The merge between video games and film

To collaborate my 2D Live action fighter film, I’ve been examining the recent merges with film and video games. While making the predecessor to this movie, I researched fight scenes in movies, but I don’t feel like it’s as relevant as I’d have liked. There’s a link to this in the blog address that I posted below a few posts.

As for the topic of video games and movies, I believe that the first step in the cycle was from video game movie adaptations. The first movie adaptation of a video game ever made was ‘Super Mario Bros: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!’. A Japanese anime movie released in 1986. After a few years that included many animated Pokemon movies, the Super Mario Bros later saw a live action western movie in 1993.

In our modern times, nearly every popular video game series has been or is getting a movie counterpart, or a series of movies in the case of Resident Evil. Tomb Raider got itself two movies, and now is in pre-production for a reboot of the series, shortly after the video game universe rebooted itself lately.

So you can take my word for it that there are more than many film adaptations of video games, but how do they work as movies? Do they include the boss battles, or how about the health packs and game overs?

I think when it comes to Hollywood; the movies they create of video games can be watched with absolutely no knowledge of the video games existence. This way they can appeal to much wider audiences, as well as finding a good script writer and director that have actually played the games may be tedious. The movies are just like any other action movie, though I can’t think of a single video game adaptation that isn’t an action movie, or a racing one.

The Resident Evil movies are interesting because it started out being it’s own movie universe with its own characters, but by the third or fourth film, it had introduced a few main characters from the latest games, as well as the main antagonist of the movies is the previous villain who has actually already died in the game universe, and strangely enough dies in a completely different way in one of the movies. The latest Resident Evil movie is also quite questionable as it has more aspects of the video games than just the characters. It involves boss fights, and arena style areas for the bosses to be killed before they can move onto the next area – Just like a game.

And then we look at the reverse, video games trying to be movies. There has always been a slight element of this present in games with the cutscenes. ‘cutscene’ is the terminology used for the parts of a video game where the control is removed from the player and they are simply shown a video of the characters progressing the story themselves for a short time. This gets even more complicated however, as cutscenes have lately been on the decrease, with many game developers favouring the approach of never taking the control away from the player at all. This can involve the player wandering around a room controlling a silent ‘invisible’ character while all of the non-playable characters talk amongst themselves and are oblivious to you (the player) jumping on top of their heads and on tables.

The other approach developers have been taking with cut scenes lately are interactive ones, usually something called ‘quick time events’. These are fast action orientated scenes where a button prompt for the controller is shown on screen and the player has a mere second to press that button in time to ensure a positive outcome of the cutscene and allow the story to progress.

Some games are unfavoured due to being referred to as far too close to a movie for a video game. The video games from the company Quantic Dream are often spoken of like this. Three of their games; Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, and Beyond: Two Souls all have an equally (if not more so throughout the games) climatic movie like gameplay style. To sum it up without going into detail about the gameplay, if people watch you playing these games, they often think it’s a movie.

Over a year ago, I made a film that parodies the video game ‘Heavy Rain’, due to it already being like a movie. It was well received by the internet, and to those who are familiar with the game, the likeness is definitely there.

 

Previous blog work

Here is the blog address with all the research and development concerning the previous 2D Video game style battle film that I made. It also contains an analysis of fight scenes in movies.

http://bkdfmp.tumblr.com/

Critical Evaluation

1.              What research or influence is the work informed by?

 

Every aspect of fighter video games influences my film.

 

2.              What were/are your intention when starting/developing the project?  What were you attempting to achieve?

 

I am attempting to surpass the similar film I’ve previously made.

 

3.              Describe the work in terms of visual aesthetics (materials, use of processes, etc)

 

The entire film is chroma keyed on a green screen, while the backgrounds are animated photographs. The music is a similar electronic tone and intensity to the original, as well as being similar to that of the video games.

 

4.              What visual understanding does/will the work exhibit? (How and why have you selected materials and processes, why have you developed some ideas but dropped others, etc.)

 

My film should show a good understanding of editing, and After Effects work. I have aimed to surpass my previous film, but have mostly dropped my intention to create 3D camera angle changing aspects. I have still kept the cinematic moments where the camera changes to show the pre-special attacks.

 

5.              What practical skill does/will the work exhibit (Have you pushed your making skills to the limit – how and why? What has this shown you? etc.)

 

It exhibits my work as an editor, and skills with chroma keying, as well as determination to get the perfect shots. I have definitely intended to push my movie making skills beyond my limit once again.

 

6.              What is the work’s main strength?

 

Editing, and ability with After Effects.

 

7.              Does the work have any weaknesses?

 

I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m trying to remove all weaknesses.

 

8.              Looking back to the 2nd question, how effective is the work that you have produced – technically, visually and conceptually? Have you achieved what you wanted to or have you changed direction, if so why?

 

This is the most technical heavy project I’ve ever made, which I think is the best way to test and prove my skills as an editor.

 

9.              Were you to produce this work again, what could you do to improve it?

 

I think this question could already apply to this project, as I am doing exactly that. I am creating a better and bigger version of a film I made over a year ago. Everything I wanted to change in that film, will be improved on in this project

Key areas of learning

1. How did/will this project consolidate and extend your creative skills and knowledge towards your individual career aspirations and desired areas of practice.

 

My aspirations here are to express and practice the extent of my skills as an editor. I’m pushing my abilities once again with a follow up to a project I did over a year ago for a Final Major Project. I’m developing the idea further, and taking it as far as I can at this stage of my skills.

 

2. How did/will the Film and Media work that you produced explore and articulate key codes, conventions and practices of Drama or Factual film and media.

