This dissertation will be looking at how and why
Chapter One Part One will be focusing on actor’s performance, by actors and effects to create the T-1000 character from the film Terminator 2, 1991 which imitates a human life form but is made out of liquid metal. This first chapter will also look at other equally digitalised characters demonstrating how 3D characters are shown in up to date films, And at current theory of realism in films and games, both live action 3D, and a combination of the two.
Chapter One Part Two will be looking at the games adaptations of films, which were out at the date of the films release, to show how games looked even with films realistic attempts and how realism in games over time has gotten better on the new generations of game consoles.
Chapter Two Part One will be looking at how similar effects, have been used to create other none human characters such as dinosaurs in films like Jurassic Park 1993and how 3D graphics within two years have changed since Terminator 2 and then comparing it to Walking With dinosaurs 2006 to show how a TV show has created their realistic adaptation of dinosaurs.
Chapter Two Part Two will look at games with animals such as dinosaurs and like the first chapter compare it to its film counterpart showing how animals have been interpreted in games and how they look compared to films.
Chapter Three Part One will be looking at films that make human characters both real and CGI more than what is possible, giving them super powers/ abilities such as flying, super strength to make them more than human but move in real ways making them hyper real .
Chapter Three Part Two will be exploring how games recreate characters like these and how games incorporate these characteristics, making interesting games with different character archetypes.
Chapter Four Part One will be looking at non realistic cartoon characters such as Roger Rabbit and how these characters, next to real people, can look in films, whilst comparing it to cartoon characters that have been made to represent the real whilst keeping the animations like that of a cartoon such as Scooby Doo.
Chapter Four Part Two will be looking at games that use characters that are not made to represent the real such as Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter and how games are different with characters that are not addressing realistic characters.
Before looking at examples of realism in ether media, it’s important to understand the complications of what realism can bring to films and games. Now looking at what realism means and what is involves creating a film or video- game with this art style in mind. Many films/games have attempted to do realistic effects in both medias going from simple effects like explosions all the way to full 3D almost realistic animated films such as Final Fantasy: Spirits Within.
All these examples try to give the audience a new and fresh experience that will expand upon or offer a new visual entertainment factor to a film or video game.
“Realistic films attempt to reproduce the surface of reality with a minimum of distortion. In photography objects and events, the film maker tries to suggest the copiousness of life itself. But both realist and formalist film directors must select (and hence, emphasize) certain details from the chaotic sprawl of reality”
(Giannetti L. 1993: 12)
Therefore films with a fantasy visual style of elements like magic and mythological creatures, which may differ from the real, can be created to a visually realistic standard that the viewer can relate as being real, only to the point that the audience can recognise the elements that are being shown, and relate it to the real fundamentals that these fantasy elements are viewed in the real world, for example dragons are closely related to dinosaurs or other reptile animals, magic powers are manifestations of the four elements (Fire, water, wind, earth) and most mythological creatures are normal animals with a extra attributes e.g. Pegasus a horse with wings, Medusa a woman with a snake body and snakehead hair:
“But the element of selectivity in realistic films is less obvious. In short try to preserve the illusion that their film world is un-manipulated an objective mirror of the actual world. Even in movies that attempt of superficial realism, the subject mater itself is often fantastic, emphasising on special effects and the visual appeal of the shapes, lines, textures and colours of the images.”
(Giannetti L. 1993: 2)
Chapter 1 Part 1 - Realistic Characters in Films
There are many examples of films that use effects to create realism but for the purpose of this discussion I will be looking at James Cameron’s 1991 film Terminator 2 Judgement Day. Before the creation of the T-1000, James Cameron needed to create the idea of what it is that makes the T-1000, played by Robert Patrick different to the T-101 cyborg model played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The T-101 was meant to be the perfect infiltrator using its human appearance to get to the objective and eliminate its target. But to be played by such a overly sized individual such as Arnold Schwarzenegger made the cyborg as real as possible whilst giving the audience the disbelief that his body is not real and in fact inhuman which goes against the fact that he is designed to blend into an environment without bringing attention to himself.
Because of Arnold Schwarzenegger is masculinity it made his performance rigid and robotic which best suited the role of the Terminator in the first film, whist comparing the action to the role of Kyle Reese played by Michael Biehn whose performance is more dynamic and at a faster pace in compared to Arnold –Schwarzenegger powerful inhuman role.
Both of the roles needed to be put together to show the clear difference between the characters, whilst the plot explains the difference expressing human emotions which sets the characters apart.
In Terminator 2 this was also looked at but in a different way. The character of John Conner is trying to teach the cyborg what it is to be human, which from then on changed the performance of the Terminator T-101.
