Her Story

United Kingdom, 2015

Videogame
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Hannah’s husband is missing and the police have questions.

Her Story follows Hannah’s interrogation and is an interactive full-motion video (FMV) narrative made up of seven police interviews, split into smaller clips viewed on a 1990s-style desktop. Players watch, interpret and dissect these interviews to discover the truth in the characters’ stories.

Independently developed by Sam Barlow, Her Story uses live-action footage instead of rendered character models and is influenced by the directing techniques of Alfred Hitchcock and the Dogme 95 school of filmmaking, as well as real-life interrogations and Sharon Stone’s performance in Basic Instinct (1992).

Curator Notes

Her Story from Sam Barlow uses Full Motion Video (FMV) was very interested in the nature of police interrogation but also the kinds of footage and video you have of things that occur like that. It’s not a noir game, but it references that neo-noir aesthetic, particularly the femme fatale, and parts are inspired by Basic Instinct’s infamous interrogation scene. He also uses the game to question the nature of truth and of reality – the fact you don’t know if what you’ve just seen is true, Basic Instinct is like that too – at the end, you’re not sure if she’s the killer or not. Her Story is also interestingly made, it uses Full Motion Video (FMV), which virtually no other game maker uses at the moment, not since the early 90s, and he’s experimenting with storytelling and interactivity. 

– Assistant Curator and Programmer Arieh Offman

Her Story trailer via YouTube.

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Collection

Not in ACMI's collection

Previously on display

11 February 2022

ACMI: Gallery 1

Credits

creator

Sam Barlow

Production places
United Kingdom
Production dates
2015

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Games Lab → GL-03. Cluster 3 → GL-03-C02

Collected

8955 times

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/117917--her-story/ |title=Her Story |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=25 December 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}