Assignment 1.... Power, Games and Guns

Soooo.... after a spectacular crash and burn a few minutes ago. I've gotta come back to this with both guns blazing. To review what needs to be done:

1. must be something already done in game
2. completable within three weeks
3. viewable on this blog
4. follow the theme of POWER!

The interesting thing was that when I presented that I'd screwed the pooch... I managed to pick up a number of useful pointers. The key thing was to break down the media examples:

1. consider the individual elements:
2. sounds (ambiant, directly related)
3. variety is key for certain background elements (different voices cheering, different ways people clap, different gunshot sounds extra).

In essence, What I want to show is that scene or rather those moments the trashed good guys stagger in to cover, take a break, rest, regroup and then go back in tot he fight. Now if you are looking at where this is done in games:

 

1. Final Fantasy 8 has done this in a number of different ways... but it's not something that is actually showcased in any great detail. For example: Disc 1  just before "serious negotiations" with President Deling.  The screen cap shows the thoughts of Squall Leonhart, with "GF's equipped" highlighted in yellow. This is the moment that leads to the gearing up - the video linked above at 04:15 takes you to the equipment/inventory interface to setup your characters for battle.

 

2. Gears of War 3's opening cinematic has this, but very briefly in the last twenty or so seconds of the video. What comes before that is all a monologue/summary of events, but when she actually spraypaints on the emblem on to the side of her Lancer Assault Rifle. It's a sign of mental strength, not just the physical strength that is innate to her as a soldier.

3. The Left 4 Dead 2 opening cinematic is essentially a gear up, gear up, gear up some more opening cinematic. they start out with only melee weapons, find some firearms, then somebody gets a .50 Caliber machine gun, then a grenade launcher... Of course, this is over the progress of the game but I think you all get the idea.



Now the main inspiration for what I want to do is actually easiest explained in the ending moments of the Left 4 Dead introduction video and the first moments of gameplay from the No Mercy campaign: The Apartments. To sum it up: After having fought through a horde of infected, and killing a Tank with an apartment building's fire escape balconies and stairs, the four survivors are essentially armed with nothing but their 9mm pistols. A pile of ammo, med packs, pump action shotguns and Uzi submachine guns are on a table near by.  So what's the first that happens? Everyone grabs something. In many ways, this is the epitome of what I will be trying to do with my little video project. Indeed, this "power up" moment is possible at the outset of any map in any campaign of both Left4Dead and Left4Dead 2.

Given that this is a game, there are similiar power up points scattered all over the different maps. Sometimes its just an ammo pile to restock, sometimes there's a better weapon or weapons - better not necessarily more effective/efficient/useful weapon in a given situation. Others include pipe bombs and molotov cocktails scattered about in random corners. I think the pictures  describe what I mean:

Now for a shamless self plug/promotion: My fanfiction based on the No Mercy Campaign of Left4Dead can be found here.

In fact, such "weapon uprgrades" and ammo scavenging is prevalent on most First Person Games from Modern Warfare 1,2,3 through to the Left4Dead franchise, the Mass Effect franchise. In games where the enemy are human or humanoid alien, they tend to drop their weapons so you can pick them up when you get close enough and let's face it: If you're killing the bad guys or the other team, you are going to have to scavenge weapons at some point because you just run out of ammo. I'm still trying to find pictures to show this - video just doesn't cut it here... maybe I'll go and replay the gmae to get the shots I want... sigh... there goes my bandwidth for a week...

So in the Left4Dead universe at least - if not in the "world" of most FPS games - there seems to be no real logical reason as to where you can find such caches of weapons, explosives and firearms which fits in quite well with what I'm planning on filming.

 

In other media such as movies, this is easiest seen in war movies and those of the action adventure variety:

1. Battle Los Angeles (from 02:36) and again in Black Hawk Down an example of physical war fighting knowledge and skill and power. Of course, the Battle LA scene is at the end of the movie but it shows the power and skill of these soldiers who have gone through hell, "had breakfast" and go back in to battle. Black Hawk Down shows the Delta and Rangers gearing up before heading to war.  
2. Doom does this very indirectly as shown in this short video clip with a single line of dialogue - I can't find a video of the scene - "Quaratine Cordon is Breached! Situation is no longer containment! Grab all the weapons and ammo you can carry. We, are going through!" That one line makes clear what they are going to do: Gear up and really start hunting whatever creature/mutant/demon/monster thing that has escaped back to Earth.
3. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, specifically Aragon preparing for war at the siege of Helm's Deep, showcases his physical prowess as a soldier, the power of having friends and allies who will fight alongside him. The particular video sequence - which I can't find on YouTube is exactly the display of power, and also prowess that I hope to emulate.

 Now the obvious question is how this is used in games? Well... honestly speaking its not done much in the actual games themselves... this is something that is often left for the players to decide or resolve, as a break in the plot.

 

The Final Fantasy series does this constantly, allowing players to adjust weapons, tweak settings, powers ups, magic, costumes etc at almost any given time in the game, and in some cases will actually make sure players can do tweak and make adjustments before major boss battles or key events/moments pivotal to plot exposition - as long as it's not a cut scene.

 

Some games, however do give you a few moments to setup your equipment and weaponryas you like. one example of this is the various different "training missions" found in a variety of FPS games. Sniper: Ghost Warrior does it, Modern Warfare 2 does it, the entire set of tutorials and "boot camp" from Medal of Honor, Pacific Assault does it as well. Modern Warfare 2 had the best video so I went with that (found here), and a few pictures as well.

 

So... how the "plot" shapes up:

• A group staggering in to cover/shelter/stronghold of somekind, with a few "low level" weapons.

• Rest, recover somewhat
• Upgrade the weapons,
• Heal injuries.
• Relaod magazines
• the kick open the door and go back in to battle.
• Media element:
• The problem with videos and filmiing is that the audience is somewhat limited in what they can experience. They can see, emote and emphatise. They cannot actually feel, touch or taste anything that happens on screen.  So it comes down to the visuals and sound.

What I want to emphasize is the sounds:

• Battle in the background, softer, but eventually getting louder as the fight they ran from comes closer.
• some wounds being bandaged up, grimances, facial expressions
• the sound of magazines being loaded, grenades being slung and so forth.
• knuckle cracking, the cocking/priming of weapons.
• the sound of the door slamming open

Camera angles and lighting and dialogue and audio I've not given too much thought to but I"m keeping it fairly simple for now:

• maybe limited variation in camera angles to get in for close ups.
• dialogue will be limited.
• considering making the room shake (I'll shake a camera)

I see the whole video being about two to three minutes in length. I don't think it gets any simpler or more effective than this.