This interactive film, a variation on the surrealist game Cadavre
Exquis, seeks the possibility of subverting the filmic discourse by
exploring psychosomatic processes that may give the viewer
different perceptions of cinematic time, by providing the
possibility of intervening into the narrative in a disruptive way.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Araújo, António Bandeira

Costa, Susana

Mendes Da Silva, Bruno

Tavares, Mirian

English

Crossref

Cadavre Exquis

Universidade do Algarve

Cadavre Exquis  
A Motion-Controlled Interactive Film 
Bruno Mendes da Silva 
CIAC/UAlg 
 Portugal 
bsilva@ualg.pt 
 
António Bandeira 
Araújo 
 CIAC/UAb 
 Portugal 
antonio.araujo@uab.pt 
 
Mirian Tavares 
CIAC/UAlg 
 Portugal 
 mtavar@ualg.pt 
 
 
Susana Costa 
CIAC/UAlg 
Portugal 
srsilva@ualg.pt 
 
	
ABSTRACT 
This interactive film, a variation on the surrealist game Cadavre 
Exquis, seeks the possibility of subverting the filmic discourse by 
exploring psychosomatic processes that may give the viewer 
different perceptions of cinematic time, by providing the 
possibility of intervening into the narrative in a disruptive way. 
CCS CONCEPTS 
• Media Arts  
KEYWORDS 
Interactive Film, Time, Cadavre Exquis 
ACM Reference format: 
Silva Bruno, Araujo António, Tavares Mirian e Costa Susana. 
2019. Cadavre Exquis - A Motion-Controlled Interactive Film. In 
Proceedings of Artech 2019, 9th International Conference on 
Digital and Interactive Arts (Artech 2019). Braga, Portugal, XX 
pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359852.3359933 
1 Introduction  
The film Cadavre Exquis is part of the project The Forking Paths, 
which is available in an online platform 
(oscaminhosquesebifurcam.ciac.pt) dedicated to interactive film 
experiments. In addition to other experiments, the platform 
includes the films produced for the project: Valsa (2016), The 
Book of the Dead (2015) and Haze  (2014). The aim of this project 
is to conduct an original research targeting the discovery of 
potential new knowledge, namely through practice and through 
the results of this practice. The Forking Paths platform intends to 
bring together experimental interactive films of different origins, 
genres and formats that seek to develop innovative connections 
between the spectator-user and the narrative. Ultimately, this 
project, in particular the interactive film Cadavre Exquis, seeks 
for clues that may lead to possible paths within the evolution of 
audiovisual language. 
2 Interactive models Claiming	the	title	of	“the	/irst	interactive	/ilm”	in	the	history	of	interactive	 *ilm	 and	 one	 of	 the	 most	 successful	 is	 the	Czechoslovakian	 /ilm	 Kinoautomat	 –	 one	man	 and	 his	 house,	created	 in	 1967	 by	 Radúz	 Činčera,	 for	 the	 World	 Expo	 in	Montreal.	 In	 this	 /ilm,	 the	 audience	 is	 asked	 (nine	 times)	 to	choose	one	of	two	given	possibilities	to	continue	the	narrative.	At	 the	 &irst	 screening	 in	Montreal,	 the	 process	 of	 choice	was	mediated	 by	 an	 actor.	 Dozens	 of	 interactive	 4ilms	 have	 been	made	 since	 than	 and	 we	 +ind	 the	 need	 to classify all those 
experiences. Therefore, we tried to find a set of models capable of 
including all interactive films: (a) the arborescent model, based on 
a simple one-off choice made at certain moments in the narrative, 
where the viewer can choose paths A or B, for which we may use 
the film Last Call as an example; (b) the constructive model, 
which involves multiple interpretation, according to the options 
offered by the project, where we can include the experimental 
film Haze; (c) the paired model, which allows the incorporation of 
content external to the narrative, as in the film Take This Lollipop; 
and (d) the fertile model, whose process of interaction between 
spectator and film entails the creation of new content, although 
such a film does not yet exist.  
WOODSTOCK’18, June, 2018, El Paso, Texas USA F. Surname et al. 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1: Movie Poster  
3 Time 
A key issue in this project is time: time in cinema. As theoretical 
basis, the notions of movement-image, time-image and crystal-
image, proposed by Deleuze, serve as structural basis for this 
work. By appealing to viewer immersion, they cause a reaction 
contrary to the usual passive-submissive reaction. According to 
Deleuze [2], the sensory-motor sensations, indirect representations 
of time, tend to be replaced by exclusively visual and audible 
conjunctures, namely the opsign 1  and the sonsign 2 , direct 
representations of time.  
4 Cadavre Exquis 
Three scriptwriters were invited to create three narratives based 
on a character who, at the end of the narrative (24 hours later, at 
most), would meet two other characters in a room. The scripts 
would form a succession of sub-narratives which, just as in the 
Cadavre Exquis game, converge in the main narrative, eventually 
ending up in a succession of unlikely scenes. A common opening 
scene was added: the scene of the three characters in the same 
room. The sequencing of ideas in the film does not obey a 
discursive logic, presenting itself as “une construction où on 
n’emploierait ni joints ni ciment”[1]. Meaning and syntax diverge 
                                                                  
