ABOUT

Concept

Half Mermaid’s BAFTA-winning IMMORTALITY is a video game in a very literal sense. It invites the player to sift through an extensive digital archive of footage taken from the making of three fictional films starring actress Marissa Marcel, from read-throughs to rehearsals to candid behind-the-scenes moments and unused takes. The development process was closer to three successive film shoots covering three eras of erotic thriller: 1968’s Ambrosio, 1970’s Minsky and 1999’s Two of Everything were meticulously lensed, production designed and costumed to make them authentic to the period. The player’s role involves them exploring these films non-linearly: the digital software they use allows them to highlight things that interest them, before match-cutting with a similar image from another piece of footage. Their ultimate aim is to discover what happened to Marissa Marcel, but there is a darker mystery behind it all, one the player reveals by rewinding footage to reveal a sinister secret.

Such an ambitious project demanded a similarly enterprising approach when it came to making a companion book. The aim, in simple terms, was to create a lavish celebration of this interactive masterpiece and all the facets of film- and game-making that came together to bring it to life. All films begin with a script, so writer/director Sam Barlow’s unabridged 400+ page screenplay was a must-have. There would be an extensive oral history feature drawing from interview material with key cast and crew members and the development team at Half Mermaid. And there would be featurettes scattered throughout the oral history segment, each focusing on one of IMMORTALITY’s many facets, from the technical challenge of designing the Moviola-style technology at the heart of the game, to its dynamic score and even the unlikely influence of Nintendo on this decidedly non-family-friendly game.

To reflect the experience of playing the game, we decided to include a French fold containing a photorealistic black-and-white illustration, capturing the hidden elements that are so crucial to the mysteries at the dark heart of IMMORTALITY. We also opted to add a number of thermoreactive pages, not only leaning into the theme of heat and fire that is a significant element in the game’s story, but suggesting a mystery that requires more thorough exploration.

To further blur the lines between fiction and reality, the Deluxe Edition of IMMORTALITY: Design Works would include authentic-feeling paraphernalia, including film tickets, posters, newspaper clippings and the three films’ linear screenplays, annotated by Marissa Marcel herself. These would come housed within an archival box, as if this vital piece of cinematic history had been preserved for posterity within the depths of a film archive.

Execution

From an editorial standpoint, the challenge was to try to capture as much detail about the creative process from as many different perspectives as possible. Writer Chris Schilling spent upwards of 25 hours interviewing 14 different people involved in production of the film and game components, ranging from producer Natalie Watson to lead actor Manon Gage to director of photography Doug Potts. Production designer Stephanie Reese and costume designer Kerry Hennessy provided valuable insights into the techniques involved in evoking the different periods featured, while colorist Anna Barsukova discussed how the footage was treated to make it look even truer to the time.

Schilling and Gage worked closely together to recapture the ‘voice’ of Marissa Marcel in the script annotations, with notes that give further glimpses into the mindset of the character throughout her complex journey, while historical research went into creating a police report (pertaining to the on-set accident that brings an end to Minsky) and a newspaper article that would not only look accurate but reflect the language and attitudes of the time.

When it came to design, we opted to preserve IMMORTALITY’s full script as close to its original form as possible, interleaving the story of its creation with striking still shots from the three films, as well as behind-the-scenes photography.

There were a number of challenges to be faced and overcome during design and production. The heat-reactive ink we used had to be produced at a speciality printer since it was not widely available. We had to extensively test various hits [the number of layers of ink] to achieve the desired effect for a range of different climates; working on this during a heatwave proved difficult! We needed the text to be readable, but there needed to be some degree of challenge in getting it to work, since our goal was to encourage the reader to pause and search to interact with it – much as the player does to find the hidden footage within the game.

With the French fold, we wanted to actively invite the reader to tear at the pages to reveal what is hidden inside. It took a few scatterproofs to perfect the black values for the image, since it was drawn in pencil. The edges of the pages had to be 100% black, so it almost looks like there is nothing in there – until the reader’s curiosity prompts them to look more carefully.

The shorter featurettes were printed on cut-short pages, as a way to further mirror the changes in film stock seen throughout the game. But since one of the main indexing places shut down mid-way through production, we had to move manufacturing of the book to accomplish this.

For the linear scripts, we wanted to use authentic book screws, though we ultimately had to get them made in a custom size. There was also a risk that they could cause damage to other extras in the box so we adopted a layering solution that allowed us to keep everything carefully protected.

As for the archival box, we ended up having to duplex corrugated material with a manila paper to get the exact effect we needed, since getting an archive box made from archive material to a custom size would not have been affordable. This also allowed us to pick a material that ages with sunlight, which once again plays into the themes of the game.

Results

Printed on three different paper stocks and stretching to more than 580 pages, IMMORTALITY: Design Works is as ambitious and uncompromising as the game it commemorates. It’s one of Lost In Cult’s most unique projects: a truly distinctive reading experience that recaptures the exhilaration of immersing yourself in IMMORTALITY’s filmic universe. It has received universal praise from its readers, and helped establish Lost In Cult as a company that is dedicated to creating some of the most striking and panoramic video game books on the market.