"Remediation" is a word coined by Bolter and Grusin in 2000, specifically, as, "The representation of one media in another". They also argued that it was a defining characteristic of new media (think internet, "hybrid" media such as interactive movies, etc) They also argue that it is already widespread. And they said this back in 2000, as well.
Remediation manifests in several ways, not only through one using the tropes of the other, but also simply from say, a film involving a video game in its plot, or a film being a direct adaptation of a game, or even one medium being a critique of another. This example is Run Lola Run, a film using video game tropes in its story.
NOTE: Spoilers follow
So, on the whole I enjoyed the film- from the bizarre opening sequence I thought "art film", and this is usually a bad thing, but I kept my mind open because even if it was trying to be needlessly arty, there's no reason I might not enjoy it if I gave it the chance. After a while, the insane artsyness actually started to be really cool. It made a really mundane setting really interesting by virtue of a tense plot and a lot of seemingly pointless, yet cool effects punctuating it to highlight various things. I came to realise the film wasn't being arty just for the sake of it, but it was merely doing these things because it could. If so, I admire the film makers for not sticking to convention. The film came out in 1998, so it's actually a pretty early remediated film example (in terms of video game history)
The plot involves Lola, as the protagonist, having to raise 100,000 deutschmarks before the stroke of midday, in order to save her boyfriend, Manni. I'll go into more detail on the plot's complexities, and possibly the most important detail that seperates it from most other films now, in the form of a list because it's easier.
Once again, Heavy spoiler warning:
The film is split into three episodes. When either Lola or Manni dies, the story "resets" back to a scene early on when Lola puts the phone down on Manni after he has told her the situation (needing to raise the money). It was a complete surprise the first time, with no indication the characters had multiple lives. After the second time, however, I found myself planning Lola's strategy through the day differently to avoid things going wrong. This is probably the most instantly game-like thing the film did. Why did it do it? I'm going to go with "simply because it could"
Setpieces- Over the course of the day, several setpieces get in the way of Lola and Manni, and are tackled somewhat differently every time. It reminded me of role playing strategy games such as Deus Ex, where you are given a set of setpieces and basically told to tackle it any way you want, so long as you achieve your end goal. The end goal was in place (raising the money), and Lola's strategy varied with each try. For instance, she has to run to her father's office at the bank first and ask him for money. She has to get the money before 12 O clock because Manni swears to himself that if she doesn't show up by then, he will rob the nearby store and get the money himself.
On the first try, she fails to get the money, and the two of them rob the store together, and Lola dies. The second try, she gets the money by forcing her Father at gunpoint, but Manni is hit by a truck and killed. The third try, she fails to get the money, but wins it at a Casino instead. Along the way, there are several other characters she bumps into, and when she does, it gives a quick summary of where thier lives went thereafter in the form of photos- on the first try, everything goes badly for these people, and on the third it goes well. There are many other setpieces on her quest, but you get the idea.
Lola's colour scheme and silhouette is iconic and unique- this is not necessarily a video game thing, obviously, since many film characters and game characters are iconic, but often video game characters (this is not always the case) are designed to be iconic in a certain way, often by both standing out from everyone else in terms of colour scheme, and also by being a unique shape. Team Fortress 2 used this method to make each class stand out (Mitchell, 2008). Lola has red, messy hair that is a different shape to every other character, who is mostly very average looking. Manni is also different looking, with a smaller, blonde haircut. Once the film was going, I managed to relate each character really easily, which is often a tool used in video games. (I wasn't going to include this point at first, but now I've written it I think it counts)
Minigames and asides take place- the film goes into asides from the main story often, which give the feeling of minigames, such as the scene in the casino, which is stretched to a full length scene, wheras in most films it would just be skipped over, and the animated sequences, some of which were surprisingly lengthy.
Characters in the film have detectable "player character" or "npc" roles. The camera follows Lola and, sometimes, Manni, when they have an action scene, rather than using angles. NPC dialogue scenes, such as the scenes with Lola's father, and people on the street, use regular film angles, wheras the camera chasing after Lola, one of the most memorable images in the film, feels like it is a videogame.
Other good examples of Remediation I want to add to the end of this, are Crank (2006), which featured a HUD, first person perspective, amoung other video game tropes, presented in the most comically over-the-top fashion I've seen in a film, and webcomic MS Paint Adventures (2009-Ongoing)- it's not usual I talk about a webcomic as an example, but this webcomic features both game mechanics such as an inventory, levelling up, and even interactivity as readers poll on what action the characters should take next after every update, as well as fully interactive flash minigames when they are required. The last example is Scott Pilgrim, where the main character has a score and can level up, in both the comic, and the film based on it.
Bibliography
Mitchell, J., 2008. Stylization with a purpose: The illustrative world of Team Fortress 2. [online] Valve Software: http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2008/GDC2008_StylizationWithAPurpose_TF2.pdf (accessed 4th May 2011)
Bolter, J., Grusin, R., 2000. Remediation: Understanding New Media. MIT Press
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