1 Purely optical description, where the spectator (the one who watches) 
replaces the protagonist (the one who acts).  
2 Purely auditory description, the same principle of opsign. 
often, causing a rupture in speech, which is amplified even more 
by the very particular use of punctuation, to the extent of utterly 
suppressing it in certain parts. The opening scene of the film 
Cadavre Exquis is frozen (stopped in time). Three characters meet 
in the same room. However, the viewer has the possibility to 
travel	through the freeze-frame, getting closer to or moving away 
from each character. 
When the viewer	 gets closer to a character he/she may select 
him/her. That choice results in a flashback, at most 24 hours, 
which leads up to the frozen moment. By choosing the last 
character the viewer will unfreeze the opening scene, setting it in 
motion. Barry Dainton [3] summarizes the different proposals of 
the structure of temporal consciousness into three models: 
Retentional Model, Extensional Model and Cinematic Model. In 
the Retentional Model, the experience of change and succession 
occurs in episodes of consciousness, whose contents represent 
temporally extended intervals, despite the lack of temporal 
extension. These episodes have a complex structure and comprise 
the momentary phases of immediate experience as well as the 
retentions of the recent past. The streams of consciousness are 
thus composed of successions of these momentary states. In the 
Extensional Model, the episodes are themselves temporarily 
extended and are able to incorporate changes. The streams of 
consciousness are composed of successive episodes of extended 
experience. Finally, in the Cinematic Model, immediate 
perception lacks any temporal extension. The same applies to the 
contents we are directly conscious of, which somehow resemble 
photograms. The stream of consciousness is thus composed of a 
continuous succession of momentary states of consciousness, 
hence resembling films that consist of frame sequences. The idea 
of a freeze-frame (of the opening scene) is just that: a frame with 
no sequence. However, in the film (Cadavre Exquis) the viewer 
can travel through the photogram, giving it a sequence: a 
possibility of a past and a future, or better, a possibility of new 
present frames taking place after or before the initial photogram. 
The aim is to achieve a relaxation and a reconstruction of the idea 
of time in cinema, where the relation between space and time is 
overruled by an eminently oneiric temporal dimension. 
 
 
Figure 2: Frame from the interactive film Cadavre Exquis 
5 Description of the Installation 
One room, three characters motionless! How and why they got there?
Interact with the narrative to find out!
Siun Chong
Vítor Reia Batista
Joana Miranda
Tomé Palla
Inês Rosa
Jonalyn Lanosa
Lam Chi Hong
Andy Gheong Leong
Ethan Sien
James Botonez
Executive Producer Maria Paula Monteiro / Cinematographer Rui António \ Boom and Lighting Rodrigo Guimarães
Producer Assistant Ethan Sien / Costume and Make up Joana Miranda \ Scripts Vitor Reia Batista, Mirian Tavares and Rui António
Graphic Design Gabriela Soares \ Coding Mehmet Fatih and Juan Loza / Coding  Supervisor Pedro Alves da Veiga \ Subtitling Daniela Graça
production
Maria Paula Monteiro
presents
an interactive film by
Bruno Mendes da Silva 
Faculty of 
Creative Industries
Insert Your Title Here WOODSTOCK’18, June, 2018, El Paso, Texas USA 
 
 
 