With all this in mind the T-1000 needed to be more than both characters in the first movie, it needed the fluidity of a young energetic character whist having the presence of the T-101. It needed to look more the part of modern society; it needed to be a better mimic of a human, able to take the role of anyone. This gave the director the possible chance to get someone a bit more dynamic in contrast to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character. So for Terminator 2: Judgment Day the introduction of a “mimetic polyalloy” (liquid metal) cyborg was created. The T-1000 has the ability to morph into a shape of its surroundings of equal mass, heal itself, reconstructed itself after being destroyed and more importantly can morph into other humans.
Due to the films realistic construction of the abilities of a partly artificial character
(T-1000 played by Robert Patrick), director James Cameron decided to use the same C.G.I (Computer Generated Imagery) software methods known as “Enveloping” that he started using in the 1989 film The Abyss.
This technique was used to create realistic moving water that can morph into human features such as a face, which is now able to create a 3D human body with muscle and bone geometry that will work with an overlaying mesh which is made into reactive skin which can move, stretch and crease over the top depending on the movement of what’s underneath:
“One of the biggest breakthroughs on the animation front was Enveloping, an in-house tool ILM developed specifically to enhance the dinosaurs animation. Working in conjunction with Body Shock the programme developers used for the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Enveloping allowed animators to make the computer generated flesh move with all the realism of actual skin moving against muscle and bone.”
(Catta M & Patricia R. 1996: 220)
In 1991 the T-1000 was created using state of the art 3D graphics technology a S.G.I format In order to build a fully digital chrome man with all the details of a real body. All this technology was used only to create something that looked as good as it needed to be, for such a film. From its wireframe to a character with skin and musculature, the team who worked on it needed to record Robert Patrick’s motion characteristics. After the SGI format compiled all the data from the movement of the actor, it was given over to the ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) Human Motion Team to animate the human rig. Another programme was created for T2 to help the animators create the realistic looks of some of the shots in the film.
The programme was called the Make Sticky Software. This technique was used extensively in Terminator 2 but a good example is when the T-1000 passes through the metal bars at the mental hospital hallway.
“The surrealistic effect was achieved by filming two plates, one, a pass of an empty corridor with the bars in place, the second a shot of the actor in possession with no bars in the shot. Both plates were scanned into a computer, and a 3D computer model of Robert Patrick was match-moved to the live action footage of the actor walking through the area where the bars would be in the final shot”.
(Catta M & Patricia R. 1996: 206)
This effect was used in the film to really show that the T-1000 was better than the T-101 version and can do what other models can’t, but it was also a way to show that it was getting damaged to a point that it can’t fix itself, which was shown after it got frozen and destroyed, In scenes after the character got destroyed and rebuild himself parts of its body like his feet started to morph into the floor textures or its hand became apart of a pole when he touched the item:
“Animating visual effects and characters for live action requires a unique approach that is usually quite different from traditional animation. Since the main goal of visual effects animation is to complement live action.”
(Kerlow I, 2001: 19
Like the Terminator in the first film, some characteristics needed to carry on into the T-1000. For example, the character doesn’t blink; the character seems to be scanning the environment like a computer. All these robotic gestures needed to be acted to a convincing standard for those who are watching the film.
Before the T-1000 even goes through its chrome morph stage, the actor must get the performance perfect for the film; all the robotic and human characteristics must be blended to also give the audience the illusion that this cyborg can be real, that this blend of human and machine is possible.
In order to do this successfully the director must know how people react with pictures and performances, and what pleasures they get from such styles as realism in films like the Terminator.
New films like The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2008 both use 3D software to create realistic character within the context of what they are. For example, the Iron Man is simply a suit of armour with nothing defining emotion it’s simply a tool compared to The Incredible Hulk which needs all the flexibility that a human needs not only on movement such as walking but on all the small details e.g. skin stretching, skin creasing or even simply hair movement. As shown in the picture at the bottom showing the Hulk, a super human character that is visually realistic but still holds the unrealistic attributes that the character needs to make it interesting. But the Iron man needs to be realistic only to the point that the audience understands what the character is and how it moves compared to other machines such as planes and tanks, both which become an obstacle within the film visually demonstrating that its better than both and yet only a man in a armoured suit.
