Chosen Idea, Research, Analysis of Other Documentary, Mind Maps

 Chosen Idea:

- Why have you picked it?

I picked this idea because I can use my own personal experience with video games to help me write everything i need since i don’t really watch horror movies at all. Also, I couldn’t come up with enough ideas for a horror movies documentary and i think horror movies haven’t really had that big of an impact on society to begin with- it would just be easier for me to make one about video games because of my personal experience and the clear impact video games have had on society.

- How does your idea meet the brief?

It meets the brief because the documentary is supposed to be about the impact of the digital age on modern society and video games are digital, and have had a big impact on society today. I am also supposed to define the culture and talk about my own personal experiences with it, and since i am very active in communities that surround video games and play a lot of video games myself, doing so will be easy for me. Also, i know a lot of other people who like video games and identify with the culture surrounding video games, so i can get different opinions from different people.

Research

• Video games have changed education through the use of new technologies which help teachers and students communicate in new ways through educational games such as brain age.

• (www.forbes.com) In an online poll, over 40% of gamers said video games improved their emotional wellbeing. Over 93% of gamers disagree that video games lead to violence and other anti-social behaviour.

• ^ Around ⅔’s of gamers claim they have met up to 5 friends while playing games and another 37% say they have made even more.

• Video games have inspired fans and even their creators to create conventions and other social events such as Minecon, PAX, or Spiel as well as hundreds of other conventions around the world which may be exclusive to a certain country/region.

• PAX, one of the gaming conventions, was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik because they wanted to attend a show exclusively for gaming. Defining characteristics of the shows include an opening keynote speech from an industry insider, game-culture inspired concerts, panels on game topics, exhibitor booths from both independent and major game developers and publishers, a LAN party multiplayer, tabletop gaming tournaments, and video game free play areas.

Video Games: The Movie Documentary analysis:

• The beginning of the documentary shows off a few pixelated video games with a sound wave for the song playing in front of them- the sound wave consists of a bright blue and red and is (kind of) glowing- it’s very eye-catching.

• The red wave disappeared when the screen behind it turned black and the blue line closed in while a flatlining sound plays and a man begins talking.

• Footage from decades ago- an age where video games didn’t exist- are being shown to show how society looked without them.

• The footage also consists of different “electronic amusements”.

• After that, the title of the documentary is shown in a pixelated form, which then moves on to show more footage of different video games from old to new.

• While this footage is being shown, credits are being shown, for example: Written and produced by (NAME). This goes on for about 2 minutes.

• After the intro, we are greeted with Will Wheaton who goes on to tell the audience why he loves video games and how he feels when he plays them.

• Max Landis, another person who is being interviewed, notes that “video games root deeper and deeper into everything we’re doing until they’re just a part of our lives in a way that we don’t even notice”.

• Hideo Kojima, who is a very well known video game designer, director, producer and writer was also featured as a guest who was interviewed for this documentary. He worked on Death Stranding, P.T, Metal Gear Solid, etc.

• He notes that video games will always be a part of our culture, and that from 200 years from now video games will still exist.

• After, stats are given to show the average amount of years an average gamer has played, as well as what percentage of households in the USA own a game console. More stats on a variety of things surrounding video games are given.

• The stats are given in a way which is very eye-catching to the audience and consists of 2 colours, a dark blue which is almost black, and a bright glowing neon blue. The combination of these colours means that your eyes are drawn to the bright colour.