Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2007

Oh yeh.....

Oh yeh I forgot to post here about this panel I was on in San Francisco... I doubt any of yall are in SF anyway so it probably didn't matter... I was supposed to create an introductory video and of course I stayed up all night and did it at the last minute...Check it out I'm totally professional :) It has the WATS trailer in the middle so just skip that part... Watch M dot's "Innovation Salon" Intro Video It was a pretty cool event as I got to meet Stu from the Orphanage, This Cool d00d from EA, and the CEO of IODA... If you are in SF and want to go to the next Innovation Salon check it out here! BAVC Innovation Salon

ACT 3 : EVERYTHING EXPLODES

So yeh in this like made up game--->film theory of mine Act 3 is the ending cinematics. So when Act 3 rolls around in a game, its already over. So what happens in these cinematics? All the loose ends are tied up, the opposition is dead, the protagonist is safe and the world is usually a better place. Most games, like mainstream films have closed endings. A closed ending is just that, it isn't open for interpretation. We know the protagonist succeeded at achieving his goals, and we have no doubt that the opposition is gone and won't come back. Just look back at my notes about archplot from Robert Mckee's book story as I summarized all this closed ending stuff. So what should you do in Act 3 in your film? So your protagonist overcame all the obstacles your threw at him and now he/she should reap the rewards or die a horrible Death!!!?! It's up to you whether you want a "happy" or "sad" ending but it should be a definitive end unless your planning on

Act 2 : GAME PLAY : CONFRONTATION

The first time you take control of the character in a game it is already Act 2. Act 2 is confrontation. In most games what usually happens after you take control of the character for the first time? Enemies come after you, you are presented with obstacles, confrontation. According to my mega notes the purpose of Act 2 is: -Confrontation: Monsters, zombies, killer robots come after you and you have to kill them or be killed. The enemies are obstacles that you must confront. There is lots of confrontation and action. In Resident Evil 4 you only have to take about 10 paces after your first take control of Leon before some crazed dude tries to split your head open.... yeh thats confrontation and he's an obstacle. -Subplots blossom: In Resident Evil 4 we meet Antonio Depp who is a scientist who helped create the crazies...OOOH subplot! And he becomes our friend and we care about this guy and what happens to him. If you bring the subplots in during Act 1 you might cause confusion about

How your favorite video games can help you make a film that is not teh sux0R

M dot Strange is a mixed media animator from San Jose, Ca. He recently singlehandedly completed an 88 minute animated film entitled "We are the Strange" which made its world premiere in January of this year at the Sundance Film Festival. A reviewer that saw the film M dot made in his bedroom with 9 PC's over the course of 3 years said "it looked like something Hollywood would make for 70 million" He has recently been featured in the NY Times, ABC World News , Wired.com and his youtube videos have been viewed over a million times. Recently I did a few lectures on animation and film making for San Jose State University students. One of the students asked a question about how video gaming had influenced the way I developed the narrative in We are the Strange. At the moment I hadn't really thought about how video games had influenced the narrative aspects of the film. Retro video games have obviously influenced my visual style but until tonight I hadn't real

Professor_Strange ;)

So I've done a few animation lectures recently and I have a few more in the next month... My presentation is on Mixed_Media_Animation... it includes screen capture video clips and the like... I'm trying to figure out the best way to make it available online... but when I do I will post it here... I've also read a ton of good writing books recently and I will post reviews here soon...