Chapter 1 Part 2 - Realistic Games
In games, most if not all of the above can be reconstructed in a style suitable for a game’s audience, the only difference is the fact that the technology used in games, whilst software creation not only for this film was on the increase to help animators smoothed out and blended together the edges of their animations both live action and what is now seen in modern games, now there getting more visually realistic doesn’t visually get as close to realism as films and there are no real actors that can be visually seen, but yet it is steadily getting closer in a graphics context. Most of video game realism outside cut scenes, even in the next gen computer consoles which use H.D technology, comes from the use of motion capture, which can give a 3D character, the realistic movement of a human, whilst being something bigger, stronger, and faster than the real thing.
This will be performed by actors who will take the role of the 3D character or characters in things like AI characteristics or just standard movements like walking, jumping and fighting. There is increasingly more game using motion capture, as new generations of games consoles get built e.g. the PlayStation 3. For the purpose of this discussion this essay will be looking at the Metal Gear Solid saga and how motion capture helped to create what is known as the games that tried to be
than the second film and yet still need to work on it’s visuals to even start getting close to the film and yet if you look at what the Terminator title looked like when the film was released you can clearly see the difference in visual quality has massively jumped even from 2D to 3D in 13 years and being on a last generation console such as the PS2 one can only imagine what the future of game might look like. Now here are game’s which have tried to be film.
Metal Gear Solid saga is far from being visually realistic even when the PlayStation 3 has its high resolution title Metal Gear Solid 4 Sons of the Patriots, it still doesn’t get to a realistic standard that films computer generated imagery provides. As the screen shots are shown in a time line you can see how fast computer games have come to become more visually realistic so too has animation and Artificial Intelligence (A.I). From Metal Gear Solid 2 there is an enhanced A.I put in place to make it much more challenging for the player and to give a basic feeling that the enemy solders are performing something natural that the player can respond to. The enemy solders have been animated with Motion capture to give the visual effect of realism, but only to the extent of their role in the game.
When the guards see you, their behavioural AI animation will get triggered and they'll take a few pot shots, before taking cover and radioing for backup. They provide each other with covering fire as they move between areas of cover. They'll run away from grenades, throw their own to weed you out of places and advance slowly to corner you. If you don't take them on but go hide instead, the team will search the area often using S.W.A.T-style tactics (breach, bang and clear). A strike team will enter a room and check every last area for the enemy (apart from the all-important lockers!). Even if you manage to take out a guard quick enough, the radio controller will get anxious if he doesn't check in and send a squad to investigate anyway. If the squad finds the soldiers, they'll increase presence in the area by adding reinforcements to the patrol routes.
All these characteristics can be done with motion dynamics, which is the backbone of this games core function, and has created an almost realistic combat system that fits in the theme of stealth games e.g. Splinter Cell 2002, Tenchu 1998.
Because Hideo Kojima wanted to make a film-like game, it needed to follow the same rules of cinematography, which can over power the playability of the game making it have lengthy cut scenes, possibly irritating the player after the first time of completion. But because of the extent of realism which has tried to be added into the game motion dynamic techniques other than human movement were put in place for rain, sea water and any other movable object in the game:
“Motion dynamic animation techniques generate realistic motion of object by simulating their physical properties and the natural laws of physical motion.
Motion dynamic techniques take into account the characteristics of an object such as weight, mass, inertia and flexibility, as well as external forces such as friction or gravity, and even collisions with other objects. Motion dynamics can be combined with other animated techniques.”
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Chapter 2 Part 1 - Realistic Animals in Films
Chapter 2 will be looking at 3D realistic representations of animals and other characters such as dinosaurs, aliens and monsters which populate films and games that use the same methods as the last chapter.
This part of the chapter will be looking at Steven Spielbergs 1993’s Jurassic Park, and how artists, animators and state of the art technology created realistic dinosaurs.
Whilst looking at other films and television programmes, that have used animals like dinosaurs, such as B.B.C’s 1999 Walking With Dinosaurs and the Peter Jacksons 2005 remake of King Kong which featured a fight scene with a group of Tyrannosaurus Rex’s.
Now
All these films and TV programmes have tried to create realistic dinosaurs even when it may not be the key focus of the film/ programme, and within the context of the script and focus of what the producer/ directors idea has successfully got achieved. But what is it to be realistic when creating and animating an animal that no one has seen other than bones at a museum?