The installation requires of a computer, a Kinect sensor, a 
computer screen, a stand with printed signage, a table. The screen 
lies on the table, and in front of it lies the sensor, near the edge of 
the table. The technical ensemble is made discrete by a black cloth 
that blends with the sensor and hides the computer, under the table 
(Figure 3). The ensemble is to be experienced by a single user at a 
time, so it must be enclosed in a space where the sensor will 
ignore the presence of other people. Ideally it should be enclosed 
on a square of between 2m and 3m side length, depending on the 
size of the screen itself. For instance, the first version of the 
installation, displayed in the 2019 Literary Festival of Macau, was 
contained inside a square tent of 2m side length (that itself appears 
in a scene of the film), and the screen measured about 1m by 
1,05m. For the present installation, if it is to be on a shared room, 
a corner of a room would be the ideal spot for avoiding sensor 
disturbances; ideally then, the ensemble sits at a corner of a room 
defining an enclosed square, of between 2m and 3m side length, 
walls defining two sides, the table defining a third side, and the 
user entering the confined space by the fourth side, lateral to the 
sensor (Figure 3). At this “entrance” stands printed signage that 
explains the interaction with the sensor (Figure 4). As users cue to 
enter, they can take a moment to become familiar with it.   
 
Figure 3: Plan view of the installation. 
 
Figure 4: Signage of the Macau installation. 
It shows pictures of the following motions: 
 
1. Right hand swipes left: pan camera to the left  
2. Left hand swipes right: pan camera to the right 
3. Right hand held up: Select character 
4. Cross hand above head: Fast Forward 
5. Left hand held up: Reset 
 
As the user enters the space in front of the sensor, he is greeted on 
the screen by a short film: a panning motion that shows on the 
screen the view of a room on which three seated characters can be 
seen. As the user takes his place at the center of the square 
(marked on the ground with tape), he can experiment with the 
motions learned from the signage. He will find that the swiping 
arm motions control the panning motion of the film. Swiping left 
or right puts the user in the director’s place, controlling and 
altering a panning shot, and thus centering the view on any of the 
three characters in the room. Raising his right hand, the user will 
trigger the short film of whatever character is currently in focus.  
Once the short film is playing, the user may simply watch it, or 
fast forward through it by crossing hands above his head. For two 
of the three characters, as the short film ends, the user will find 
himself back in the room, focusing on the chosen character, and 
able to choose another by panning again. When the third character 
is chosen, however, the film’s ending will trigger a change in the 
very room that holds the characters. The user will return to a 
sweeping view of the room, in which he will glimpse that the third 
character is now gone from his chair, replaced by a new one. This 
new character carries his own associated short film, that provides 
a concluding note to the experience.    
6 Technical Implementation 
The program that controls the interactive film was developed in 
Processing [4], an open-source graphical library and integrated 
development environment for the Java programming language, 
well-known among digital artists. The main form of user input 
was body motion, detected through a Microsoft Kinect, and this 
was programmed through the KinectPV2 (Kinect for windows v2) 
Processing library [5].  The Microsoft Kinect is a motion sensing 
input device produced by Microsoft, originally designed as a 
gaming input device. We used the 2013 Kinect for Xbox 360 
version with a PC adapter. This version can capture video at 
1080p, has an IR sensor, and can track the motion of up to 6 users, 
with 25 joints tracked per skeleton. Kinect can make heavy 
demands on the hardware requirements (it needs a USB 3.0 
interface and a fast CPU/GPU) but we designed the program to 
ask for as little processing power as possible. To this end, motion 
detection was kept to the simplest and most robust – this was not 
only inspired by technical needs but from a sense of pleasure in 
misdirection. The user is led by the printed signage to think that 
his whole swiping hand movement is being followed but in fact 
detection only happens upon a single static condition: for instance, 
in motion 1 (right hand swipes left) the only test actually 
WOODSTOCK’18, June, 2018, El Paso, Texas USA F. Surname et al. 
 
 
 
performed is whether the left hand is to the left of the left hip. 
This is a static condition, tested at the easiest moment of the 
swipe, as the pendulum motion of the arm reaches the top and 
stops for a split second; and yet the user is led to feel by his brief 
instruction – which is important for the fruition of the experience 
– that the whole sweeping motion is an integral part of the 
process. Such acts of misdirection, although initially done for 
technical reasons (weak hardware) soon became a point of interest 
for our research, and it was with great interest that we observed 
first that the misdirection almost always worked, but also what 
interesting inventions users came up with in the few cases where 
they detected the ruse, and proceeded to experiment with the 
motions, trying to reverse engineer the hidden workings.   
  
