One night me and my mate tom had this idea for PPP to build and create a cinema displaying two films: One a film about the day and what we do there, and one about the night and what we do then. The idea blossomed quite quickly and myself and Tom got to work immediately. I was in charge of creating the cinema (above) and tom was in charge of creating the films, hence why they are not on my blog.
As time went on the idea got better and better and was being helped by other friends of ours to contribute to the environment with ideas and tips, however there were unforeseen circumstances which lead to the project not being handed in on time. This was due to some poor time management on my part and Maya and Unity playing up. Even though the cinema is not 100% finished in terms of how i look at it i will continue to develop it even after the deadline and try and perfect it over the summer.
Recently I watched Requiem for a Dream for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through. This was mostly because My mind was so warped about the images i was seeing on the screen but also what the film was trying to tell me through these images.
Requiem for a Dream is about a Heroine addict, his girlfriend, best friend and mother. Harry Goldfarb played by Jared Leto is your typical smack addict seen above stealing a Television to obviously pay for the next hit of heroine. However at first glance this film might just seem about smack heads stealing things but the deeper meaning underneath it all is far more powerful and important than the lives of all of these individuals. The film takes a look at addiction and all of the forms it can take and how powerful and important it can become and in serious cases (such as these) how priorities shift dramatically and everything that once mattered is forgotten and lost.
There is a specific shot sequence in the film which i have found below which sets this film apart from others with this truly unique group of shots describing the taking of various drugs and the way they are taken.
Stages like: Rolling the note, drugs on the table, making lines, snorting, dilation of the pupils. These stages show the exact process flawlessly as well as the effects on your arteries and veins during this process. This shot sequences is probably the best i have ever seen in a film due to the clarity of which it is conveyed and the comparable short term effects to the longer much more severe ones, for an addict.
It is also very much worth noting the soundtrack of the film as it is absolutely perfect for the film and the same piece is played in all the dramatic scenes of the film. This may seem like it would get dull but you just love it more and more each time you hear it during the course of the film. The piece was composed by Clint Mansell and the only way to describe it is 'epic' the songs feeling can make anything you are doing feel epic just by the layering of the strings and the tempo.
The main things i took from this film was, don't take heroine and that regardless of the legality of the drug does not mean it is a safe drug. Diet pills seem harmless enough but if an old woman takes diet pills which turn out to be speed and she starts hallucinating that the fridge is trying to kill her, its safe to say that even though its legal, its very dangerous. The same can be said for heroine, Heroine is extremely addictive and dangerous as it can kill you with a single hit if not done properly. But saying this people have had healthy relationships with hard drugs in the past without becoming addicted or having an addictive personality. They only use the drugs because they want them and not because they need them. This message is crystal clear by the end that just because its legal does not mean it won't do you any harm, and this is shot perfectly to describe this.
Having already blogged about Fear and Loathing i just wanted to highlight this shot as being one of the most iconic movie snapshots of all time. However this does not just extend to this shot its the entire opening scene. The opening scenes involve a lot of dialog and shots showing the Mojave and the two men in their car driving along.
These opening scenes are really the best, I think, of the entire film as they just sum up the lives of these two men and too a certain extent they epitomise the lifestyle of the time they lived in.
The video above is the video for My Chemical Romance's 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise) and it is my favourite music video of all time.
I think the video is really powerful because its message is very clearly conveyed through the acting of the band and the situations which they find themselves in. The schoolyard environment is a very integral part of the video and this proves a good amount of attention has been paid to art direction as the video would not work in another environment as most of the stereotypical situations like being bullied for being different and failing at school and being an outcast can only be represented in an educational environment such as this one.
The variety of the situations they find themselves in just makes for a more entertaining video, as well as adding light humour such as the revenge tackle on the school mascot.
A few weeks ago a friend told me to watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, now, i had already heard of the film as it had first been a book and since i am doing a film orientated (partly) course i decided to give it a watch.
Probably one of the weirdest films i have ever watched due to the pure surreality of it and how the gravity of the situation changes very dramatically between each scene. The film is about a journalist and his psychopathic lawyer going to write a report on the Mint 400 motorcycle race taking place in the Mojave desert just out side Vegas. However during the first few scenes it becomes abundantly clear that the motorbike race has take a back seat as we are shown a suit case:
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets ofmescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full ofcocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers,downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get into locked a seriousdrugcollection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and i knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon
- Raoul Duke
The story then starts to become more about the effect of these psychedelic drugs on the human body and what effect the environment they are consumed in has on the taker. The trips experienced by the two focal characters (Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo) are often very explicit and often quite alarming due to the fantastic detail in the costumes and make up.