For Jurassic park Steven Spielberg got I.L.M’s (Industrial Light and Magic) Stan Winston, creator of the models and effects from the Terminator trilogy, Aliens, Predator and dozens of other equally special effects heavy films. Him and his team whilst being experts in their field really didn’t know how to do such a job and spent months preparing animatics and other means of showing how they can create a dinosaur that pleases Steven Spielbergs idea on what he wants to see in the film:
“During preproduction, Tippett directed a team of eight I.L.M animators and two animator’s from his shop in an active course of study to prepare them for their roles as dinosaur performers. They observed animals at
(Catta M & Patricia R. 1996: 218)
Unlike Steven Spielbergs vision the B.B.C whilst also trying to get realistic dinosaurs on screen paid more intention to the realistic facts about not only the way they looked but more importantly how they lived and moved without using guess work to make it more appealing to the big screen. Tim Haines (series producer), Mile Milne (computer animation) Jez Harris (animatronics) and Jasper James (producer) spent two years producing Walking With Dinosaurs and unlike Jurassic Park, which aimed to produce a realistic look at dinosaurs with a plot, the B.B.C. wanted to show a dinosaur’s life as realistically as possible which was filmed like a wildlife documentary.
Like Jurassic park B.B.C. forced their team to gather all information about dinosaurs the get an accurate idea of what they might have looked like and how they may of moved. The B.B.C. used real palaeontologist to give details on how dinosaurs may have lived and used that information to construct the backbone of the series’ realism which as a documentary works:
“Fortunately, many palaeontologists were happy to help because the programmes would be the first time their research would be brought to life.
http://planetdinosaur.com/tv_series/index.htm.
But was it necessary for Jurassic park to spend time to look into the very exact details when they did their research into dinosaurs for
Unlike B.B.C’s Walking With Dinosaurs,
This is also overlaid with other characters bringing a small part of their urban environment to offset the dinosaurs to make them more opposing for the human characters, even more so when scenes like the velociraptor using it’s intelligence to open doors.
Like
“This wasn't as simple as it sounds; surprisingly, there was no grass in the dinosaurs' world and no birds (at least, none until the very end of the dinosaurs' reign), so finding places where the pictures looked right and weren't disturbed by the local wildlife was rather tricky.”
http://planetdinosaur.com/tv_series/walking_with_dinosaurs.htm
Acknowledging Jurassic Park was a massive budget film and Walking With Dinosaurs was a television programme and needed to make the best visual experience with what can be thought of as less money, less technology measure up to a Hollywood film and yet by looking at the screen shots Jurassic Park was not all done by C.G.I neither is Walking with Dinosaurs but the quality of such work with the right technology can produce more realistic animals not just dinosaurs. But even with a low budget the BBC have created visually realistic dinosaurs that for the purpose of Television were cheaper, and still withhold an element of realism.
But again what is it to look realistic? Is it the quality of work or is it something other than individual creations and something that looks realistic altogether like e.g. environments, weather, and textures? Jurassic Park’s animators were all hired to make something as realistic as possible both in CGI and Animatronics, and with collaboration with both departments created an animatronics dinosaur with electronic memory device that feeds to a computer locations of its individual locations, very much like an adaption of motion capture that can be animated by traditional stop motion animators and then given to CGI animators to clean up and add if needed to get the dinosaurs that are in the film to date.
The I.G.M wanted to create realistic dinosaurs that when on screen will be credible enough that the people that are watching will hopefully forget the fact that these animals are dead and have been dead for 65 million years but yet there on screen. So by hand sculpting the dinosaurs and then digitally scanning in all of the models to get hi resolution textures to be used for the C.G.I dinosaurs and animatronics all the dinosaurs will have identical detailing so it stays consistent through both types of shot which is even more important when scenes change from live action to C.G.I:
“Artistic realism was the goal on all of the animations; we worked to get rid of all anthropomorphic actions. We wanted the dinosaurs to be as naturalistic as possible. It was subtly and all the refinements to the animation that allowed us to make those creatures look like real animals and not like movie monsters.
(Catta M & Patricia R. 1996: 218)
Chapter 2 Part 2 - Realistic Animals in Games
With films such as
At this point the
In six years, computer games jumped into a new digital age where realistic graphics, though not quite there, are getting better. This next picture is Touchstones 2008 Turok title where up to date digital tecnology has been used to create dinosuars. From 1999 to 2008, games graphics and attempts to create realistic dinosuars have got to a point that when new games consoles are made e.g. PlayStation 4 or the new Xbox graphics will get even better and continue to push graphics to realistic characters and animals such as dinosaurs.
But in games what is it to be realistic, what’s the definition of realism in games and how is it possible to create something within these rules that are different from film?
Jeannie Novak says in her book Game Essentials that:
“Realism in contrast to the suspension of disbelief device can be used in games to mimic the real world as closely as possible.”
