desktop film

This article aims to consider certain narrative elements in the experience of media users within contemporary screen interfaces.
We will begin with the assumption that the research, visualization, and appropriation of media content of various types (textual, photographic, audiovisual, etc.) necessarily involve the exploration of different environments, in relation to which interfaces define the degree and mode of interaction.
Secondly, we will inquire whether these forms of interaction allow for the emergence of an ongoing narrative based on "topological choices" – not structured a priori but determined moment by moment by the actions performed by the media user. This is a form of narrative that is embodied and situated.
In conclusion, we will analyze how this form of spatialized ongoing narrative is presented in the desktop film "Searching" by Aneesh Chaganty.

Abstract: Desktop film or computer screen film is a film subgenre with all events and actions taking place on a screen of a computer and using the protagonist’s first-person perspective, exemplified by The Den (2013), Open Windows (2014), Unfriended (2014), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), Profile (2018) and Searching (2018). This paper mainly focuses on the desktop films with the theoretical framework of “Media Ecology”, aiming to investigate how the desktop film evolves and interacts with new media, digital technology, while influencing communication and spectatorship. Firstly, this paper discusses the evolution of cinema, which evolves through the interaction, co-existence and convergence with other media, as well as corresponds to the anthropotropic trend. Secondly, this paper investigates the digital media and technology in desktop films. “Desktop films” create cyberspaces and reproduce people’s virtual lives, revealing the influences of media technology, which is considered as a double-edged sword. Thirdly, this paper analyzes how desktop film exerts impacts on cinematic communication, while reshaping the spectatorship and audience’s viewing mechanism. “Desktop films” are suitable to be watched on computer, thus making audiences become active and have more autonomy.

Resumo: Desktop film ou computer screen film são subgêneros do cinema, nos quais todas as ações e eventos se passam na tela de um computador, sob a perspectiva em primeira pessoa do protagonista, como em The Den (2013), Open Windows (2014), Unfinded (2014), Unfinded: Dark Web (2018), Profile (2018) e Searching (2018). Esse trabalho, centrado nos desktop films sob o arcabouço teórico do “Media Ecology”, pretende investigar como o gênero evolui e interage com os novos meios e a tecnologia digital, e ao mesmo tempo influencia a comunicação e o público. Primeiramente, é discutida a evolução do cinema rumo à interação, coexistência e convergência com outros meios, em sua correspondência à tendência antropotrópica. Em seguida, investiga-se os meios digitais e a tecnologia nos desktop films. Os “Desktop Films” criam ciberespaços, reproduzem as vidas virtuais das pessoas e revelam a influência da tecnologia da mídia, o que é considerado uma “faca de dois gumes”. Por fim, o trabalho analisa como o desktop film impacta a comunicação cinematográfica, ao reconfigurar o mecanismo de percepção do público. Consequentemente, ao se ajustarem à exibição na tela do computador, os “Desktop Films” já fazem com que o público se torne ativo e mais autônomo.