Chloe Flower Brings a Touch of Hollywood Glam In New Holiday Music Video "Carol Of The Bells" [Video Included]

Chloe Flower (Credit Deb Tam)

After giving the holiday classic "Carol Of The Bells" an eloquent twist on her latest single, dynamic pianist, producer, and activist Chloe Flower today unveils the music video for the track, which was co-written and co-produced alongside Grammy Award-winning icon Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. 

• Once again, Chloe teams up with Asian-American female director Deb Tam who shot the music video on film.

"Carol of the Bells" delivers a cinematic visual that evokes old Hollywood glamour as it switches from black-and-white to color vignettes. Taking place in the iconic Grand Prospect Hall in Brooklyn with Great Gatsby glee and high-fashion elegance, Chloe performs with palpable passion at a Steinway & Sons piano as a choir carries the heavenly chorus and ballroom dancers joyfully launch stunning routines. 

The Video:

"My inspiration for 'Carol of the Bells' was to bring the joy of music and dance to everyone this holiday season," says Chloe Flower. "With this video, I set out to create a dream world where everyone can escape this difficult time and celebrate the spirit of Christmas, no matter where you are. The director's exquisite old Hollywood vision came to life by intersecting fashion, choreography and piano, bringing glamour to instrumental music."

Styled by Colin LoCasscio, Chloe's wardrobe proves almost as impressive as her playing as she's spotted in Liberace's ornate white coat, graciously on loan from The Liberace Foundation, The Blonds' shimmering gold mini, Alessandra Rich and Stina Randestad couture, as well as vintage Gucci. The pianist also worked with James Alonzo for choreography and Jackson Hallberg on art direction. 

Chloe Flower - "Carol of the Bells" (Single Front Cover)

Earlier this year, Chloe released her original single "Flower Through Concrete." Garnering critical acclaim, The Coveteur profiled her extensively and proclaimed, "Chloe Flower is changing the music industry." Cosmopolitan also states that "Chloe will smash whatever you think you know about classical music and look fire doing it."

The instrumental ballade, "Flower Through Concrete" follows Chloe's 2019 release of "No Limit," her solo piano cover of the viral hit "Old Town Road" as well as her chart-topping single debut, "Get What U Get." Chloe's musical style is ever-growing and has cultivated her into a multi-genre artist. "I'm so inspired by pop and classical music that when I create songs, I naturally incorporate classical ideas within a pop music structure," notes Chloe. With an album set for first half of 2021, Chloe plans to continue her hybrid blend of classical and pop music making a genre all her own, "Popsical."

Continuing her mission of bringing classical music to the masses, Chloe appeared as the centerpiece at this year's Roots X BOY MEETS GIRL New York Fashion Week event and at 2019 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalist and Runner-Up, Danielle Frankel's runway show with Vogue stating Chloe's performance was a "funky, energetic spectacle." She performed alongside Cardi B at the 2019 GRAMMY Awards, which exploded on social media and garnered over 9 million impressions and unanimous media praise. Her high-energy and high-fashion performance style has garnered attention of everyone from Pitchfork to Harper's Bazaar with Cosmopolitan stating "Chloe Flower will smash whatever you think you know about classical music, and look fire doing it." The superstar pianist also has received praise from The FADER, Entertainment Tonight, People, TIME and countless others.

Chloe Flower (Credit Rob Berry)

About Chloe Flower:

The Pennsylvania native developed an appreciation for classical early on. By the age of two, Chloe would sit on phone books and play the piano. At 12, she went on to study at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music Pre-College under Zenon Fishbein and later with Herbert Stessin of The Juilliard School. She continued her education at The Royal Academy of Music London, where she experienced a life-changing revelation while playing Bach and listening to hip-hop at the same time. She decided to blend the two together and quickly realized that "hip-hop beats and classical music sound really cool together."

In 2010, she serendipitously met industry icon Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and landed a deal with his label imprint SODAPOP/Island Def Jam. Soon, she found herself in the studio working alongside the legend and co-producing "Lullaby" for Céline Dion. Swizz Beatz caught a set and invited her to contribute to Nas's 2012 chart-topper Life Is Good. As a result, she was featured prominently on record highlight "A Queens Story." More recently, she teamed up with Mike WiLL Made-It, co-producing 2 Chainz for "Poor Fool" from 2017's Pretty Girls Like Trap Music. Later that year, she also unveiled a holiday single entitled "Drummer Boy" alongside Questlove and Babyface in addition to other solo compositions. In 2018, she co-produced Swae Lee's "Christmas at Swae's."

