R&D Session Two: Ready Player One (2018) & Sword Art Online (2012)

In this weeks session, I will be sharing my thoughts on some media that I have consumed to help me with my Experimental Film. The media that I watched and read over Christmas were:

• Ready Player One

• Sword Art Online

I have previously watched these over the years, but I wanted to examine more closely the details about what makes a synthetic reality more appealing than the reality we currently find ourselves in.

Ready Player One (2018)

Ready Player One is something that appeals to me very much. The idea and premise of an online world, filled with your favourite games, films, T.V Shows, Books and Pop-Culture refences is a paradise that I am sure most people would like the chance to visit.

This take on a synthetic reality is much like The Matrix franchise, however the big difference between the two is that the users of the Oasis (the digital plane, from the movie) can leave at any time. This openness, allows for many people from different walks of life to play and experience the cyber society in a variety of ways.

As someone who is really fascinated with digital spaces, alternative realties and video games, the idea of simply leave the plane of existence you are in to find yourself in a technological programme that can transmute all it characteristics to place in any game, film or book world generated by the game engine.

I wish that technology like this existed, but it also begs the question. In the Matrix they had to fight for their freedom toe experience the real world. However, in Ready Player One Wade and his companions have to fight the corporation trying to monetize and control the Oasis, in order to keep the computerized world from becoming corrupted.

Sword Art Online (2012)

Sword Art Online (SAO) is a really interesting take on the Virtual Reality genre. In this we follow the story of Kirigaya Kazuto, also known by his online alias, Kirito. Kirito, is a young boy who lost his parents and was adopted by his aunt and uncle. As time goes on Kirito becomes a massive fan of gaming and becomes a Beta tester for a new online VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing game) known as Sword Art Online.

When the official release of the game came around users from all around the world donned the NerveGear headsets, these are like Virtual reality headsets but with a more dark and sinister twist. The users of the game get a notification to go and meet the creator of the game, Akihiko Kayaba, who then presents a challenge to the users of SAO.

Defeat all 100 floors of the game and defeat the final boss to win your freedom. He then explains if you die in the process, then your real body will perish due to a safeguard that Akihiko Kayaba had installed. The safeguard allows Kayaba to keep everyone locked within the realm of SAO, however, upon death the NerveGear would send a fatal electrical impulse, killing the user upon reaching 0 health points. The second fail safe is that, if someone tries to tamper with the headset in real life, the same impulse would be emitted killing the trapped individual.

The idea of a fantasy MMORPG reminds of when I used to play World of Warcraft when I was younger, but in that game you had to rely on guilds to help you accomplish anything, when it came to high level bosses and raids especially. So to put all of these users in a digital space, ask them to clear the game without dying and literally, put each others lives in the hands in strangers to have a chance at escaping the digital prison.

The story was interesting to watch and it has inspired a lot for my short experimental film I will be making. The scenes where you see Kirito in the real world, as the years pass his hair gets longer, he is hooked up to medical IV's and his body becomes more and more malnourished. Even though they experience all the delights of the food in SAO, their bodies are slowly wasting away in the real world, meaning that not only is it a struggle to survive in the digital world but your real world persona's existence is slowly rotting away.

Wrapping Up

The idea of a world not of our own, that in a lot of ways mimics our own but has unique quirks and qualities about it, for me at least, seems to be a limitless pool of potential. In some ways it frees your imagination to create something from complete fantasy and make it a reality, through the use of Green/Blue Screens and now the ever versatile Virtual Production set ups.

The tools available to create fantasy realms grow and progress at staggering rates, and as a film maker I find this really exiting! I wonder if there will ever be a point in my life where I will be able to go in and explore one of these worlds I love, like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or even something like the Matrix. I hope that I can, but until next time, thank you for reading!