 'Super Mario Bros.' (1993) |
The increase in attention and prominence of this connection can, in my opinion, be attributed to modern technology. Technology has effectively changed the world as we know it, planting the seeds of revolution within everything it touches. Such revolutions brought life to the film and video game industries, and modern technology has now allowed them to bloom again within the digital age; digital effects, improvements in graphical technology, ever expanding ways of accessing content, easy to use ways of creating content and much much more; truly these industries have felt the effects of our digital world, and it’s changed them for good.
Technology itself however, cannot change anything. It needs a spark, a flicker of genius to ignite its potential and release it upon the population. In both the film and video game industries this spark is storytelling. Everything from the latest big-budget, action packed yet narratively bland summer release right down to the emotional yet distinctly low-budget downloadable video game, is based on a story. Modern technology has enabled these entertainment industries to create new stories and tell them in increasingly creative ways.
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| Green screen underwater filming to recreate zero gravity for 'Gravity' (2013) |
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| Ellen Page in a motion capture performance for 'Beyond: Two Souls' (2013) |
It’s this combination of storytelling and technological advancements that has kept this connection alive, and is today becoming more important than ever in how audiences perceive films and video games and how they think of them as part of the same entity, part of a new macrocosm in which both industries are no longer distinctively separate and are now part of a larger whole.
Through this blog I’ll be taking a look at how storytelling functions within this new, digital age. As a film student and a hobbyist gamer I’m placed on (arguably) the more successful and well known side of the fence. Films have the advantage of a wider audience, a more established history and prominent place as a form of entertainment. I believe this is changing however, and as someone who will one day venture out into the film industry, I’m intrigued as to how this connection and its increasing importance will affect my future, but more significantly, the future of these industries and of storytelling itself.
Through this blog I’ll be taking a look at how storytelling functions within this new, digital age. As a film student and a hobbyist gamer I’m placed on (arguably) the more successful and well known side of the fence. Films have the advantage of a wider audience, a more established history and prominent place as a form of entertainment. I believe this is changing however, and as someone who will one day venture out into the film industry, I’m intrigued as to how this connection and its increasing importance will affect my future, but more significantly, the future of these industries and of storytelling itself.