 

While the film I’m creating doesn’t follow a typical narrative or practices of film making, it does take from an analysis of the fighter genre of video games. The aim is to create something that at a glance looks like the average video game fighter.

 

3. How did/will you investigate areas of synergy, dialogue and exchange between genres, disciplines and specialisms?

(E.g. The makers of Breaking Bad combine crime drama with absurdist comedy. Captain Philips and District 9, both use documentary styles in a drama to differing effect. How did you explore, contrast or recombine genres, disciplines and specialisms?  Did you gain any insights or open up any creative possibilities?)

 

I think I am uniquely combining video games and films once again.  Video games try so hard to be like movies lately, so now I do the reverse.

 

4. How did/will you plan and manage your research, experimentation and development?

(E.g. How did you create a critically focused research portfolio/blog, one that could be a useful resource for you on future projects and one that is also effective for working with collaborators and possible funders?)

 

I am researching into the fighter genre of video games.

Death and Twix

This short film was shot and edited in a group in about three hours time. Just like my full project, I’m the editor.

The aim for this mini project was for the groups of the class to randomly pick a piece of paper from a set of quotes. The quote that picked us was “My! Surely this must mean something?”. A cheesy quote if any, but it was added in at the end of the film while the plot was created purely around the quote.

Title Sequence – Doctor Who

Here is my recreation of the Doctor Who title sequence, and it takes the brief requirement of having a green screen element one step further, as every shot in this is green screened. As I started the initial editing, I found myself frequently needing to watch over 10 minute videos in search of how to properly use the software or for a simple shortcut, but it paid off in the end.

The Tardis

There were a total of three Tardises used in the project. The first Tardis, which is shown in the second shot of the film extremely close up wasn’t actually a Tardis at all. None of the Tardis images I could find were both fully front-on nor HD, so the one that you see is simply the front of one that I compiled in Photoshop from different elements I found on the internet. Below on the right are all the elements used, and to the left is the final product that you see in the film.

As the film continues, two more Tardises are shown, these are simply images from the internet. I had originally planned to include a scene of the Tardis spinning through space, but found this difficult without any modeling software, and in the end I decided it wouldn’t be worth just ripping a spinning Tardis from Youtube.

While the third Tardis used in the last shot of the film was just a fairly weathered looking one, the second was edited to let me walk right inside.

This was done by Photoshopping this full image of a tardis..

The background was removed as well as the reflections in the windows. The door side of the Tardis was moved to the left side to suite the scene better. I then cut out the door that I wanted to open, and saved these two files..

                  The door was animated in Premiere on an axis similar to an actual doors motion.

Using layers, appropriate audio, and the background of the insides of the Tardis; I created the illusion of entering one and taking off.

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Chroma Keying

I used two main plug-ins on this project, and they are

*Video Copilot – Optical Flares

*Red Giant – Primatte

Both are very present in the film, the optical flares are all throughout the film, and add an aspect of sci-fi. I also found them useful to make the inside of the Tardis seem real as I opened the door, and were used as a slight flickering sun in the back of the frame.

The Red Giant Primatte plug in was one of my last decisions as it replaced Keylight for me. After rendering the project, I realised that the footage was shot with a too higher exposure, making Keylight struggle with the keying.

I also used a tutorial from Video Copilot called “The Dead Planet” which features at the end of the film.

Here is the difference of the final film and earlier tests. (An earlier optical flare set is also present). The first image has poor optical flares that obstruct my face. The second and third screenshot have the same flares but show the switch from Keylight to Primatte. As you can see, it’s removed the graininess that’s more evident in the moving image than a screenshot, and I was more successful at removing the outline.

Throughout the title sequence, I tried to represent the Doctor and the adventures and dangers that he faces. It starts with the Doctor giving the same warning message that Matt Smith gives to an alien on his first episode. The usage of slow motion in this film was inspired from the title sequence of ‘Watchmen’ by Zack Snyder. The final shot showing him standing on an alien planet in an alien universe represents the Doctor as a time lord and his power over space and time.

Title sequence progress

I’m expanding my knowledge of Premiere and After Effects as I’ve never used them for such a demanding project before.

Editing – Trailer project

Here is a trailer for Nanny McPhee we made that changes the genre to a horror.

I kept in mind the conventions from my Dark Skies trailer analysis.

Working with Amy and Connor, we originally planned on creating a trailer for Jackass, to make it seem like a horror movie. Our idea changed to Nanny McPhee as a horror when we realised the contrast between the genres wouldn’t be very great, as Jackass already contains plenty of screaming and pain. However Nanny McPhee is for children and to turn it into a horror would be much greater and make the final product more effective.

We worked in and out of college on the edit. We started by watching Nanny McPhee and picking any moments or dialogue that we thought would be useful. At home I went through the movie again for more scenes, as well as watched the sequel.

We’re happy with the outcome and the trailer has been very well received on the internet.

Editing – Non chronological

Here, I have recreated the opening to the first Lord of the Rings movie by Peter Jackson.

In the original, the movie starts with a battle at Mount Doom that occured hundreds of years ago. In my version, this has been replaced with the last scene of the third movie, which is also at Mount Doom.

Showing this was well received by the class and those who have not seen Lord of the Rings before found this edit to be suspenseful and left them wanting to watch the movie. Other students made comments that this edit would change your opinion of the main character throughout the movie, as the whole time you would be expecting him to turn evil.

I believe this is a good example of non-chronological editing.

Steadicam Video Tutorial

I worked in a group with Connor, Katy and Richard. Connor and Katy presented on screen while I worked the camera and Richard held the light reflector. I also did editing