(Novak J. 2008: 132)
But if it mimics the real world how can you create something that isn’t real, or create something that may have looked a certain way based on theories of others such as dinosaurs. The only plausible way of creating something such as dinosaurs is presuming that they look like reptiles and imitate such characteristics that the animal may have had. But if based on real animals, to make an animal that was real and may have looked like other reptiles around the world, does it make it realistic or follow the rules of suspension of disbelief, which Jeannie Novak also talks about in her book saying that:
“Suspension of disbelief means that the story you created must somehow make the players forget real life and accept the artificiality you’ve created. This is related to immersion but its more specifically refers to the players’ acceptance of rules and experiences that might not make sense in the real world. Any film or book set in the future – or any story involving monsters or aliens – has to convince the players, (watchers) to believe that what is happening in the story is important and real.”
(Novak J. 2008: 132)
But if the game involves dinosaurs in a story that are next to humans which is an impossibility, and looks as realistic such as Jurassic Park even though it’s a different media, does that make it apart of the suspension of disbelief theory or in fact apart of realism. Looking at games like Turok and how the dinosaurs look compared to 2008 Gears of War 2 aliens, what looks more realistic, an animal that did exist such, as dinosaurs or an alien that is pure imagination.
Which is harder to create realistically? Maybe neither because if either one is more or less realistic it might come down to what is more acceptable in visuals. With dinosaurs a lizard, it requires them to be based on animals that they may of seen at a zoo or on TV. Aliens, not only for Gears of War 2 but some if not most, can do something that isn’t recognizable and yet create something that gets the same attention as if it was using the same visual effects of something that is real and still creates something that is equally realistic.
Chapter 3 Part 1 - Hyper-Realistic Films
This first part of the chapter will be looking at how films use human characters both real and CGI to make hyper real characters that can perform un- natural abilities to make characters that otherwise might never have been realised, The films that will be looking at these characterisations will be The Matrix 1999, Final Fantasy Advent Children 2002 and Superman 2007. Before looking at example of hyper real what is Hyper-realism. The art movement ‘Hyper-realism’ utilizes ethereal lighting effects, depth of field techniques, and camera style perspective, to depict images which are imaginatively realistic. In films the filmmaker uses the same logic for creating hyper-real films.
The filmmaker’s protestations; he is meticulous in realistically representing the consumerist aspect of his subjects. The clothes labels, cars, home, helicopters, characters are all real. The filmmaker picks these from the real world put them together in an imaginary narrative. The Matrix trilogy is completely based on characters and to a point the story behind this film is as well, with different levels of extremes starting off with characters running around walls and jumping from building to building to the main character Neo flying and performing impossible martial arts fight scenes.
The technology making the actors perform these abilities is not all new, even when these films were made with a combination of live action wire tricks and CGI. The main character in this film is not the only one to have such abilities; an army of “Agents Smiths” possesses equal abilities and at several points in the trilogy uses such abilities against Neo.
The fight scene in The Matrix Reloaded ware Neo fights several hundred Agent Smiths a combination of live action and CGI characters which was intended to be matching that of the real so the transformation from the to the other was smooth and indistinguishable from the real actor. This combined with other effects such as “Bullet Time” gives the characters an extra super human ability of moving faster than normal which is show by the characters moving slower in the film. John Gaeto was the visual-effects supervisor for the Matrix trilogy, was the inventor of the Bullet Time photography whose effects have now spread to other films over the years and has affected the Video Game industry.
“Bullet Time was achieved by using high-speed cameras, which in some cases approached 12.000 35mm frames per second when slowed down to the standard 24 frames per second of standard films, actors appeared to be very fluid and slow- moving.”
(Beck J. 2004: 352)
The Matrix trilogy ended with Neo and Agent Smith having a one on one fight scene, which mostly took place above the city as the two characters flew around attacking one another. Some of these visual effects were in other films to bring a character or characters such as Superman in superman Returns.