• Beyond writing and performing, Chloe stands out as an active philanthropist, working with the United Nations as a UNODC Artist Ambassador, combating human trafficking and supporting music education globally with a variety of charities. Most notably in her role as a Music Education Ambassador for the Liberace Foundation.

Connect With Chloe Flower:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE

SOURCE: Sony Music Masterworks

'Tis the Season to Be Safe: Top Tips for Your Family During COVID-19 [Video Included]

'Tis the Season to Be Safe: Top Tips for Your Family During COVID-19 - Poster

The holidays normally are a time to get together in person with friends and family. However, the pandemic may mean virtual celebrations this year. Regardless of how you celebrate, it's important to protect yourself from possible dangers associated with holiday trees, candles, and cooking fires, as well as unsafe toys.

To keep the season safe, here's what you need to know:

'Tis the Season to Be Safe: Top Tips for Your Family During COVID-19 ( Photo by Polesie Toys)

Toys:

Data:

• Choking on small parts and riding toy injuries: CPSC reports that in 2019, there were an estimated 162,700 toy-related, emergency department-treated injuries and 14 deaths to children younger than 15, with most of the deaths associated with choking on small parts, like small balls and small toy parts and riding toys.
• Toy recalls: continue to decline, with nine toy recalls in fiscal year 2020, three involving a lead violation, compared to 172 recalls in 2008, with 19 involving lead violations. Toys were also recalled for defects, such as choking, entrapment, ingestion and laceration hazards. Recalled toys present choking, entrapment, ingestion and laceration hazards, among other hazards that pose the threat of death or injury to a child.
• Scooters: The number of injuries associated with non-motorized scooters significantly decreased from 2015 to 2019 for children younger than 15, from about 45,500 to about 35,600 injuries.

Tips:

• Follow age guidance and other safety information on the toy packaging, and choose toys that match your child's interests and abilities.
• Get safety gear, including helmets for scooters and other riding toys–helmets should be worn properly at all times and be sized to fit.
• Keep small balls and toys with small parts away from children younger than age 3, and keep deflated balloons away from children younger than 8 years old (discard broken balloons at once).

'Tis the Season to Be Safe: Top Tips for Your Family During COVID-19 (Photo by Andrea Piacquadio)

Cooking:

Data:

• Cooking fires are the # 1 cause of residential fires.
• An average of 1,700 cooking fires occur on Thanksgiving Day each year, more than three times the average number on any other day of the year.
• In the last two decades, there were 220 fire or scald/burn incidents involving turkey fryers, resulting in 81 injuries and $9.7 million in property loss.

Tips:

• Never leave cooking food unattended on the stove.
• Keep children away from the cooking area, and keep flammable items, like potholders and paper or plastic bags, away from the stove and oven.
• Only fry a turkey outside and away from your home–not inside your garage, or on your porch. Do not overfill the oil in the turkey fryer and follow the manufacturer's instructions on use, including thawing your turkey thoroughly and maintaining control of the oil temperature.

  'Tis the Season to Be Safe: Top Tips for Your Family During COVID-19 (Photo by Jonathan Borba)

Decorating:

Data:

• On average, there are about 200 decorating-related injuries each day during the holiday season, with about half of the incidents involving falls. And in the 2018 holiday season, about 17,500 people were treated in emergency rooms due to holiday decorating-related injuries.
• In the 2019 holiday season, there were six deaths associated with holiday season decorations.
• From 2015 to 2017, on average, there were about 100 Christmas tree fires and about 1,100 candle fires (in November and December), resulting in 20 deaths, 160 injuries and nearly $50 million in property damage each year.

Tips:

• Make sure your live Christmas tree has plenty of water, and look for the "Fire Resistant" label when buying an artificial tree.
• Place burning candles in sight, away from flammable items, and blow them out before leaving the room.
• Only use lights tested for safety by a national recognized testing laboratory. Throw out sets with broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections.

The Video:

About the U.S. CPSC:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

• Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

SOURCE: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

"#HealthcareWorkersRock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge [Video + Lyrics Included]

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

As COVID-19 cases rise exponentially, entrepreneur, philanthropist, songwriter and executive producer Ken Freirich today released a remix and video for his song "Healthcare Workers Rock!". 

