Recent technological innovations fundamentally challenge traditional cinematic and television forms. Interactive video in mobile devices, virtual and augmented technologies undermine “passive spectatorship” of the cinematic narrative.

The course will explore the boundaries between cinema and movies on the one hand and gaming on the other. It will investigate the basic psychological characteristics of cinematic spectatorship and gaming state in experiential and cognitive terms. What forms of hybrid game-cinema can succeed and fail in light of the relevant psychological confines?

These issues will be examined from different perspectives, but with a focus on cognitive and neuroscientific theories. First, we will discuss mind-game movies by David Fincher, Lars Von Trier, and Christopher Nolan. A central issue would be the difference between the ways in which movies and games emotionally engage the spectator/ gamer and creates empathy, identification and agency. Artworks having both gaming and cinematic/television versions such as Game-movies such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Heavy Rain, Game of Thrones will be analyzed in specific. Finally, we will examine motion pictures and gaming as aparati, which can capture individual motivation systems and produce alternative realms of significance.