ABSTRACT
This essay retrospectively reflects upon the research design of a practice-based PhD project, which encompassed both the creation and interrogation of the production processes and audience reception of an interactive cinema installation entitled Crossed Lines (Dir. Sarah Atkinson). This was an original fictional interactive film installation amalgamating multi-linear plots, a multi-screen viewing environment, an interactive interface and an interactive story navigation form. Produced between 2002 and 2007, Crossed Lines was the creative element of the thesis which theoretically and practically interrogated the field of digital fictional interactive storytelling. The complexities of undertaking and delivering such a project called for a unique mixed methods research design involving numerous collaborations with computer scientists, programmers and creative media practitioners, which led to the adoption of novel interdisciplinary approaches. Eighteen years on from its completion, the essay revises and recontextualises the contribution this work has made, as well as outlining how it can contribute to contemporary examinations of interactive screen-media forms, which call for the combination of traditional research methods with new digital approaches.
