The linear nature of film means there's little compromise, it is what it is, everyone gets the same experience (visually at least). However Google Creative Lab in Sydney have been exploring different ways of approaching the medium. Their new interactive cube lets the audience decide how a movie will unfold. By twisting and turning a handheld cork cube, viewers decide when and how to move from story to story, a different one being on each face of the cube. In a sense, they become the editors of a three-dimensional story, creating their own path and deciding their own narrative structure.

Steve Ayson and Damien Shatford shared the directing, settling on a loosely connected series of sequences based on the seven main plot types–comedy, tragedy, overcoming the monster and so on–with characters moving seamlessly between the different scenes of the cube’s faces.

The project debuted last week at the creative festival Semi-Permanent, in Sydney. The ultimate aim is to make the cube available as a sort of sandbox for creators. In coming months, Google plans to release an embeddable version of the player, in addition to a smartphone app which would let viewers control the cube as scenes played out.