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Cutscenes
Sprocket Floss
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was wondering why we don't often see actual actors being used for main cutscenes. Obviously there are a multitiude of style choices out there and not everyone wants to create hyper-realistic characters with dynamic crow's feet but if you do then why not use an actual person?
I don't for a second want to downplay the achievement of building a new person from the ground up but it strikes me that even the most credible-looking characters carry themselves with the demeanor of a very sophisticated animatronic puppet. It seems as though most effort would have to go into the minute, almost unconscious gestures people make and while technology might eventually accomodate this, will there have been any good reason to disregard the savings in effort provided by actual acting talents? Even when motion capture is used, the effect is often wooden and subtlety seems lost.
My suggestions would be either shooting a scene with people and props for major cutscenes or filming real people against a greenscreen and then adding items by computer (armour, scars, a third eye, whatever). Would either of these be more expensive/time consuming?
I don't for a second want to downplay the achievement of building a new person from the ground up but it strikes me that even the most credible-looking characters carry themselves with the demeanor of a very sophisticated animatronic puppet. It seems as though most effort would have to go into the minute, almost unconscious gestures people make and while technology might eventually accomodate this, will there have been any good reason to disregard the savings in effort provided by actual acting talents? Even when motion capture is used, the effect is often wooden and subtlety seems lost.
My suggestions would be either shooting a scene with people and props for major cutscenes or filming real people against a greenscreen and then adding items by computer (armour, scars, a third eye, whatever). Would either of these be more expensive/time consuming?
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By 'internal consistency', do you mean the difference between seeing a computer model during gameplay and then a person during a cutscene? What about my suggestion of using a computer to touch up the appearance of a person later on? This might make it more consistent assuming that it would even be a problem for players in the first place. I would certainly live with this if it meant getting substantial characterisation where it is needed most.
Also, I don't think using actors would kill the fantasy any more than it does in movies or television.
Um... It's not really stupid. Actors get there looks put into games all the time.
spoilers for level 4:
I hope that games move more towards that fist person style which forces you to confront things up close and personal.
Okay. Now, imagine seeing the same actors in every single game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I actually did miss that. How was it horrible? If it was bad acting or bad shooting then the remedy to both is to obviously do it better.
As I see it the biggest problem would be ziz' suggestion that actors would ask for too much money or be divas about the production and want some control. From a technical standpoint though, it still sounds preferable to spending great sums of time and money just to give a level of personality that an actor could just improv.
It was bad because it was like watching a terrible B movie (ie terrible, terrible acting), and a lot of the 'actors' just look like cosplayers of some sort. It almost gives the player a feeling of embarrassment just playing the thing.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
What fraction of games would you say have good voice acting? The big name ones?
What fraction of good voice actors do you think would do well on-camera? 50%? 10%?
Imagine seeing the same Actors in every single movie.
edit: there's a HUGE difference between an actor lending his likeness to a game, and just outright having live-action cutscenes.
Having an actor lend his likeness is something I can get behind. See: Onimusha 3.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Ok I can see how this is a problem. If you wouldn't save enough money by using real actors to actually hire good ones then I guess that's the end of that. Aside from this fact though, a lot of the other problems raised (bad acting, bad costumes, generally bad ideas) could be solved by some professionalism. But I guess it isn't to be.
What's the point of using a real actor if you're just going to "touch them up" to look like their in-game model anyway? Wouldn't that just be a more roundabout version of motion capture?
Movies and television don't tend to have segments where the viewer controls a non-live action version of the character either...
And really,
Is liming still cool in G&T? I know some parts of the forum don't like it, but I can't remember which ones now...
Cutscenes themselves should probably experience the same fate. I'd like to see more developers think about how to unfold the story/relationships while the player is actually playing since involvement is the strength of video games. Watching a storypoint unfold passively has never quite sat well with me. It's kind of an immersion-breaker.
Cutscenes are great. No more cutscenes means no more Brood War intro. And that's not the kind of world I want to live in.
All cool forum sections love liming.
I prefer in-engine cutscenes. More immersion, more creative control.
Sorry, I forgot to cover my post with "IMO". But yes, in fact if i dont like something I'd like it to disappear.
I don't mind cool intros. But once the game has started and I'm "in", it should stay that way. It kind of feels like cheating to stop me from playing so that the writer can get a point across.
oh well
imo.
Cutscenes are a technique, just like a Hitchcock zoom or an unreliable narrator. They can be used for awesome, or for suck. It's all down to the execution, I guess.
Actors don't even have to be expensive. Look at the same pool those indie film makers look at.
The problem is these game devs know jack shit about directing actors.
PSN: super_emu
Xbox360 Gamertag: Emuchop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZTaa78Hgs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN2zeRbu0x4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvPQHdVG1lc
Let's not ever bring up real people in video games ever again.
And yea, real people in video game cutscenes is horrible.
So let me get this straight. You want non-interactive, live-action FMVs in your games, but simultaneously want them to disappear forever.
Your logic is obviously a whole spectrum above mine and completely inaccessible to the lower caste I belong to.
I feel like I'm repeating myself here but surely the solution to that is more professionalism. Better acting for instance. Do you honestly look at those videos and say "well that's as good an anyone could do so live action in games is pretty much out of the question"?
It doesn't matter anyway. It seems to be more important that there be optimal consistency between in-game action and cutscenes.
So if I would rather not have cutscenes in a game I am not allowed to have an opinion on how to make cutscenes better in their current state?
Your logic is obviously a whole spectrum above mine and completely inaccessible to the lower caste I belong to
Live-action acting in videogames will always be jarring and cheesy, just like it'd be jarring and cheesy to have real people suddenly pop up in the middle of a cartoon.
Oh man, this is fun.
Your solution to the problem you perceive in the current way cut-scenes are most often done is to take them in both completely opposite ways. It'd be better if it's more detached from gameplay, it'd be better if it's more integrated in the gameplay.
I'll reiterate: WHAT.
I'm not seeing the problem here man. I don't want cutscenes in games. Does this prevent me from noticing what I feel are ideological shortcomings in the current model of making them? No. For instance, characters in cutscenes act. So I started this thread with the idea that you might be better off using real actors instead.