Movie mania

Have you ever watched a movie and thought to yourself, "I know what would make this so much better!"? Well, researchers at an Australian university may have given you your chance to actually make it better. They have created a new form of cinema that allows the average moviegoer to create their own movies in real time. The participant positions himself in a stand which is in the middle of a 360 degree screen. Then hundreds of individual video clips are projected onto the screen and the person chooses which clips to splice together to create their own specialized movie.

While this may seem like a revolutionary technology aimed at giving the viewer their own highly specialized interactive form of entertainment, it is in fact lagging behind in the race for individualized technologies like RSS feeds and customizable homepages. While Hollywood is struggling with quality, this may be their low-budget saving grace. Why heck, if they can't put out a movie anyone likes then why not just let them do it themselves. It's like a choose your own adventure novel without all those big words!

I predict that it would not be hard to please the average American audience member. Here is a failsafe equation for the researchers creating the clips: 1 semi loaded with jet fuel + 1 half dead hero and a flare gun + 10 men dressed in black on top of the semi shooting at the half dead hero = a pleased audience member pumping their fist and shouting, "Didja see that!"

John LaRue
columnist