Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | 3 New Eps June 5th

Fed up talking videogames? Why?
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Slayerx
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | Season 4 Out Now
by Slayerx » Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:07 pm

You're probably right still can't wait :wub:

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Samuel_1
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | Season 4 Out Now
by Samuel_1 » Wed Dec 05, 2018 10:33 am

satriales wrote:The tweet mentioned a specific episode so it looks like it might be a one-off Xmas special rather than season 5 which is still being filmed.

I hope that means he's doing a screen-wipe this year.

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Frank
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | Season 4 Out Now
by Frank » Mon Dec 17, 2018 4:09 pm

Just watched Hated in the Nation. Like, it was okay, but why was it 90 minutes long? Didn't seem worth the extended runtime at all. All that extra time and they still couldn't even give it a proper ending... :shifty:

The state of that concept Range Rover, too :slol: :dread: "Lounge-style" seating and fat-ass touchscreens = The future :datass:

Did like how much of it was just Blue reading something and saying "strawberry float". Stellar writing.

Christmas special next, I think :shifty:

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Monkey Man
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | Season 4 Out Now
by Monkey Man » Thu Dec 27, 2018 12:57 pm



28th Dec.

Synopsis - “In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game and soon faces a mind-mangling challenge. Welcome back.”

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Floex
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Floex » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:38 pm

:toot: We thinking this is the choose your own adventure rumoured ep?

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GrinWithoutaKat
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by GrinWithoutaKat » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:53 pm

I read an article (but now can't remember where) that claimed there was over 5 hours of footage, so they believed it was the choose your own adventure set up. Would be fantastic if true, although I'm sure it will be great either way.

Only got into BM a couple of months ago and it's one the best things I've ever seen. There are some episodes that just make you feel awful after watching them, but it's amazing how they can effect you that much. Still got a couple of episodes of season 4 left, but I'll leave them til after this special.

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Monkey Man
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Monkey Man » Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:23 am

Out now.

How Netflix's engineers created its first interactive movie -

Luckily, Brooker and Jones had the Netflix product team to keep them sane. Following the production of interactive kids titles like “Puss in Book” and “Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile,” Netflix director of product innovation Carla Engelbrecht realized that the company was onto something. “There is so much more that we can do than just linear television,” she said.

But while younger viewers may be fine with relatively simple choices, adult audiences clearly require more complexity, which can be a huge logistical challenge. That’s why Netflix engineers built the company’s very own script-writing tool for branched narratives, dubbed Branch Manager.

The tool allows creatives to build complex narratives that include loops, guiding viewers back to the main story when they strayed too far, giving them a chance of a do-over, if you will — something that Jones and Brooker artfully incorporated into the story. At one point, one of the key characters even tells Stefan that he chose the wrong path, leading him to realize: “I should try again!”

“Bandersnatch” comes with 5 possible endings. Viewers who choose the quickest path, and decide against any do-overs, can make it through the film in around 40 minutes. The average viewing time is around 90 minutes.
Altogether, there are over a trillion unique permutations of the story.
However, this also includes relatively simple iterations that don’t necessarily impact the story itself. For instance, one of the first decisions is helping Stefan to choose which cereal to eat in the morning. “We want them to have a successful choice early on,” said Engelbrecht.

Engelbrecht’s interactive content team got a lot of help from across the company to build the tech for “Bandersnatch,” which also included tweaking the way Netflix streams content. “Fast-forward breaks in a non-linear story,” she explained. Instead, Netflix began testing simplified playback controls with “Bandersnatch.”

Another tweak affects Netflix’s streaming itself: The service’s apps typically pre-cache some content to make for a smooth streaming experience even when a viewer’s internet connection temporarily slows down. For “Bandersnatch,” the app now has to pre-cache two possible paths — something that older versions of the Netflix app aren’t able to do.

That’s why the movie simply isn’t available on some older smart TVs. The company is also skipping Chromecast and Apple TV for technical reasons
, but Netflix vice president of product Todd Yellin didn’t seem to be too worried about leaving anyone behind. “Almost every single Netflix household has a device that can play ‘Bandersnatch’,” he said.