The scene where they enter a bar and the mescaline and LSD begin to
kick in and they people in the bar warp and twist into these
demented garish lizard like creatures which he believes are going to eat him
The heavy trip on this ridiculous drug cocktail then continues as Raoul cowers behind the bar in the room while a rival reporter attempts to discuss the race with him. This is obviously impossible due to the shear volume of drugs coursing through his system make him see the reporter as solider in vietnam with explosions and flashes going off all around him.
The film clearly states the consequences of abusing drugs to this extent and shows why there is such a thing as 'too much' but the film also outlines the glorious period of time which was the 1970s.
San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run… but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.…
- Raoul Duke
What he is essentially saying is that it should be worth noting the time you live in and where you are. Its worth taking a second to realise that when everyone was having the time of their lives you can say that 'I was There'. He also goes on to say how words and memories and music cannot describe that feeling when you were 'There' and how incredible it was to be there.
One of the most important parts of the film is that the further into their drug fuelled haze they go their objectives and goals become less and less clear and by the end you are unsure of what is actually there and what is just a fragment on their imaginations. Fear & Loathing is clever like that because as they lose their sanity you get the feeling you are losing yours without actually losing it.
As you know for this module we have been asked to create a level for a game environment. From the titles we were given chose the Alien Crash Site. I milled around ideas in my head until I decided upon a basic storyline to describe the events which would unfold during the scene
Broad Audience:Mature Mood: Eerie & Foreboding
A man driving a red pick up truck is making his way down a
road winding down a mountain. He comes upon a massive evidence of destruction and
a large hole in the fence bordering the mountain trail. The man gets out of his
vehicle to investigate (this would be where the player starts playing). The man
then picks his way through the mess continues
down a slowly sloping path bordered by broken earth rocks and grass. As the man
advances down this path he begins to see shards of jagged metal and smoke
rising from a mysterious looking vehicle
There
appears to be nothing alive around the crash site, nothing but debris and
earth, but then the man then turns to examine the rest of the area and turns
around to see an aliens head impaled into the ground by its spine .
Starting hill with the truck the player arrives in
^The above has had alterations where the scene did not come out as expected. Such as the long forrest path was impractical to do due to walkable game space available to us. I started with a blank game environment in unity and began to mould the hill which would be the starting point of the game.
The ship ground to a halt after hitting the hill
The alien crash site brief did not specify how it had crashed so i decided that instead of it having just hit the ground I thought it would be better to show it had it a lip of some sort (the edge of the hill), crashed through it and slowly ground to a halt several metres in front of it. I thought this would add more realism to the scene rather than it just be a spaceship in the ground.
After completing the ditch and run off from the crash i decided the stock terrain around it was too flat so i used the raise/lower terrain tool with the opacity turned down (this stops the edges of the hill becoming too steep) and brushed lightly over the ground so there was slight bumps and mounds. This had a profound effect on the realism of the scene.
The bumps and hills in the scene have made it look like a real forrest
The next step was to start texturing the ground. I did this using the paint tool and applied the 'GrassyRock' paint to the whole environment. This was to be the base colour for the environment and the other paints and colours would then go over the top in their correct places.
The next step was to add the colours in their correct places, this meant deciding what kind of soil or texture to apply to certain areas which would differ in reality. I found the texture forrest floor which was ideal as there would be a lot of trees to be added later on. For the groove the ship caused when it crashed i used a combination of good dirt, cliff edge and grass. This combination helped me achieve the goal of making it look like stuff had been thrown in all directions showing the impact of the ship in the ground.
The good dirt shown a lot in the main ditch area. The top right shows the green of the forrest floor
After applying the paint to the ground i need to add the trees. I imported some more trees from a terrain package and started adding the carefully to the scene. I had to make sure there were little to no trees around the crash area as they would have been destroyed in the crash and probably burnt. I used 'ScottsPine' to create the bulk of the trees and then added 'BigTree' and various others to give a more varied forrest environment. I then looked at the scene and realised that forrest was still really empty and needed some more things to pad it out. I then added some random bushes and plants to give an accurate representation of a forrest, i then added some rocks making sure to put more around the crash site, and the ditch itself.
