Cinema No Hako ("Cinema in a box") was an interactive television (ITV) application that allowed Japanese users to select, preview, and watch pay-per-view videos. It was built as part of a larger ITV trial called "Zoetrope", which was launched with great fanfare in Urayasu City, Japan in January 1996.
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Interaction Design: Susan (Kropf) Gorbet
Art Direction: Lisa Waltuch
The innovative interface took advantage of the vertical/horizontal nature of Japanese writing,
combined with the limited "arrow key plus select button" interaction available on the Zoetrope
remote control. Vertical arrowing changed the genre of movie displayed, while horizontal
arrowing changed the title in the highlighted position. The highlighted movie preview played
automatically in one corner of the screen.
