2.  I feel that the concept of ‘social film’ may have be
wrongly define, and that projects such as Kill Cam
Live would better suite the term ‘social experience’.
 Within this presentation I will go on to talk about my
reasons for thinking the above. I will also take into
consideration aspects that allow for projects to be
defined best as ‘social films’.
 Doing this will allow me to draw a final conclusion on
whether social film is the most suitable phrase, or
whether social experience would be a better phrase.

3. Projects such as The Inside Experience (TIE) can be described as
having film-like storylines. This idea was reinforced within TIE by
the episodes which had been pre-recorded, giving the project a set
start middle and end, like films. The definite start and end in TIE
were that Christina had been taken captive, but eventually
managed to escape. This was bulked out with a plot in which clues
were pieced together to discover Christina’s whereabouts.
Taken from: http://theinsideexperience.com

4. The concept of film is further
added to with the idea there is
only one storyline throughout
these projects. Take Kill Cam
Live for example, where the
basic storyline is that a person is
killing off a group of students
who are taking part in a social
experiment. This single storyline
differs to typical episodic
projects, such as televisions Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/user/killcamlive2011
series, which contain multiple
storylines taking place in one
episode.

5. The episodic nature of online
interactive projects such as Kill
Cam Live and The Inside
Experience can sway the favour
to the term ‘social experience’.
This is because when watching a
film, it is usually done in a block.
By this I mean that films are
usually watched all the way
through, rather than being
stopped and started again at a
later date. This idea is similar to
that of television series where the
storyline is split into episodes;
which are then shown on
television at different points.
Taken from:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hollyoaks/4od

6. Another idea that favours the term ‘social
film’ is that some of these online
interactive projects are created like a
Hollywood production would be. The main
example of this is The Inside Experience, in
which the budget of the project was
obviously a reasonable amount. This
budget it can be assumed, was only so
great due to the projects aim, to advertise
a new product for Intel.
Also within the project the production
team used a reasonably famous actress.
These aspects all add to the idea that the
project was similar to a Hollywood
production, and thus could be define as a
‘social film’ rather than ‘experience’.
Taken from: http://theinsideexperience.com/laptop

7. Regardless of this, not all of these kinds of projects are created using a
large budget and know actors/actresses. A good example of this is Kill
Cam Live, where it is obvious to the viewer that the budget is not a
great amount. This may be because the project did not have sponsors
and was not created to sell a product, like The Inside Experience was.
Another reason for this lack of budget could simple be that the
producers did not have much money. Despite this I do not think the low
budge has affected the quality of the project, and ultimately feel that
Kill Cam live was executed a lot better than TIE was. This is mainly due to
the number of platforms which users given to interact with the project
on.
Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/user/killcamlive2011

8. Interactivity within certain online projects I feel limits
them from being defined as a ‘social film’. This is
because typically films are not interactive, people
simply sit down and watch them. Where as within
online projects such as Kill Cam Live users are given
multiple platforms on which to interact with the
project as a whole. This can be seen in Kill Cam
through the use of multiple social networking sites
such as Facebook an Twitter.
Taken from: http://www.facebook.com/kessaoleary?ref=ts

9. Despite this it could be said that some
films are interactive. An example
would be the 1967 film Kinoautomat
by Radúz Činčera. At multiple points
during the film the action would stop,
and a commentator would appear
on the screen asking the audience to
choose between two scenes. A vote
was then taken and the scene with
the highest votes was then played.
The idea that the audience
themselves could ultimately choose
Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flfBxtpq-PI
the outcome of the film, I believe is
what defines this as a ‘social film’.

10. Online interactive projects are typically carried out in real time.
This means that when the participants are watching or taking
part in something related to the project, it can be said that it is
happening at that same point in time. An example of this in Kill
Cam Live is the live streaming, which like the name suggests,
happens live. These real time aspects of the projects I feel stops
them from being defined as 'social films’, as films are typically set
over a period of time rather than just the few hours that they are
on for.
Taken from: http://killcamlive.com/main.html

11. Despite this it could be interpreted that some aspects of
online interactive projects are similar to that of a film,
the main one of these being the episodes. Take Kill Cam
Live as an example where the episodes are set over one
or multiple days, just like films. The lack of real time in
these episodes means that these could contribute to
online interactive projects being defined as ‘social films’
rather than ‘experiences’.
Although to contradict this, I previously stated that the
episodic nature of the projects helped towards defining
them as a social ‘experience’. This is because films are
not split up in to episodes and are typically watched
straight through.

12. From the ideas I have stated I have come to the
conclusion that online interactive projects such as
Kill Cam Live and The Inside Experience would be
better defined as ‘social experiences’. My main
reason for this is the episodic nature of the
projects, which helps to dismiss the idea that the
projects are film-like, as films are seen in bulk not
in episodes. Another reason for this conclusion is
that I feel the interactivity of the projects means
they cannot be defined as films, as films are
typically not interactive. Finally my last reason for
this conclusion is that the projects are often
carried out in real time, which again films are not.

13.  WIKIPEDIA (2011) Kinoautomat [WWW]. Available
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinoautomat [06/11/11].