Mosaic – A revolutionary glimpse into the future of TV?

Director Steven Soderbergh has recently released a new app called Mosaic which offers users a new and unique TV viewing experience. Mosaic is a murder mystery story shot with actors following a script like any other TV show or movie, but the way which it is edited together and presented to viewers is unconventional. The app has an interactive element which allows viewers to choose which character they want to follow at different points in the story.

Soderbergh has acknowledged that “branching narrative has been around for a long time”, but he maintains that Mosaic is a new take on this format. The viewer doesn’t get any choice in how the story pans out; they merely get to choose how the presentation of the story to them and who they follow. Since the release of the show is through an app, it’s a radically new medium for a TV show which allows for more interactivity.

I’m not even sure you could call Mosaic a TV show, it’s something so much more

Mosaic is a glimpse at the kind of thing we could be seeing more of in the future; a new phenomenon that will rock the industry. It’s somewhat early to judge, but Mosaic is being met with favourable reviews so far. Users have praised the production for being ‘unique’, and one user even commented: “I’m not even sure you could call Mosaic a TV show, it’s something so much more”.

Much of the praise for Mosaic seems to be aimed at an impressive cast and story, meaning that the production remains strong in spite of its novel format. Indeed, Mosaic is also set to air as a six-part series in January, edited together from the seven hours plus of footage. Certainly, Mosaic appears to be a strong start to this potential new medium for TV.

The inconvenience of not being able to use other apps while watching TV might put people off

However, the Guardian article on Mosaic draws attention to a potential flaw in the idea behind the show: ‘Modern viewers watch TV while scrolling their smartphones anyway, so by factoring their devices into the experience, Soderbergh is effectively demanding engagement while negating that slow drift into social media.’

People use their smartphones to distract them when their attention in the world around them is waning, and so trying to ‘demand’ engagement is not going to be that simple. The inconvenience of not being able to use other apps while watching TV might put people off. In fact, the temptation to just close the app altogether and do one of the many different things possible on a smartphone is also a danger to this idea.

Innovations such as Mosaic could potentially change the way we watch TV altogether. Adding an interactive element could serve to keep viewers engaged in an age when fewer people are willing to watch TV without scrolling on their smartphones at the same time.