The combination of all the colours in the paint textures makes the forrest look so much more life like
After adding the natural assets i decided to move on to adding the key features of the scene: Firstly i imported the red pick up truck i use to insinuate the way in which the player arrived in this place. I then added the spaceship and carefully placed it into the ditch. After placing the spaceship i realised it had gaps between it and the ground. I rectified this by using the raise tool so it looked like the nose of the ship had been partially buried under the debris.
The next step was to add the aliens head, first time round I had it dangling from a tree by the end of its spine, but on reflection the head was not in proportion to the tree so instead i impaled it into the ground using the spine as a support. I then imported the alien ray-gun and placed it just behind the ship, as i did with the head, so it isn't instantly visible when you start the game.
The crashed spaceship
The final stages of this scene was to add a skybox to give the scene sky. I first used an 'eerie' sky box to give a ominous effect but then after testing i found a sunset one which worked a lot better as the fading sunlight casts a strange yellow-orange light which turned out to be a lot more eerie than the eerie skybox
Sunset skybox was a much better idea
The final stage was to add fire, smoke and sounds. I created a particle system and edited the attributes to make a more intense flame like the one which would be produced in an engine fire. I then added billowing smoke just above the start of the fire. I did this for two engines, one just had smoke and the other was left empty, to give variety.
The creation of this game was actually a really rewarding experience and the final outcome was much better than I originally expected. If i was to do this again i would remake the pick up and add more detail to it as well as creating an entire alien and the inside of the spaceship.
Already I have talked about Go3 and Skyrim but games which don't really 'need' good texturing are still worth noting when they have good texturing. For example FIFA 12 is purely designed for the footballing experience but over recent years the texturing and modelling has improved dramatically. The faces of the players now look nigh on identical to their real counterparts.
The two images above show Cesc Fabregas a player for FC Barcalona. The evidence of the intent to make the players look as life like as possible is clear as they have textured and modelled everything down to the last hair on his face.
However FIFA 12 also shows some of the worst attempts at modelling i have ever seen, this is by way of the crowd in the background. Like i said the texturing is not a main focus of FIFA 12 but the crowds animation is so depressingly shit that it needs to be sorted out. Multiple people will always stand up to cheer and never move independently of each other. they will often wear the same clothes and look the same facially as well. I mention this because bad textures need to be addressed as well as the good ones
The texturing on Gears of War is another game that has come out that has stunned audiences with its graphics and asset modelling. This is however very different from Skyrim visually. Gears of war always seems a lot darker which is obviously to link with the mood of 3 and the trilogy in general. The dark haze which settles over everything along with the destroyed cities dead people and rampant alien monsters killing everyone means that dark colours are used frequently. Nothing ever looks new or pristine and nothing ever looks nice.
The textures are also indicative of the sheer brutality which takes place in the game. This ultra realism combined with the excellent texturing makes you feel like you're playing a film. This is further supported by the storyline which really well voice acted and is written coherently and intelligently. You may say that this has nothing to do with the texturing but without this combination of texturing and acting you would have a game which was no where near as good as this.
Skyrim's texturing is one of the best i have ever witnessed while playing any game. Bethesda have really out done themselves with the quality and detail of very single plant flower and animal in the game.
The quality of the texturing actually makes the game a lot more fun to play as the reality factor is greatly increased so players are felt to be part of this world.
The dragons especially are textured to perfection and look as good (ish) as the CGI on a lot of major recent blockbusters. The most impressive part of the dragon is its intricate scale patterns which cover its body. I have come to appreciate this due to working in Unity and Maya, and that to have a well textured model needs to be achieved if you're going to have it as an asset.
The details are what make Skyrim one of the best games ever made, the skyboxes have bee crafted to perfection depicting weather changes including massive foreboding clouds showing coming rain or snow or going up to the highest peaks and seeing the 'northern lights'
Above are the main assets i have used in my game environment. They consist of the Alien's head and gun and the pick up truck the playable character arrives in. I modelled and textured all of these in maya using textures from the internet and bump mapping to give (especially) the aliens skin and the rust on the barrel a more realistic surface.