Superman has some of the same abilities as Neo such as flying and super strength and took five different digital apartments to make the ‘man of steel’; Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues, Flamestore CFC, Rising Sun Pictures, The Orphanage and Houdini Digital Assets. In Superman Returns, Superman is set to save people on a crashing shuttle, which involved Superman flying and smashing through metal. Using super strength to hold the ship; all these elements are a shinning example of hyper-realistic characters which capture the imagination of people around the world. Mark Stetson VFX Supervisor on superman Returns has commented on the shuttle crash scene saying,
"The Shuttle Disaster sequence was the most complex sequence in the movie, requiring the most number of digital Superman elements. Rich Hoover, Diana Ibanez, Alberto Menache, Andy Jones and their teams at Sony Pictures Imageworks executed that work. We shot a lot of green screen elements of Superman flying. The sequence is an amazing mix of greenscreen elements, greenscreens with capes, digital elements with photographic heads, and just about every other combination of greenscreen and digital Superman. The exteriors of the aircraft were all created digitally. The cloudscapes and high altitude views were particularly beautiful, and executing these digitally rather than shooting aerial plates gave us the freedom to move the camera to give us the dynamic shots that the sequence”
http://www.wetanz.com/holics/index.php?itemid=344&catid=6. 15 June, 2007, Weta Bug
Superman and other heroes and villains with such abilities all share the constant thought about being more than we can be someone stronger someone faster even to the point that we want to fly. The next film is Square Enix’s, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children which, among others, is an completely digitally animated film, sequel to the 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation which used various characters that had abilities but instead of using superhero powers like Superman, the characters just have these powers which are gained through training and in game challenges and occupation such as boss fights and sub quests. These elements are understandable and expected within such a game but for a movie things need to be elevated to visually show what these characters can do that wasn’t in the game whilst holding the overall style of the game. Being animation based on a game such as Final Fantasy with such characteristics as swords, magic and monsters like other Japanese animes the characters can jump higher, move faster and use weapons’ that otherwise would be impossible to use in the real world such as the lead character in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Cloud Strife who uses a combination of swords,
which connect forming one big sword or even the main rival in the game Sephiroth who, like Cloud, uses a sword but instead uses a large masamune, which in one hand is impossible to use. But whilst using these weapons the characters perform what can be described as super attacks and heightened movements giving them the ability to jump high, run fast and dodge attacks whilst bouncing of walls and other bits of terrain. As shown in the pictures above the characters are extremely dynamic in their movements but only to the point that they are human and as such have to follow some rules to make the characters seam as real as possible again whilst keeping the fantasy elements held within the spectacle of being hyper-real. There is a scene in the film where Cloud and Sephiroth are fighting, jumping from one point to another defying gravity whilst performing special attacks and destroying bit by bit the building that they are on. In this scene there is a point where both characters are standing on two parts of the building at different angles whilst falling attacking one another at super human speed. All these hyper-real characterisations for characters from The Matrix’s Neo to Final Fantasy’s Cloud Strife, combined with good story and other effects like pyrotechnics and numerous CG effects, movies have the makings of visually stunning entertaining films both live action and 3D animation.Chapter 3 Part 2 - Hyper-Realistic Games
With films like The Matrix and Superman, games copy and exceeds these characterisations in a verity of different ways e.g. Atari’s 2005 The Matrix Path of Neo and Electronic Art’s 2006 Superman Returns gives the player control over the characters and their abilities as the player makes his way through the film/ films replaying all the major fights and story plots. Capcom’s Street Fighter characters all possess unique abilities that fit the genre of which they are in. (Beat Em Up).
These characters can perform what can be described as super moves which include fireballs (Hadouken) and over the top uppercuts (Shoryuken) all of which are hyper-realistic and follow visual styles that are in movies. Other games of this genre all follow the same visual combat styles such as Midway’s Mortal Kombat, Namco’s Tekken 1995 but at different extremes and yet equal in terms of hyper-real characters. So much so these characters which follow the same characterisations which when put together such as Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe makes a new hybrid of game which, otherwise might have not worked together, like the example above showing Raiden pulling of a move against Superman Games like Squaresoft’s 1997 Final Fantasy VII title which has characters like the ones in Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, but instead of fighting with martial arts. The games film adaptation of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children use mostly weapons like swords and other hand held weapons, but unlike the film and in game cut scenes, the characters perform attacks simplistically and direct, showing the abilities of all the characters one by one without confusion, due to the technology that was available.
The Final Fantasy titles in time got better; graphically letting such problems dissipate allowing characters to perform more dynamic moves, resorting to more realised hyper-realistic characterisations and moves .Other games follow the same character as Final Fantasy VII but in different genres such as Hack and Slash, Action games such as Capcom’s Devil May Cry Series letting the player control a half-breed, human demon character Dante who uses a large sword and twin guns which among other weapons performs hyper-realistic moves which is a direct action of the player.
