You can accomplish a myriad of tasks with IVR technology: Rapidly route thousands of phone calls in a given day, provide automated self-service 24/7, and scare the crap out of yourself at the movies.
13th street, a film company that developed the movie Last Call, has created what is dubbed "the first interactive horror movie" by bloggers and industry observers alike. Using voice recognition technology and a cell phone, an audience member watching Last Call can determine the outcome of the film by speaking commands to the actor. Engaging the viewer in an unprecedented way, the interactive film uses IVR to enable the audience to tell the actor to "Run away!" or "Turn left!" or "Don't open that door!" just as movie-goers have been, out loud and without phones, for generations.
With a motto that states, "Viewers are encouraged to use their own powers of observation to solve the crime, at the same time as the sleuth they see on screen," 13th street's use of IVR technology in film comes as no surprise to fans of the network.
Reminiscent of "pick your own ending" thriller novels (how quaint!), the movie employs IVR technology on an innovative level. The audience member watches Last Call while on the phone allowing her or him to hear the actor's breathing and all sound in intense detail. In the middle of the film, the actor dials a phone number that has been entered into a database by the audience members, and the viewer is able to give the actor direction.
According to Gizmodo, when the viewer speaks, "voice recognition software listens for the moviegoer's commands, and the story unfolds based on their instructions." As the movie is obviously prerecorded, the audience member can utter certain commands, but not others, so "exhortations for the main character to take off her clothes will likely go unfulfilled."
Such a worry plagues the interactive film's followers as fans decry the motives of a younger audience such as, "too many 13 year old monkeys in theaters thinking that telling the character to eat a banana instead of providing direction is hilarious," criticizes one blogger.
Regardless of tangential comments from the public, awe and amazement reign supreme as the audience is completely absorbed by its power to determine a movie's ending through a cell phone. See the trailer for Last Call here.
Juliana Kenny is a TMCnet reporter and editor. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Juliana Kenny