Other design decisions that went into the creation of “Bandersnatch” are more subtle, and sit somewhere between product design and storytelling. For instance, the team had to figure out the right pacing for an interactive story like this. Give viewers too many choices, and they may tire of all those decisions. Let the plot go on too long without a choice, and half the audience may have misplaced their remote controls. “We talk about cadence a lot,” said Engelbrecht.

https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/n ... 203096171/

"the movie simply isn’t available on some older smart TVs. The company is also skipping Chromecast and Apple TV for technical reasons"

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Errkal
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Errkal » Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:34 am

Apple TV surprises me as it has a remote but chromecast I can understand why it wouldn't work.

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jiggles
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by jiggles » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:19 am

Well that was disappointing.

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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by NickSCFC » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:23 am

How does this work in practise then? Do you just select options with the remote?

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jiggles
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by jiggles » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:39 am

NickSCFC wrote:How does this work in practise then? Do you just select options with the remote?


I tapped a choice on my iPad. You only ever get two options. And while it's waiting to choose, there is some idle footage of Stefan in indecision. When you pick one, it pauses for a fraction of a second then plays the next scene.

It's a shitty 90s FMV game through and through. Just with more money.

If you "fail" it presents you with one or two earlier decisions to retake, or let's you jump to the credits. If you hit an actual ending that's it. Your progress is wiped and the only way to change decisions at that point is to watch the entire thing again. So imagine my delight when I pick a joke option, it railroads me to the credits and I'm forced to watch 45 mins of the same film again (with no way fast forward) to see what the other outcome is.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Moggy » Fri Dec 28, 2018 3:09 pm

Unlike Jiggles, I thoroughly enjoyed that. I can totally see why people will hate this though. :lol:

I think I have seen most of what was on offer, but I’m left with a niggling feeling that I never saw the “proper” ending. And with the way it’s set up that feeling will always be there unless you deliberately replay it a trillion times to see everything.

I’m looking forward to somebody writing out all of the different endings/permutations so I don’t have to bother. :lol:

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Yoshimi
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Yoshimi » Fri Dec 28, 2018 4:58 pm

Just watched it. I thought it was great!

I'm not sure how Jiggles had to re-watch stuff again. I saw most endings, and it always gave me an option to rewind to previous decision to see another possible path. Some of it was incredibly clever, other parts especially the 'netflix' sign were very funny.

EDIT: Full map!

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jiggles
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by jiggles » Fri Dec 28, 2018 5:28 pm

Yoshimi wrote:I'm not sure how Jiggles had to re-watch stuff again.


When I fought the therapist it went straight to credits with no option to do anything else. But from the look of the map, I'd actually seen everything at that point, even though there were some options I'd not taken, so maybe that's why?

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GrinWithoutaKat
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by GrinWithoutaKat » Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:20 pm

Thought it was pretty good myself, although I got stuck in a loop there for a while. I had several options to go back or watch the credits, and eventually picked the credits option as I felt like I'd seen enough, if not every option.

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mcjihge2
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by mcjihge2 » Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:48 pm

That was absolute shite.

EDIT: A started off enjoying it, the 48k nostalgia, 80s sound track, WHSmiths etc. I got stuck in the first loop, but it did change the dialogue slightly so i thought this is OK. The narrative was intact and a sense of suspense was building. The story then seems to lose its way descending into ridiculousness, and i couldnt get out of a second loop. - Yes there was the odd moment when i thought it could redeem itself but no - dead ends. I took a look at Yoshimis map and found a way out of the loop. However that just got me into another loop that seemed to have no resolution so i hit the end credits. Im watching on xbox and everytime a choice was required the controller would vibrate, like an annoying child screaming for attention.

As a whole the interaction system doesnt work. The branching storyline is flawed and the story is absolute threadbare. There a bit where the therapist says that this is not entertaining - shes right. If this was an attempt at offering interactive entertainment (entertainment thats interactive) then its an absolute failure.

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Ironhide
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Ironhide » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:06 pm

I really like BM but can't be bothered with the 'interacive' episode, just doesn't appeal to me at all.

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Poser
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Poser » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:19 pm

Loved it.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by Moggy » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:22 pm

Looks like this episode is going to split people into love it or hate it. Or those that can’t be arsed to try it.

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satriales
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PostRe: Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror | Netflix | “Bandersnatch” Special 28th Dec
by satriales » Sat Dec 29, 2018 8:38 am

There were too many dead ends where it gives you a choice but if you pick wrong it just loops around and forces you to take the other option.

I loved the bits where you decide what music to play but on the whole it was a bit of a mess.


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