The Devil May Cry games combat focuses on powerful heroes fighting hordes of foes with a focus on stylish action letting the player perform hyper-realistic actions and with later titles e.g. Devil May Cry 3 Dante’s Awakening and Devil May Cry 4 letting the player change through combat styles letting the player do different moves which are tailored to the unique combat style e.g. Swordmaster, Gunslinger, Trickster, Royal Guard, Quicksilver and Doppelganger and also the ability to tern into a demon when activated increases the characters powers fervour more, which commonly is used against characters representing the bosses of the game which are equally powerful and hyper-characterised within the games demon characteristics such as Devil May Cry’s
As shown in the Devil May Cry 4 Nero, one of two characters featuring in this fourth instalment, like Dante who is the other playable character, also uses a big sword whom also can perform hyper-realistic moves that are different than Dante’s but being new and without Dante’s history needs to increase his status but in doing so is gifted with a demon arm which gives him the ability to grab other characters and items and move them or him to a destination. Like other characters that fit these hyper- realistic characteristics in other game or films e.g. Spiderman, Nero completes the game that Dante’s abilities didn’t allow him to perform whilst giving a different perspective of Devil May Cry’s gothic hyper-realistic world.
Other than video games there is V.R (Virtual reality) which is a technology that provides computer-generated realities that are an alternative to physical reality. With HMDU’s (Head-mounted display units) which lets the protagonist travel in a three dimensional virtual worlds which is excluded from the real world and created in the virtual world. Sound and images are addressed by two of the senses; the ears and eyes.
Hyper-reality, however, is different. It includes virtual reality, yet it is not virtual reality per se. Hyper-reality creates virtual reality to be an experience in the physical- reality, so that virtual reality and physical-reality interact with one another.
Virtual reality provides virtual worlds that seem more convincing to those who experience it. However, hyper-reality provides hyper-worlds that blur the line between what is real and what is virtual reality and make it appear natural. So when a game is trying to be realistic, photo-realistic or hyper-realistic it’s simply trying to convince the viewer that what is on screen is plausibly real, which includes not only places but characters, So Hyper-reality is nothing more than the technological capability to intermix virtual reality with artificial intelligence, in a way that appears seamless and allows interaction within a computer generated environment or playable character in a video game genre’s narrative.
Chapter 4 Part 1 - Non Realistic Film
After looking at what is realistic and hyper-realistic in both media’s, what is it to be non realistic and yet provide equal visual entertainment. In this last chapter it will be looking at films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Scooby Doo and Space Jam exploring how cartoon characters next to live actors can achieve a surrealistic approach to visual entertainment. Over the years, there were other brief attempts at combining live action and cartoons; Disney returned to it with Song of the South in 1949
At Warner Bros, the same year, in My Dream is Yours, Doris Day and Jack Carson scampered through a little boy's dream, performing with the Oscar-winning rabbit, Bugs Bunny. At MGM, Gene Kelly and Esther Williams performed with that studio's most famous characters, Tom & Jerry--Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945), Williams in Dangerous When Wet (1953). And back at Disney, the 1964 hit, Mary Poppins sent Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke on a jolly holiday with animated penguins and street entertainers. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is Steven Spielberg 1988 co production Disney/Amblin Entertainment, along side Industrial Light and Magic making a feature length movie, featuring live actors next to cartoons characters. The complexity of Roger Rabbit possesses many of the same challenges ILM would later face when hired to create the Liquid-Metal cyborg in 1991’s Terminator 2. As show in the picture on the right Roger is clearly not realistic and yet within the narrative and comical style of the film it complements the surrealistic artistic values that work well when a cartoon is put next to a real actor. If the cartoons characters were done as realistic as possible the film might not have worked so well it might loss some of the drama that hands draw characters offers by using traditional animation style which is already established.
If the character was made 3D it may have looked like the Jessica Rabbit example shown. On the bottom left side of the picture is the film’s Jessica Rabbit and to the right and above is the 3D rendering of the character which may never be known and is left to speculation.
When combining these two different styles of visual entertainment in which they need to interact with one another there is going to be some clear technical problems.
“The animator’s work would be exacting in matching hand-drawn toon performances to lively camera moments and real-world actors and environments”
(Catta M & Patricia R.1996: 125-130)
Working with animation in ways that need to correlate with live actors and other items such as the hand cuffs in the picture, the animators not only needed to animated the motion but the light and shadows elements that are in the live action scene, that will give the cartoon’s a three-dimensional quality which they needed to help be incorporate them into the human world. These elements needed to be changed from the traditional because of their need to become more than a cartoon but at the same time keeping the quality’s the cartoons have, such as colour.
Before Roger Rabbit, tone and shadows were done in black and white, which provided greyish-coloured highlights when added with the animation making it stand apart from the live action, but one of the optical team members in IGM came up with the idea of ‘Re-photographic’ the tone elements into a clear-based colour stock instead of the traditional black and white.
“The animation didn’t look two-dimensional, it didn’t look entirely 3D either it was 2 and ¾- D”.