6.1  Software Implementation – a Finite State 
machine 
The computer program that controls the interactive film is 
implemented as a finite state machine [6]. At each moment the 
program it at one of several predefined states, and it transitions 
from one of those states to another depending on the result of a 
number of tests, by querying either system variables or user input: 
for instance State 0 is the state where the camera gives the original 
overview of the room. This is a mini-film in itself, during which 
interaction is unavailable. The state terminates when the film 
reaches its end, and then the finite state machine transitions to 
state R1C1 (meaning Room1 Character 1), where the camera is 
fixed on the first character in the initial room (or rather in the 
initial moment of the room, the second moment being when the 
third character has been replaced). This state gives access to state 
R1C1_to_R1C2 (if the user raises swipes the right hand), in which 
we see the panning movement to character 2, or to state 
PlayR1C1, where the user watches the short film of character 2. 
These states in turn have their own tests that lead to other states, 
and so forth.  
 
Figure 5: Early sketch of the finite state machine controlling 
Cadavre Exquis 
7 Material Requirements 
The authors will supply the computer and the Kinect sensor. The 
spatial requirements are a square space, of between 2m and 3m 
size at a corner of a room. It would be helpful if a table could be 
provided by the organizers, together with a screen of about 1m by 
1,05m. These requirements can be adapted to accord with 
circumstance.  
8 Conclusions 
Cadavre Exquis seeks a certain evolutionary trend regarding 
audio-visual language. Although the morphological issues remain 
unchanged, we found signs that appear to indicate a possible 
evolution within the audio-visual syntax, such as the fragmenting 
of the unity of time and space. It is important to remember the role 
of the viewer, who not only becomes an active part in the 
narrative but can also undertake the task of co-authoring. It is also 
necessary to underline the importance of academic 
experimentation, which should, whenever possible, go beyong 
theorizing and involve a praxis through a demonstration of the 
developed theories. Within the scope of the models found 
(arborescent model, constructive model, paired model and fertile 
model), the possibility of generating new content (fertile model) 
through the interaction man-machine is regarded as the most 
likely possibility of rupture and the development of a new 
generation of interactive movies. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
CIAC, Art8, UALG, UAb, USJ, Instituto Cultural de Macau, 
Fundação Oriente, Fundação Macau, Inner Harbor Films, The 
Script Road Fest and FICLO.  
 [1]	 Breton,	André.	1972.	Manifestes	du	surréalisme.	Paris,	Gallimard.		[2]	 Deleuze,	Gilles.	1990.	A	Imagem-Tempo.	São	Paulo,	Brasiliense.	[3]				Dainton,	Barry.	2010.	Time&Space.	NY,	Routledge.	 	[4]		 Processing.	https://processing.org/ (last accessed June 2019)			[5]	 KinectPV2	 library.	 https://github.com/ThomasLengeling/KinectPV2 (last 
accessed June 2019) [6]	Rich,	Elaine	A.	2007.	Automata,	Computability	and	Complexity:	Theory	and	Applications.	NJ,	Pearson	Prentice-Hall.	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Cadavre Exquis: motion-controlled interactive film

Sapientia (Univ. do Algarve)