The song was written as a rock anthem and the heartfelt lyrics have already struck a chord with frontline healthcare workers around the world fighting COVID-19 and putting their lives on the line every day to help others. 

"The truth is healthcare workers are at their breaking point. The stress of the pandemic right now is unbearable. The music and lyrics of Healthcare Workers Rock! give us an emotional release that make every day more tolerable," said Joseph Varon, MD, Chief Medical Officer of United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, who has been on the frontlines of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. "I've literally witnessed our workers humming and singing the song to help lift their own spirit and the spirit of others. I had a nurse cry when she was asked to be in the video, because it reinforced what a difference she's making for so many. The song and the video are just what the doctor ordered, especially now as we enter what will possibly be the darkest days of the pandemic. We must now get this music therapy to every hospital around the world because it's a boost that will keep our healthcare workers going."

The driving force behind the song is Ken Freirich, a songwriter and drummer who lives by a daily mantra of "making the world a better place." He felt a calling to write and produce a song that could bring people together in a time of crisis. For the song remix, Freirich served as the executive producer and recruited P!nk Drummer Mark Schulman to play drums on the song, GRAMMY Award-winning Producer and Mixer Scott Jacoby to produce and remix the song and GRAMMY Award winner Emily Lazar to master the single. 

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

In addition, Freirich's new record label, Better World Records, LLC is partnering with #FirstRespondersFirst, an initiative created by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation to provide frontline healthcare workers with the physical and psychological support and resources they so desperately need as they serve on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

#FirstRespondersFirst provides essential supplies and protective equipment, accommodations, child care, food, and critical mental health support and resources to ensure that frontline workers are protected, well-supported and resilient.

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

Since the song's initial release last month, doctors, nurses, EMTs, former COVID-19 patients and loved ones have expressed how the song has become their anthem, helping capture their experiences and feelings, while creating a positive and uplifting movement to help counter one of the toughest years in recent history. The song is on repeat as people travel to and from work and has inspired some workers to create and share their own TikTok videos featuring the song.

"When Ken asked me to play on the track and be in the video, I grabbed my sticks, asked my daughter to be in the video and I jumped at the opportunity," said Mark Schulman, P!nk Drummer. "Healthcare workers are long overdue for an anthem, and the lyrics and video really capture all elements of today's healthcare experience. I'm looking forward to helping spread the message and the video so everyone can celebrate the heroism of these amazing people."

Freirich is an active philanthropist who loves the convergence of music and the opportunity to help others. "Healthcare Workers Rock!" is on Freirich's new record label, Better World Records, LLC, also home to his new band, Random Acts of Kindness. From his position as CEO of Health Monitor Network, the largest patient education/engagement company in the United States, known for its exam room digital posters, Freirich has a unique perspective on the plight of healthcare workers, while his passion for music provides a creative way to honor them.

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (screengrab)

"Working 'round the clock, strong and courageous, never gonna stop," part of the chorus belts out with lyrics that embody Freirich's vision for the song. He was inspired to write and produce the track after seeing medical professionals in desperate need of resources and watching colleagues' family members pass away from COVID-19. From his position as CEO of Health Monitor Network, Freirich understands the monumental change in the hospital setting since COVID-19 and wanted to reinforce how everyone supports our healthcare workers.

"I want to have the song played all over the world to give healthcare workers something to rally around as they continue to work through difficult days and nights and the reactions I've received so far have been incredibly moving," says Freirich. He notes how he's heard from the healthcare community how relatable the lyrics are and how they have uplifted them at a time when they need all the support they can get. ­ "The song's pre-chorus lyrics, 'This is what we do, day in and day out,' are for the selfless healthcare workers who are out there working and giving everything they've got to their patients. I wanted to deliver an anthem for them that was empowering and uplifting."

The Video:

The Lyrics:

©2020 Better World Records.

We are on the frontline
Putting ourselves in danger
Trying to save the lives
Of oh so many strangers
Don’t look at them as numbers
That’s not what you mean to us
We’re brothers, sisters, mothers
Like family, it’s all worth the fuss

This is what we do
Day in and day out
This is what we do
And we just wanna shout

Healthcare Workers Rock!
Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win
Let’s Rock!

