I'm not much of a gamer. I play games occasionally, but no where near to the extent of how often I use to play, maybe 10 years ago. So when thinking about incorporating live-action in a game cinematic I was curious as to whether this was done often within the industry. I wanted to find some examples of game cinematics which utilise live-action as a major part of their promotion.
It seems that using live action in cinematics is growing in popularity, with many games releasing both animated and live action promotion.
The Halo franchise is a pretty good example. Starting with Halo 3, the franchise began to use live-action trailers and shorts for the promotion of the Halo games.
Halo 3 Promotion:
Starry night: Live action/ CGI cinematic
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, VFX by Digital Domain.
This short cinematic uses live-action only for the two
children seen at the beginning. As seen in the making of that follows
the cinematic everything else is completely digital. The realistic look
of the environments helps to blend the live-action into the CG very
well so that the change between the two is not jolting.
For
such a short clip this cinematic does a good job of helping the viewer
to relate to the characters, with the introduction providing a very
human element to the story.
Landfall:
Another promotion for Halo 3 was a small series of video teasers directed by Neill Blomkamp which were released together as Landfall. Landfall depicts the Halo universe in a live-action setting. While it is interesting to see, I felt that for the majority of the teaser I really didn't care about characters, aside from passing moments of interest (the wounded soldier being pulled from the vehicle began to add some humanity ) it wasn't until the last 2 minutes that I actually felt connected at all. Personally I feel that the teaser would have been more successful to me had that emotional connection been established earlier on.
Believe Campaign:
The Believe campaign is a series of 5 live-action ads directed by Rupert Sanders to promote Halo 3. I think that this is a really interesting and innovative promotion. The interview/ documentary style works well to expand the world in which Halo is set, and build the stories of the people who inhabit that world- rather than regurgitating cut-scenes from within the game.
The diorama seen in the last ad is really spectacular, so I also had to share it's making of here as well. The making of carries on in the same documentary style as the ads- talk about consistency!
Halo 3: ODST promotion
Moving on from Halo 3, the next installment in the series also utilised Live-Action for its cinematic. This cinematic has a really strong narrative throughout
Halo 4 promotion:
Forward Unto Dawn (2012):
Halo 4 was promoted with a live-action webseries, which was directed by Stewart Hendler.
The series is set prior to the Halo 4 game, and ties in with it. I have watched only the first part, so far it builds emotional connections to the characters well, and seems to put emphasis on continued character development.
Halo 4 'The Commissioning' 2012 E3 trailer:
Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig.
The trailer starts out with a live-action segment which develops the backstory before switching over to more of a gameplay trailer.
Halo 4 'Scanned' - Live Action launch Trailer 2012:
Directed by Tim Miller, Produced by David Fincher
I was quite impressed with this live-action cinematic for its strong sense of
narrative. It feels like an origin story, and manages to show master chief as a
child, then a soldier without feeling rushed.
The cinematic also makes good use of POV shots, which reflect the first person shooter style of gameplay in a
way that doesn't detract from the cinematic or turn it into a gameplay
trailer.
Thursday 27 February 2014
Wednesday 19 February 2014
Jumbled Thoughts
Been thinking about our project again and thought I'd better get these thoughts down.
Things to consider for our game
Story:
At this point it's hard to know what is important and what isn't. We need to be working and thinking about this project as if the game will be fully developed. The story is a really important factor in this and will be crucial for the cinematic.
I am considering the cinematic as a condensed version of a completed story, or at least the backstory of the world or characters we will be creating. There must be an element of storytelling within the cinematic, no matter how beautiful it is otherwise. Just like a film, or a game gorgeous graphics and animation doesn't make something good. Telling this story and as well as eluding to it within the limitations of a game cinematic will be the challenge. I feel that even if we are not creating the playable portion of the game it is important to understand where it is going, as well as any crucial events which would be happening in the future of this story.
Things to consider are the history and story of both the characters and the world in which they live. While histories do not need to be complete and complex, they need to be fleshed out.
It is also important to consider the role of a player within this world, and this will be affected by the type of game and gameplay mechanics. If the player is controlling a character within this world how important is this character? Is it the characters own story which drives the game or are they simply a vessel by which the player can explore the world- with more focus on the stories of this world and the other inhabitants of it?
Gameplay:
Because we are not creating a playable game the actual mechanics of the gameplay pale in importance next to other factors. It is still important to consider what type of game this would be, whether it be a RPG, first person shooter, side scroller, or whatever. I think the type of gameplay should reflect the story. The type of game will most likely be reflected within the cinematic.