Cadavre Exquis  A Motion-Controlled Interactive Film Bruno Mendes da Silva CIAC/UAlg  Portugal bsilva@ualg.pt  António Bandeira Araújo  CIAC/UAb  Portugal antonio.araujo@uab.pt  Mirian Tavares CIAC/UAlg  Portugal  mtavar@ualg.pt   Susana Costa CIAC/UAlg Portugal srsilva@ualg.pt  	ABSTRACT This interactive film, a variation on the surrealist game Cadavre Exquis, seeks the possibility of subverting the filmic discourse by exploring psychosomatic processes that may give the viewer different perceptions of cinematic time, by providing the possibility of intervening into the narrative in a disruptive way. CCS CONCEPTS • Media Arts  KEYWORDS Interactive Film, Time, Cadavre Exquis ACM Reference format: Silva Bruno, Araujo António, Tavares Mirian e Costa Susana. 2019. Cadavre Exquis - A Motion-Controlled Interactive Film. In Proceedings of Artech 2019, 9th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts (Artech 2019). Braga, Portugal, XX pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359852.3359933 1 Introduction  The film Cadavre Exquis is part of the project The Forking Paths, which is available in an online platform (oscaminhosquesebifurcam.ciac.pt) dedicated to interactive film experiments. In addition to other experiments, the platform includes the films produced for the project: Valsa (2016), The Book of the Dead (2015) and Haze  (2014). The aim of this project is to conduct an original research targeting the discovery of potential new knowledge, namely through practice and through the results of this practice. The Forking Paths platform intends to bring together experimental interactive films of different origins, genres and formats that seek to develop innovative connections between the spectator-user and the narrative. Ultimately, this project, in particular the interactive film Cadavre Exquis, seeks for clues that may lead to possible paths within the evolution of audiovisual language. 2 Interactive models Claiming	the	title	of	“the	/irst	interactive	/ilm”	in	the	history	of	interactive	 *ilm	 and	 one	 of	 the	 most	 successful	 is	 the	Czechoslovakian	 /ilm	 Kinoautomat	 –	 one	man	 and	 his	 house,	created	 in	 1967	 by	 Radúz	 Činčera,	 for	 the	 World	 Expo	 in	Montreal.	 In	 this	 /ilm,	 the	 audience	 is	 asked	 (nine	 times)	 to	choose	one	of	two	given	possibilities	to	continue	the	narrative.	At	 the	 &irst	 screening	 in	Montreal,	 the	 process	 of	 choice	was	mediated	 by	 an	 actor.	 Dozens	 of	 interactive	 4ilms	 have	 been	made	 since	 than	 and	 we	 +ind	 the	 need	 to classify all those experiences. Therefore, we tried to find a set of models capable of including all interactive films: (a) the arborescent model, based on a simple one-off choice made at certain moments in the narrative, where the viewer can choose paths A or B, for which we may use the film Last Call as an example; (b) the constructive model, which involves multiple interpretation, according to the options offered by the project, where we can include the experimental film Haze; (c) the paired model, which allows the incorporation of content external to the narrative, as in the film Take This Lollipop; and (d) the fertile model, whose process of interaction between spectator and film entails the creation of new content, although such a film does not yet exist.  WOODSTOCK’18, June, 2018, El Paso, Texas USA F. Surname et al.     Figure 1: Movie Poster  3 Time A key issue in this project is time: time in cinema. As theoretical basis, the notions of movement-image, time-image and crystal-image, proposed by Deleuze, serve as structural basis for this work. By appealing to viewer immersion, they cause a reaction contrary to the usual passive-submissive reaction. According to Deleuze [2], the sensory-motor sensations, indirect representations of time, tend to be replaced by exclusively visual and audible conjunctures, namely the opsign 1  and the sonsign 2 , direct representations of time.  4 Cadavre Exquis Three scriptwriters were invited to create three narratives based on a character who, at the end of the narrative (24 hours later, at most), would meet two other characters in a room. The scripts would form a succession of sub-narratives which, just as in the Cadavre Exquis game, converge in the main narrative, eventually ending up in a succession of unlikely scenes. A common opening scene was added: the scene of the three characters in the same room. The sequencing of ideas in the film does not obey a discursive logic, presenting itself as “une construction où on n’emploierait ni joints ni ciment”[1]. Meaning and syntax diverge                                                                   1 Purely optical description, where the spectator (the one who watches) replaces the protagonist (the one who acts).  2 Purely auditory description, the same principle of opsign. often, causing a rupture in speech, which is amplified even more by the very particular use of punctuation, to the extent of utterly suppressing it in certain parts. The opening scene of the film Cadavre Exquis is frozen (stopped in time). Three characters meet in the same room. However, the viewer has the possibility to travel	through the freeze-frame, getting closer to or moving away from each character. When the viewer	 gets closer to a character he/she may select him/her. That choice results in a flashback, at most 24 hours, which leads up to the frozen moment. By choosing the last character the viewer will unfreeze the opening scene, setting it in motion. Barry Dainton [3] summarizes the different proposals of the structure of temporal consciousness into three models: Retentional