Never seen a thing like this
In my whole career
The battle’s really tough
Feels like more than a year
Supplies are getting short
Still we try to make the best
One day at a time
‘Cause we can never rest

This is what we do
Day in and day out
This is what we do
And we just wanna shout

Healthcare Workers Rock!
Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win

It’s time we all remember
The real heroes are at home
Our partners, daughters and sons
We miss each and every one

The world needs us now
So we are standing strong
Putting patients first
All day and all night long
We will make it through
One way or the other
Stay true to the cause
Caring for one another

This is what we do
Day in and day out
This is what we do
And we just wanna shout

Healthcare Workers Rock!
Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win

Working ‘round the clock
Strong and courageous, never gonna stop
Won’t give up, won’t give in
Cause we have got to win
Let’s Rock!

People can download the song on Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes and view the video at HealthcareWorkersRock.org. Freirich, CEO of Health Monitor Network, has been on a global crusade to help healthcare workers. 

• Every time the video is shared from the Random Acts of Kindness  Facebook or Twitter pages with #HealthcareWorkersRock, a donation of $1 will be made to #FirstRespondersFirst (up to $100,000).

About Healthcare Workers Rock!:

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" was written by Freirich, songwriter and drummer, and is his newest music / philanthropic initiative. Freirich is an active philanthropist who loves the convergence of music and the opportunity to help others. He felt a calling to write and produce a song that could fulfill an unmet need; a tribute and anthem for all of the frontline healthcare workers around the world who put their lives on the line each and every day to help others.

For the past five years, he has been in a band called MedROCK, a 501c3 organization that "brings the world together through music and makes it a better place through philanthropy." The band put on a benefit concert in Turks and Caicos to help buy instruments for a local school's music education program and has partnered with and raised money for Teen Cancer America, founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend. Freirich also played a song on drums with The Who at a charity to benefit concert for Teen Cancer American and UCLA Health in Southern California last fall.

"Healthcare Workers Rock!" Song & Music Video Captures Spirit of Frontline Healthcare Workers Around the World Treating the Latest COVID-19 Surge (PRNewsfoto/Better World Records)

About Better World Records: 

Better World Records LLC was started to release incredible music across numerous genres, while having a positive impact on the world. The company will use its artists and music to bring people together and will incorporate its strong philanthropic beliefs to projects and initiatives to do good. Random Acts of Kindness is the first band on the label and is a collection of musicians (Random Acts) pulled together with the goal of having a positive impact on the world through music.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify | Soundcloud

About #FirstRespondersFirst: 

#FirstRespondersFirst, an initiative of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Thrive Global, and the CAA Foundation, takes a whole human approach to addressing the needs of our frontline workers in order to support their ability to serve on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. #FirstRespondersFirst's fundraising call to action helps provide essential supplies, protective equipment, accommodations, child care, food, and critical mental health support and resources to this demographically and socially diverse workforce, ranging from minimum-wage hourly workers in home-care settings to social workers, nurses, physicians, and beyond, through its implementing collaborators Americares, Bright Horizons, CORE Response, Direct Relief, Give An Hour, Global Health Corps, Hispanic Federation, IHG Hotels & Resorts, InnerHour, International Rescue Committee, Marriott International, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), National Black Nurses Association, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Omada Health, Osmosis, Pivot, The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, World Central Kitchen, and You Okay, Doc?. Powered by Thrive Global's behavior change platform, #FirstRespondersFirst also provides access to Harvard Chan School's evidence-based content, specifically tailored to this critical workforce, to help improve the physical and mental well-being of healthcare workers.

SOURCE: Better World Records

Ranked: The Environmental Impact Of Five Different Soft Drink Containers

Ranked: The Environmental Impact Of Five Different Soft Drink Containers (AndriiKoval/Shutterstock)

People are increasingly aware of the harm plastic waste causes to wildlife, and many would avoid buying single-use plastics if they could help it. But are the alternatives to plastic much better?

Let’s look at one example – fizzy drinks. You might assume that plastic bottles are the least green option, but is that always the case?

To find out, we compared five different types of pressurised drinks containers. We tested their environmental impact according to a range of criteria, including how each contributes to climate change and the pollution each produces during manufacture, use and disposal.

Here they are, ranked from worst to best.