Setting and Style:
The setting will obviously be affected by the story or vice-versa. Depending on what concepts we come up with creating a world which is either complete fantasy or one that is like our world but different would offer us the most creative freedom. The 'almost our world' concept would probably work well for stories which explore a hidden flipside to our world, eg supernatural entities existing within the modern world. Also would work for stories exploring history or futures within our world eg. post-apocalyptic, and would reference real-world locations. Could be seen as a type of parallel world to our own.
What to do:
At this point we don't have any clear objectives or ideas to be working with- after all it is still the first week. With this in mind the best things I can be doing for the project at this stage are to continue practicing with the technical side of things and let my brain stir up some concept ideas in the meantime. It seems I've reach the end of my train of thought, which probably means I should read though all this blah to figure out what on earth I have been talking about!
Things to consider for our game
Story:
At this point it's hard to know what is important and what isn't. We need to be working and thinking about this project as if the game will be fully developed. The story is a really important factor in this and will be crucial for the cinematic.
I am considering the cinematic as a condensed version of a completed story, or at least the backstory of the world or characters we will be creating. There must be an element of storytelling within the cinematic, no matter how beautiful it is otherwise. Just like a film, or a game gorgeous graphics and animation doesn't make something good. Telling this story and as well as eluding to it within the limitations of a game cinematic will be the challenge. I feel that even if we are not creating the playable portion of the game it is important to understand where it is going, as well as any crucial events which would be happening in the future of this story.
Things to consider are the history and story of both the characters and the world in which they live. While histories do not need to be complete and complex, they need to be fleshed out.
It is also important to consider the role of a player within this world, and this will be affected by the type of game and gameplay mechanics. If the player is controlling a character within this world how important is this character? Is it the characters own story which drives the game or are they simply a vessel by which the player can explore the world- with more focus on the stories of this world and the other inhabitants of it?
Gameplay:
Because we are not creating a playable game the actual mechanics of the gameplay pale in importance next to other factors. It is still important to consider what type of game this would be, whether it be a RPG, first person shooter, side scroller, or whatever. I think the type of gameplay should reflect the story. The type of game will most likely be reflected within the cinematic.
Setting and Style:
The setting will obviously be affected by the story or vice-versa. Depending on what concepts we come up with creating a world which is either complete fantasy or one that is like our world but different would offer us the most creative freedom. The 'almost our world' concept would probably work well for stories which explore a hidden flipside to our world, eg supernatural entities existing within the modern world. Also would work for stories exploring history or futures within our world eg. post-apocalyptic, and would reference real-world locations. Could be seen as a type of parallel world to our own.
What to do:
At this point we don't have any clear objectives or ideas to be working with- after all it is still the first week. With this in mind the best things I can be doing for the project at this stage are to continue practicing with the technical side of things and let my brain stir up some concept ideas in the meantime. It seems I've reach the end of my train of thought, which probably means I should read though all this blah to figure out what on earth I have been talking about!
Monday 17 February 2014
Getting Started
This blog will document my progress throughout my third and final year as an animation student.
Today I've been thinking about our game cinematic, and I have found some great blog posts as a good starting point for looking at some existing cinematics.
30 Badass Video Game Cinematics:
The author has collected 30 Game Cinematics to showcase in this post from 2011. This is an older post so misses some of the newer releases, but what I have seen here so far is high quality. I haven't had the time to look at them all yet but what I have seen so far is very impressive. There are two follow on posts from this, each containing another 30 cinematics, so there is plenty here to keep me busy for a while.
Another, more recent compilation from another site lists what the blogger sees as the 10 Greatest Video Game Trailers of 2013. This will also be worth a closer look later.
Today I've been thinking about our game cinematic, and I have found some great blog posts as a good starting point for looking at some existing cinematics.
30 Badass Video Game Cinematics:
The author has collected 30 Game Cinematics to showcase in this post from 2011. This is an older post so misses some of the newer releases, but what I have seen here so far is high quality. I haven't had the time to look at them all yet but what I have seen so far is very impressive. There are two follow on posts from this, each containing another 30 cinematics, so there is plenty here to keep me busy for a while.
Another, more recent compilation from another site lists what the blogger sees as the 10 Greatest Video Game Trailers of 2013. This will also be worth a closer look later.
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