Model, Extensional Model and Cinematic Model. In the Retentional Model, the experience of change and succession occurs in episodes of consciousness, whose contents represent temporally extended intervals, despite the lack of temporal extension. These episodes have a complex structure and comprise the momentary phases of immediate experience as well as the retentions of the recent past. The streams of consciousness are thus composed of successions of these momentary states. In the Extensional Model, the episodes are themselves temporarily extended and are able to incorporate changes. The streams of consciousness are composed of successive episodes of extended experience. Finally, in the Cinematic Model, immediate perception lacks any temporal extension. The same applies to the contents we are directly conscious of, which somehow resemble photograms. The stream of consciousness is thus composed of a continuous succession of momentary states of consciousness, hence resembling films that consist of frame sequences. The idea of a freeze-frame (of the opening scene) is just that: a frame with no sequence. However, in the film (Cadavre Exquis) the viewer can travel through the photogram, giving it a sequence: a possibility of a past and a future, or better, a possibility of new present frames taking place after or before the initial photogram. The aim is to achieve a relaxation and a reconstruction of the idea of time in cinema, where the relation between space and time is overruled by an eminently oneiric temporal dimension.   Figure 2: Frame from the interactive film Cadavre Exquis 5 Description of the Installation One room, three characters motionless! How and why they got there?Interact with the narrative to find out!Siun ChongVítor Reia BatistaJoana MirandaTomé PallaInês RosaJonalyn LanosaLam Chi HongAndy Gheong LeongEthan SienJames BotonezExecutive Producer Maria Paula Monteiro / Cinematographer Rui António \ Boom and Lighting Rodrigo GuimarãesProducer Assistant Ethan Sien / Costume and Make up Joana Miranda \ Scripts Vitor Reia Batista, Mirian Tavares and Rui AntónioGraphic Design Gabriela Soares \ Coding Mehmet Fatih and Juan Loza / Coding  Supervisor Pedro Alves da Veiga \ Subtitling Daniela GraçaproductionMaria Paula Monteiropresentsan interactive film byBruno Mendes da Silva Faculty of Creative IndustriesInsert Your Title Here WOODSTOCK’18, June, 2018, El Paso, Texas USA    The installation requires of a computer, a Kinect sensor, a computer screen, a stand with printed signage, a table. The screen lies on the table, and in front of it lies the sensor, near the edge of the table. The technical ensemble is made discrete by a black cloth that blends with the sensor and hides the computer, under the table (Figure 3). The ensemble is to be experienced by a single user at a time, so it must be enclosed in a space where the sensor will ignore the presence of other people. Ideally it should be enclosed on a square of between 2m and 3m side length, depending on the size of the screen itself. For instance, the first version of the installation, displayed in the 2019 Literary Festival of Macau, was contained inside a square tent of 2m side length (that itself appears in a scene of the film), and the screen measured about 1m by 1,05m. For the present installation, if it is to be on a shared room, a corner of a room would be the ideal spot for avoiding sensor disturbances; ideally then, the ensemble sits at a corner of a room defining an enclosed square, of between 2m and 3m side length, walls defining two sides, the table defining a third side, and the user entering the confined space by the fourth side, lateral to the sensor (Figure 3). At this “entrance” stands printed signage that explains the interaction with the sensor (Figure 4). As users cue to enter, they can take a moment to become familiar with it.    Figure 3: Plan view of the installation.  Figure 4: Signage of the Macau installation. It shows pictures of the following motions:  1. Right hand swipes left: pan camera to the left  2. Left hand swipes right: pan camera to the right 3. Right hand held up: Select character 4. Cross hand above head: Fast Forward 5. Left hand held up: Reset  As the user enters the space in front of the sensor, he is greeted on the screen by a short film: a panning motion that shows on the screen the view of a room on which three seated characters can be seen. As the user takes his place at the center of the square (marked on the ground with tape), he can experiment with the motions learned from the signage. He will find that the swiping arm motions control the panning motion of the film. Swiping left or right puts the user in the director’s place, controlling and altering a panning shot, and thus centering the view on any of the three characters in the room. Raising his right hand, the user will trigger the short film of whatever character is currently in focus.  Once the short film is playing, the user may simply watch it, or fast forward through it by crossing hands above his head. For two of the three characters, as the short film ends, the user will find himself back in the room, focusing on the chosen character, and able to choose another by panning again. When the third character is chosen, however, the film’s ending will trigger a change in the very room that holds the characters. The user will return to a sweeping view of the room, in which he will glimpse that the third character is now gone from his chair, replaced by a new one. This new character carries his own associated short film, that provides a concluding note to the experience.    