Fifth place: glass bottles

It might come as a surprise, but glass bottles actually ranked last in our analysis. You might instinctively reach for a glass bottle to avoid buying a plastic alternative, but glass takes more resources and energy to produce. Glass making involves mining raw materials such as silica sand and dolomite, and that can release pollution which, when inhaled, can cause the lung condition silicosis.

High temperatures are also needed to melt these materials, a process overwhelmingly powered by fossil fuels. During production, the glass itself releases carbon dioxide.

Our analysis found that glass bottle production used the most natural resources, due to the sheer amount of material used. A one-litre glass bottle can weigh up to 800g, while a similar plastic bottle weighs around 40g. That extra weight means vehicles transporting glass bottles consume more fossil fuels to deliver the same amount of liquid. For these reasons, we found that glass bottles have about a 95% bigger contribution to global warming than aluminium cans.

More weight means more emissions. (Makushin Alexey/Shutterstock)

Fourth place: recycled glass bottles

If a regular glass bottle is the worst, then surely those made from 100% recycled glass are much better, right? Unfortunately, no.

Some energy is saved in recycling rather than extracting, processing and transporting raw materials. But recycling glass still uses a lot of energy because of the high temperatures needed to melt it. More energy means more greenhouse gas emissions, and during the process, the glass may release carbon dioxide again.

In the UK, the recycling rate for glass is 67.6%. This would need to improve for glass bottle production to be self-sufficient by recycling alone.

Third place: plastic bottles

In third place is the plastic bottle. Plastic has ideal qualities for containing drinks. It’s strong, resistant to chemicals (so the ingredients in your drink don’t degrade the plastic), and it’s lightweight, meaning more can be transported on less emissions. That gave plastic a significantly lower impact on global warming than glass in our analysis.

But the effects of plastic waste globally are well documented. Glass and aluminium don’t break up into harmful microparticles like plastic does.

Plastic recycling requires less energy due to the lower temperatures involved in melting the raw material. But plastic, unlike glass or aluminium, cannot be endlessly recycled. Each time it’s recycled, the chains of molecules that make up plastics are shortened. All plastic reaches a point when it can no longer be recycled and so becomes destined either for landfill, incineration or the environment.

Second place: aluminium cans

In second place are aluminium cans. We found that they contribute less to global warming than glass and plastic because making them consumes less energy and resources. Cans are lighter than glass and aren’t made from fossil fuels either, like plastic.

Because of the processes involved in making them, cans also contribute less to environmental problems like acid rain and oxygen-free zones in the ocean. That’s because creating glass and plastic requires more electricity, and so it generates more sulphur dioxide pollution on average – a leading cause of acid rain. Making glass and plastic, and extracting the materials to make them (particularly soda ash for glass production), also releases more phosphates into the environment, which can overload rivers and coastal seas and deplete oxygen from the water.

But aluminium has its own environmental impacts. Making it involves refining bauxite ore, and mining bauxite can pollute water in the countries it’s sourced, including Australia, Malaysia and India. Rivers and sediment contaminated with heavy metals threaten the health of people and wildlife near mines.

Bauxite exists in the topsoil of some tropical and subtropical countries. (Alexey Rezvykh/Shutterstock)

First place: recycled aluminium cans

Recycled aluminium cans were the least environmentally damaging single-use container we looked at. Aluminium can be constantly recycled with no change in properties. Recycling an aluminium can saves 95% of the energy used to make a new can and no new material needs to be mined or transported.

But aluminium isn’t always recycled. The UK’s recycling rate for aluminium packaging is just 52%. This must be drastically improved to make recycling the main supply of new cans.

Even if some of these containers are better than others, all of them have an environmental impact. The best option would be to phase out single-use packaging entirely, and introduce a system of reusing containers. Think self-serve drinks machines in local shops, where you could fill a bottle that you bring from home, or bottle return and reuse schemes.

Reducing waste and reusing materials, where possible, should come before recycling something. By reusing bottles, we reduce the amount of single-use packaging that needs to be created, reducing waste and a whole host of global environmental problems.

