Dan Walsh

Is it feasible to develop Heavy Rain into a Feature Film?

Fantasy, Fandom& Franchise

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.

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.

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, MHollywood 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

1. In your opinion, would heavy rain work as a

feature film?

YesNo

*Based on results of 10 surveys

2. Which character would you be most interested in seeing feature more if the

game was adapted?

Ethan MarsScott ShelbyMadison PaigeNorman Jayden

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?

YesNo

4. Would a big named Hollywood star or director encourage you to see this

film more, or less?

MoreLess

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?

Collective Knowledge:Information from the established fansIn 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.

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.

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.

Example of a possible ‘star’ casting of an actor based on loose appearance and approximate

age in comparison to the character…

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.

Purpose of the filmI 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.

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 .

Treatment part one.

Treatment part two.

Beginning of film synopsis

Examples of the film noir aesthetic

TRAILER EXAMPLEhttp://youtu.be/w2S40gXwyz

BibliographyBooksHollywood Gamers - Brookey, R (2010)Convergence Culture - Jenkins, H (2006)Interactive Storytelling for Video Games - Lebowitz, J Klug, C (2011) pgs. 197-201JournalsComputer 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=C2716FEBFA981EF16CA34AD44146F37F722EA99A65CDF6F3&CFID=205942228&CFTOKEN=42731683&__acm__=1366223272_eed985fb063268812b810559bbb432f7

(last accessed 17/04/13)

Websiteshttp://heavyrain.wikia.com/wiki/Heavy_Rain_Wikihttp://youtu.be/w2S40gXwyz

(last accessed 17/04/13)