This document proposes developing the 2010 video game Heavy Rain into a feature film. Heavy Rain told the story of hunting for a serial killer through the perspectives of four playable characters. The game sold over 2 million copies and had a higher completion rate than most games. Adapting it to film would need to address fans' interest from the interactive experience and potential changes to the narrative. Conducting surveys of fans could provide guidance on casting, character focus, and maintaining interest in sequels. Emphasizing emotional engagement and appealing to new audiences in addition to fans would help the film's feasibility.

1. Dan Walsh
Is it feasible to develop
Heavy Rain into a Feature Film?
Fantasy, Fandom
& Franchise

2. Heavy Rain was a PS3 game released in 2010 by
French game developer Quantic Dream. It
centred around the hunt for a kidnapping
murderer dubbed ‘The Origami Killer’. Players
interact as 4 different characters during this
hunt.
Ethan Mars’ son has been taken and held,
Madison Paige meets him and joins him in his
search. Norman Jayden is an FBI agent assigned
to the case and Scott Shelby is a private
investigator who’s been employed to look into
specific cases.
The players decisions influence and potentially
alter the outcome of the story in almost every
moment. The story is full of twists and turns,
with a surprising conclusion.
This game as of 2012 had sold over 2 million
copies worldwide. The director David Cage has
also revealed that statistics show the game has
around a 75% completion rate, compared to
most games which average around 25%
completion.

3. My Proposal is to develop this
game into a feature length film. My
case study will delve into the
process of this, alongside problems
that I would encounter in this
endeavour.
Notable problems that will arise immediately are the amount of
different narratives available to an audience whilst playing the
game. They have overall control in determining how the story
evolves by making small decisions throughout.
This means that some people previously fond of the game
because of its interactive participation, may not be as interested
in a passive experience of the same story.

4. Useful Quote for the argument
towards my proposal
“Rather than merely watching the actions of the
main character, as we would in a film, with every
outcome of events predetermined when we enter
the theatre, we are given a surrogate character
(the player-character) through which we can
participate in and alter the events in the game’s
diegetic world.”
Quotation by Wolf, M
Hollywood Gamers - Brookey, R (2010) pg.26
.
This is the main challenge the film would
face in terms of reaching out to the already
established fanbase of the product.
For this reason I made a survey catered to
previous fans of the game

5. 1. In your opinion, would
heavy rain work as a
feature film?
Yes
No
*Based on results of 10 surveys

6. 2. Which character would
you be most interested in
seeing feature more if the
game was adapted?
Ethan
Mars
Scott
Shelby
Madison
Paige
Norman
Jayden

7. 3. If the origami killer was
revealed but not captured in a
film (leading to a sequel) would
the sequel appeal as much as
the adaptation?
Yes
No

8. 4. Would a big named
Hollywood star or director
encourage you to see this
film more, or less?
More
Less

9. What else would be
important to ask in
terms of the films
feasibility.
• Would you choose to watch
this film at the cinema?
• Would you be likely to buy
further gaming merchandise
from sequels etc.?
• Which character (if any) less
involved in the story do you
think could play a larger
role?
• Would you be more likely to
buy the next QuanticDream
game Beyond: Two Souls, if
it had the Heavy Rain DVD
integrated?

10. Collective Knowledge:
Information from the established fans
In Jenkins book Convergence Culture, he mentions the collective
knowledge of a community that can be pulled together and
accessed in response to a specific question. I think this is key to
the feasibility of making a film like this and keeping the fans
onside.
ASK THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT!
Be it from questionnaires, voting, open letter responses, this is
the only way to gather all-round information and guidance from
your audience, as to which direction to take your project.

11. MAINTAINING A NEUTRAL AUDIENCE
In order to keep an overall audience happy, I
think it is important not to completely copy the
game version scene by scene, but to branch away
and give the film an authentic feel.
Targeting a ‘movie-going’ demographic rather
than catering especially to the gaming community
would reduce the liability if gamers didn’t take to
the film. This would also allow subtle changes to
be made to the story or characters, in order to
give the product more potential for development
and extension in future.

12. Appealing to a wider market especially in film will often
need a well known performer or endorsement. I’ve given
thought to specific character profiling in terms of a movie.
In this case I would try to use actors who could be visually
compared to the characters in the game, creating a sense
of familiarity.

13. Example of a possible ‘star’ casting of an actor
based on loose appearance and approximate
age in comparison to the character…

14. Empathic Engagement
Smith (1995) argues that people interpret (film)
characters using the same conceptual framework
that they use to interpret other people. People also
react emotionally to characters, in a similar way as
they do with real people… …Compared to cognitive
film theories, PCs pose a few new questions. For
example, when a player controls the character, is it
plausible to assume that the player interprets the
player character in a similar way to other
characters? Or is the PC more like an extension to
the self in which case interpretation of the PC would
be more like self-reflection? - Petri Lankoski
This is important in the switch from video game to
film, as within Heavy Rain emotion is the driving
force behind the narrative. It’s vital that an audience
feel empathy towards the cinematic characters,
whilst playing a more passive role, rather than
overwhelmingly missing the interaction they
personally controlled previously.

15. Purpose of the film
I think this film could be successful in
terms of profit, and that is the reason
I’d choose to take it on, I personally
enjoyed the narrative but in cinema
terms it could possibly get lost in the
crowd. Heavy Rain will sell because it is
established and has a large following
already. Much like Resident Evil or
Tomb Raider this will provide the initial
platform.
Another aspect of profitability this idea
could have is with sequels or
partnerships. For example, the film
company striking up an agreement to
adapt future Quantic Dream titles.

16. Other games made by this developer include Fahrenheit that was released in 2005 and Beyond:
Two Souls which will be out in October 2013. The link Beyond will have with the film industry is
it’s use of established ,well known performers, namely Ellen Page (Juno, Inception) and William
Dafoe (Platoon, Spider-Man). This would suggest that like Heavy Rain, this game will rely heavily
on dramatic performance and a strong narrative. These would potentially be part of the tie-in I
would try and negotiate into a partnership .

17. Treatment part one.

18. Treatment part two.

19. Beginning of film synopsis

20. Examples of the film noir aesthetic

21. TRAILER EXAMPLE
http://youtu.be/w2S40gXwyz

22. Bibliography
Books
Hollywood Gamers - Brookey, R (2010)
Convergence Culture - Jenkins, H (2006)
Interactive Storytelling for Video Games - Lebowitz, J
Klug, C (2011) pgs. 197-201
Journals
Computer Graphics World - Gaudiosi, J (2010)
http://web.ebscohost.com.lcproxy.shu.ac.uk/ehost/detail?sid=a8e53a5d-2a5c-42b3-ab51-
ed477fa71bc5%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#
db=buh&AN=54373679
Player Character Engagement in Computer Games –
Lankoski, P (2011)
http://gac.sagepub.com.lcproxy.shu.ac.uk/content/6/4/291.full.pdf+html
Making Gamers Cry – Collins, K (2011)
http://delivery.acm.org.lcproxy.shu.ac.uk/10.1145/2100000/2095673/p39-
collins.pdf?ip=143.52.65.93&acc=ACTIVE%20SERVICE&key=C2716FEBFA981EF16CA34AD44146F37F
722EA99A65CDF6F3&CFID=205942228&CFTOKEN=42731683&__acm__=1366223272_eed985fb063
268812b810559bbb432f7
(last accessed 17/04/13)
Websites
http://heavyrain.wikia.com/wiki/Heavy_Rain_Wiki
http://youtu.be/w2S40gXwyz
(last accessed 17/04/13)