When I first heard that George Miller is working on a fourth Mad Max film, titled “Fury Road,” my first thought was, “Awesome.” When I learned that Miller was teaming up with God of War II director Cory Barlog to produce a Mad Max game for concurrent release with the film, I thought, “Even better.”
Prominent filmmakers, including Miller and Steven Spielberg, are flocking to the game industry, where cinematic products are becoming increasingly viable.
In a two part interview with Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal, Miller talked about his attraction to games.
“I realized that the kind of filmmaker that I am, I unconsciously try to make films that are as immersive as possible,” said Miller. “My cutting patterns and compositions try to exaggerate–well, not exaggerate, but try to enhance a kind of three-dimensionality and an immersive quality to my storytelling. That of course is what games do so well.”
Miller sees games as a more open way to explore a narrative. “Film is a pretty closed narrative–it moves along at 24 frames a second, it’s extremely linear, and in that sense rigid, whereas games bust that open. So in a way, with games being more exploratory, it’s closer to what a novelist can do in many way,” he said.
“It’s just another way to tell stories,” added Miller. “If you’re much more interested in games than movies, then you might enter the story through the game. Or you might enter the story through the film and move towards the game. It’s still the same story. It’s still the same characters. It’s still the same world. It’s just that you can approach the characters and the world from different angles.”
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