6 Technical Implementation The program that controls the interactive film was developed in Processing [4], an open-source graphical library and integrated development environment for the Java programming language, well-known among digital artists. The main form of user input was body motion, detected through a Microsoft Kinect, and this was programmed through the KinectPV2 (Kinect for windows v2) Processing library [5].  The Microsoft Kinect is a motion sensing input device produced by Microsoft, originally designed as a gaming input device. We used the 2013 Kinect for Xbox 360 version with a PC adapter. This version can capture video at 1080p, has an IR sensor, and can track the motion of up to 6 users, with 25 joints tracked per skeleton. Kinect can make heavy demands on the hardware requirements (it needs a USB 3.0 interface and a fast CPU/GPU) but we designed the program to ask for as little processing power as possible. To this end, motion detection was kept to the simplest and most robust – this was not only inspired by technical needs but from a sense of pleasure in misdirection. The user is led by the printed signage to think that his whole swiping hand movement is being followed but in fact detection only happens upon a single static condition: for instance, in motion 1 (right hand swipes left) the only test actually WOODSTOCK’18, June, 2018, El Paso, Texas USA F. Surname et al.    performed is whether the left hand is to the left of the left hip. This is a static condition, tested at the easiest moment of the swipe, as the pendulum motion of the arm reaches the top and stops for a split second; and yet the user is led to feel by his brief instruction – which is important for the fruition of the experience – that the whole sweeping motion is an integral part of the process. Such acts of misdirection, although initially done for technical reasons (weak hardware) soon became a point of interest for our research, and it was with great interest that we observed first that the misdirection almost always worked, but also what interesting inventions users came up with in the few cases where they detected the ruse, and proceeded to experiment with the motions, trying to reverse engineer the hidden workings.     6.1  Software Implementation – a Finite State machine The computer program that controls the interactive film is implemented as a finite state machine [6]. At each moment the program it at one of several predefined states, and it transitions from one of those states to another depending on the result of a number of tests, by querying either system variables or user input: for instance State 0 is the state where the camera gives the original overview of the room. This is a mini-film in itself, during which interaction is unavailable. The state terminates when the film reaches its end, and then the finite state machine transitions to state R1C1 (meaning Room1 Character 1), where the camera is fixed on the first character in the initial room (or rather in the initial moment of the room, the second moment being when the third character has been replaced). This state gives access to state R1C1_to_R1C2 (if the user raises swipes the right hand), in which we see the panning movement to character 2, or to state PlayR1C1, where the user watches the short film of character 2. These states in turn have their own tests that lead to other states, and so forth.   Figure 5: Early sketch of the finite state machine controlling Cadavre Exquis 7 Material Requirements The authors will supply the computer and the Kinect sensor. The spatial requirements are a square space, of between 2m and 3m size at a corner of a room. It would be helpful if a table could be provided by the organizers, together with a screen of about 1m by 1,05m. These requirements can be adapted to accord with circumstance.  8 Conclusions Cadavre Exquis seeks a certain evolutionary trend regarding audio-visual language. Although the morphological issues remain unchanged, we found signs that appear to indicate a possible evolution within the audio-visual syntax, such as the fragmenting of the unity of time and space. It is important to remember the role of the viewer, who not only becomes an active part in the narrative but can also undertake the task of co-authoring. It is also necessary to underline the importance of academic experimentation, which should, whenever possible, go beyong theorizing and involve a praxis through a demonstration of the developed theories. Within the scope of the models found (arborescent model, constructive model, paired model and fertile model), the possibility of generating new content (fertile model) through the interaction man-machine is regarded as the most likely possibility of rupture and the development of a new generation of interactive movies. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CIAC, Art8, UALG, UAb, USJ, Instituto Cultural de Macau, Fundação Oriente, Fundação Macau, Inner Harbor Films, The Script Road Fest and FICLO.   [1]	 Breton,	André.	1972.	Manifestes	du	surréalisme.	Paris,	Gallimard.		[2]	 Deleuze,	Gilles.	1990.	A	Imagem-Tempo.	São	Paulo,	Brasiliense.	[3]				Dainton,	Barry.	2010.	Time&Space.	NY,	Routledge.	 	[4]		 Processing.	https://processing.org/ (last accessed June 2019)			[5]	 KinectPV2	 library.	 https://github.com/ThomasLengeling/KinectPV2 (last accessed June 2019) [6]	Rich,	Elaine	A.	2007.	Automata,	Computability	and	Complexity:	Theory	and	Applications.	NJ,	Pearson	Prentice-Hall.	              

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Cadavre Exquis: motion-controlled interactive film

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