About Today's Contributors:

Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of Southampton and Alice Brock, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, University of Southampton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

Related Stories:

• Oceana Report: Soft Drink Industry Can Stop Billions Of Plastic Bottles From Polluting The Ocean By Switching To Refillables
• World Oceans Day is a Reason to Celebrate and Reflect
• Reimagine Products to Ease Plastic Pollution, Says Sagentia

Assassin's Creed TV Series: Why It's So Hard To Adapt Video Games For The Screen

Michael Fassbender in the Assassin’s Creed film. (20th Century Fox/Youtube)

The Assassin’s Creed franchise is leaping forward (off the top of a building, presumably) with the release of the 12th game in the series – Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – and the recent announcement of an upcoming Netflix show.

While the games are hugely popular, we will have to hope this new show is an improvement on the 2016 film. It had great actors playing bland characters, and perfectly adequate action scenes but no discernible narrative content. Indeed, Assassin’s Creed provides a classic lesson on the difficulties of turning even an expansive, multi-dimensional gaming world into a story that’s suitable for other formats.

The Assassin’s Creed games use the framing device of a present-day conflict and the dramatically recreated memories of the characters’ ancestors in historical periods. These memories form the main action of the game and its main appeal. If anything, the present-day plot elements seem rather odd and superfluous by comparison.

For instance, in the first game (2007), the player controls a 12th-century Levantine assassin named Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad during the Third Crusade. His 21st-century descendant, Desmond Miles, is forced to experience Altaïr’s life so that the present-day Templars can find prehuman artefacts known as Pieces of Eden. If that doesn’t sound like it makes much sense, well, it doesn’t.

This is no Shakespearean play-within-a-play device with two separate narratives that merely reflect and comment on each other. Rather, the stories directly affect one another – you must go into the past to uncover the secret locations of present-day artefacts.

Incoherent narrative

Assassin’s Creed never really attempts the moral depth and world-shaking decisions of, say, the critically-acclaimed Deus Ex videogame franchise. Deus Ex’s background of warring conspiracies is nuanced enough that the player feels that real choices are being made.

The 2016 Assassin’s Creed movie was bad partly because the entire franchise – despite its many genuinely brilliant qualities of gameplay, atmosphere, and graphics – is narratively incoherent. This might be forgivable in a game built around atmosphere, cool weaponry and stylish moves, but it’s not enough for a viable film.

There are great examples of transmedia storytelling across multiple formats, such as the Marvel cinematic universe, Tolkein’s Middle-Earth or, indeed, Deus Ex. In these cases, each new book, film or game builds on the narrative of the previous ones while maintaining a sense of wonder and the unknown. But the Assassin’s Creed franchise doesn’t bother making the effort, as though its creators Ubisoft believe the occasional media studies experts who suggest that videogames should stay in their lane and not even try to tell stories.

It seems snobbish to assume that video games are just no good at narrative, but it’s almost as reductive to believe they should emulate filmic storytelling instead of embracing videogames’ unique strengths. Interactivity, agency, emotional engagement and immersion combine to provide players with experiences that would be impossible to achieve in purely linear stories.

The structure of games is inherently different from that of films, and this is most apparent when it comes to endings. Writing a narratively satisfying ending for a novel or film is notoriously tough – and even tougher if you also have to give your audience the choice of how to finish the story.

Every time you let the player make a significant yes or no decision in gameplay, you double the number of possible endings. No storyteller wants to have to come up with hundreds of satisfactory endings.

Game designers have a variety of tricks available to reduce that number, giving the illusion of choice while gradually steering the player back onto the main plot. Still, most players will be happier if the series of interesting decisions include more than just selecting tactical options to overcome challenges. They need ethically weighty choices that empower them to playfully explore their value systems.

From winging it to fixing it?

The Assassin’s Creed franchise seems to have been winging it with its worldbuilding since the start, each story building haphazardly on the previous ones. I see three ways forward.

They could continue to ignore concerns about coherence, concentrate on cool stunts and environments, and hope that fans will accept new instalments as merely each new creative team’s take. But the narrative threads sprawl so much that it’s going to be a tough sell.

A still from the very first Assassin’s Creed (2007). (Ubisoft/IGDB)

If the new series is going to be any good, it would be better to bring in a good universe runner. Someone who can work out how most of the universe hangs together and cut out the bits that don’t.

Alternatively, they could start again, with a worldbuilding process not just a story idea. Videogames can tell amazing stories, despite what their detractors may think, but they do need a consistent background in which to set those stories. Creating a believable world first, would only make the next franchise stronger.

About Today's Contributor:

Ian Sturrock, Senior Lecturer in Game Design and Games Studies, Teesside University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.