Coming Soon

Or: The Library of Options

Some future media either from the suggestion form or the backlog!

» Slideshow Shenanigans

IMGD student presentations, playing with the affordances of slideshows (like animations, visual gags, hierarchy of layout design...)--real academic work, comedic work, animated shorts, all welcome!

» Student Film Shenanigans

IMGD student films of all kinds welcome! Animations, playthroughs, short films, long films--the place to see student work on a BIG SCREEN, show off, and playtest for an audience

» Dropout

More episodes of Game Changer beyond "Escape the Greenroom" (particularly: "Count the Rice"); episodes from the liveplay Parlor Room; episodes from Dimension 20

» Staged

Series 1, BBC lockdown art via the joy of Zoom

» Crystal Maze

Any number of episodes demonstrating that the BBC has been doing escape room liveplays for longer than any of us

» Jenny Nicholson

Any of her theme park reviews, but mostly "The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel"

» Saturday Night

The largely inaccurate but not without merit movie about the first live episode of SNL

» Black Mirror

One of the episodes about what someone's willing to do for fame or existence oh so all of them then

» How TV Ruined Your Life

Charlie Brooker and a very UK idea of television history

» GamesWipe

Charlie Brooker and a very UK idea of the history and basics of video games (circa 2012 or so)

» Silent Movie Night

Anything: Buster Keaton, Nosferatu, Charlie Chaplin--let's go. Stretch goal: Live musical accompaniment, a'la immersive film experiences of yore

» Labyrinth

Influential media, Muppets, David Bowie

» MTV Night

As much of the history of music video as we can cram into one evening, via different top videos over the decades

» It Happened One Night

Influential media from the pre-Hays Code era

» Jetlag

Any number of episodes of the travel game, but the horrors of the New Zealand trip are pretty great

» The Truman Show

Influential media from the pre-social media era

» Pleasantville

Fun with meaningful special effects

» Streets of Fire

When even bad art can become a good influence

» Twelfth Night (ASL)

The ASL production of Twelfth Night (though it would require access to a DVD player)

» The Wicker Man (1973)

Influential media, possibly paired with "The Wicker Man Enigma" to discuss the making-of and lost media

» Shudder documentaries

Of which there are any number that would be fantastic: the ones about particular decades, or about folk horror, Black horror, queer horror, women in horror, Japanese horror...

» Back to the Future

Preferably all three, but the first one alone for the pure mechanics of the screenwriting and set design

» Almost Famous

Industry narrative, surprisingly accurate in the strangest of places

» Ghostbusters

Influential media and also a very nice use of practical effects

» The Menu

Previously a recommended film for IMGD 5300

» Escape the Kitchen

Any of the episodes from 2ndTry

» Russian Ark

A commitment, but a worthy one

» Squid Game

Let's make a game! Not like that

» A Futile and Stupid Gesture

The largely inaccurate but not without merit movie about the rise and fall of National Lampoon

» Unraveled

Any number of Brian David Gilbert's videos for Polygon would be excellent, particularly "I read all 337 books in Skyrim so you don't have to", "I fixed Fallout's music by creating a totally new genre", "I used The Sims to perfect my apartment", and "Kirby"

» Anthony Bourdain

Pick one. Pick them all. Useful to demonstrate alternate ways of storytelling, ethnography, and arts-based research

» The Trip (2010)

Both an industry narrative and an interesting edit from food-review television show to film

» Tales of the Green Valley

Performative research; a BBC show with archaeologists spending a year reconstructing an Early Modern farm and living on it

» Ford vs Ferrari

A very practical film for demonstrating playtesting/iteration, mitigation, affordances, experience design, and dealing with producer requests

» The Warriors

Because otherwise how will they know where "Come out to plaaaay-ayyyyy" came from

» Mythic Quest

Much of it is very inaccurate, but the interstitial "A Dark Quiet Death" episode is not without merit

» Community

Any number of episodes, but particularly the first paintball one would be of interest

» Down the Rabbit Hole

Any number of episodes, but in particular the one about the history of EVE Online

» Don't Think Twice

Industry narrative about working improv comedians and the temptation of an SNL-like career jump for one of them

» Leverage

Any number of episodes, but particularly any that demonstrate how to create quick verisimilitude for unsuspecting audiences

» Adult Swim's "Infomercials"

A selection of the stealth horror / horror comedy / late-night-experiment short films from Adult Swim: "Too Many Cooks", "Unedited Footage of a Bear", "This House Has People in It", and "Yule Log". As a playlist extra, CZsWorld's "The History of Adult Swim's Creepy 4AM Infomercials"

» The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Wes Anderson is a very Particular kind of artist and this is a very Excellent demonstration of his style at work. Could potentially move to the "Short Film Night" category. Also useful as a discussion of performance and audience

» Class Action Park

Let's make a theme park! Not like that

» Rashomon

Influential media of the highest order

» Sorry to Bother You

Black horror, science fiction, and literal performativity

» Gaslight

Again: Influential media of the highest order

» Documentary Now!

Any number of episodes, if only as a demonstration of style, but "Juan Likes Rice and Chicken" may have a useful message for IMGD students as well

» Ghost Show

I don't know how we'd really do it, but I desperately want to do an old-style "ghost show," a mix of B-movie horror, magic show, and blackout scares

» The Studio

Industry narrative: Hollywood! Pick an episode

» Frank and Ollie

Documentary about Disney animation and the power of collaboration, yoink

» Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

A parody of horror television from the early '90s, the conceit being that it was unfairly canceled and is now being reaired with behind-the-scenes commentary. This goes under the "Examples of Weird Art in the Wild" category of IMGD Media Night showings

» Comrade Detective

More "Weird Art in the Wild": A fake Soviet bloc buddy cop show, set in a gritty 1980s Romania and cartoonishly promoting Communist Party ideals, that is "rediscovered" by Channing Tatum and questionably dubbed into English by a host of well-known American actors and comedians. Again, grounded in real storytelling, and the real BTS is fascinating

» Candyman (1992)

Cult-classic urban legend horror that seems to accidentally fall into a fascinating story of racism in America

» Candyman (2021)

A direct sequel of the original that takes the racism narrative and centers it, examines it, and ultimately ties it back into the original story's themes of the power of storytelling

» Emesis Blue

Faculty request! Built in Source Filmmaker, suggested keywords are alternate storytelling tools, game-based media, influential media, storytelling, non-linear narrative, spooky scary, and very critiqueable

» American Vandal

A satire on the serialized true-crime documentary, set in a high school. An excellent example of satirizing a style while grounding it in real storytelling