(Catta M & Patricia R.1996: 130)
Other live action and animation film hybrids follow the same animation principles that Who Framed Roger Rabbit used, such as Joe Pytke’s 1997’s Space Jam In addition to the state-of-the-art computers and animation techniques, other cutting-edge technology was used in Space Jam. Most movies that blend effects into footage shot with a moving camera use variations on the motion control system originally developed for Star Wars: A
A computer is attached to the camera so that it can remember the precise moves the camera made, and can reproduce them when the effects team adds other elements to the scene. Or a camera computer can encode the movements of the camera even if it is being moved by a human operator. In space Jam unlike Who Framed Roger Rabbit not only the cartoon characters needed to be animated, the lead human character Michael Jordan needed to react to cartoon elements such as bounce and stretch characteristics which are forced upon the him when meeting character such as Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck, and even in the final game he uses these characteristics to win the game by stretching his arms to get the basket ball in the hoop.
These are the some of the examples that used non realistic cartoon characters next to real characters but like the Jessica Rabbit example, other films have tried to make almost visually realistic characters but with toon characteristics such as what was explained in Space Jam. Raja Gosnell’s 2002’s Scooby Doo movie tried to do such a thing. Scooby Doo was brought to life by Rhythm and Hues, one of the top animation departments on in
Looking at Scooby Doo it was done completely realistically, characterisations like Scooby smiling or performing other human characteristics will be made obsolete and no longer be capable of performing the character of Scooby Doo. All theses cartoon characters, that are put next to real actors, are trying to convince the viewer that they are there performing along side the real. So even if they are not done in a realistic way does that make all these characters potentially hyper realistic due to its definition that was explained in the previous chapter?
Chapter 4 Part 2 - Non Realistic Games
Like films, games have non realistic characters that populate different platforms and genres, most of which are trying to do different things to keep the characters and games interesting. Games that are non-realistic such as Crash Bandicoot 1996, Jak and Daxter 2001, Sonic the Hedgehog 1991 and Super Mario 1987 are all characters that fit into this category. Looking at Crash Bandicoot its clear that this character is not created in a realistic way and is best fitted to a game that is most likely played by children; the character uses some if not all the same principles as a cartoon character such as colour, characteristics, story. Because of the target audience characters such as Crash Bandicoot needs to be cartoon and less realistic providing possible action that does not show visual realistic violence but cartoon interpretations of action where characters don’t die in a manner that might discomfort a child, Instead they provide recognisable indications that are already in a child’s daily entertainment such as cartoons.
If such characters were to be made realistic like the character Mario and still retained the characters original design, the outcome might become unsettling for both children and adults and will lose the characteristics that the cartoon gives ending up with the game not fitting the look of the character and overall feel of the game. Cartoon characters were a perfect cover up for the technical restrictions of early games because they required small amounts of pixels to build such characters, whereas consoles of today can provide more power to allow characters with more pixels making them smoother and if taken further might end up representing realism.
Characters like Jak and Daxter, whose games are aimed at a slightly older generation of audiences, have elements of playability that might not be suited for a younger player such as action with melee weapons and guns. These abilities give the game more violent attributes and the characters within the game, which has a effect on the overall story.
Even when similarities that other games may have in the platform genre e.g. Ratchet and Clank, the older generation such as Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario that have survived and prospered through a changing series of games consoles with only the environment to navigate through the characters needed to be more than just characters, they needed to be icons for the game industry the same as characters like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny became icons in cartoons.
All these cartoon game characters in one way or another have a cute quality about them, the most famous of all being Pac-man designed in 1980 by Namco game designer Moru Iwatani. This character worked so well because it had two strengths: a brilliant simple game genre, and an instantly recognizable character.
There are two differences between the cartoon stars and the ones that are in computer games other than the games based on cartoons. The first is cute and funny and the other is just cute. Cartoons have the story structure and the capability of timed gags to give the audience comedic entertainment. Games have a different structure that uses characters led by the player through a challenging set of obstacles which if not completed after several attempts loses the comedic value that they may have initially have possessed. Even with games like Sonic the Hedgehog which had no comedic setups, cuteness works well in other computer games because it has a bigger appeal than styles which attracts other players such as teenage girls, and women that may not have played games which has different visuals and characteristics.
Sonic and Mario both have un-realistic cartoon characteristics but both have realistic textures and hyper realistic environments and sub characters both human and animal. These characters that cross over with other styles of interpretations of real, hyper-real or photo-real such as textures blurs the definition of what is realistic and none realistic, but looking at the pictures these characters are not real the form resembles the real but follows the cartoon forms and styles.
Throughout this dissertation, it has looked at all different examples of realism, in both movie’s and video games, and with different interpretations of what is real, and how these two media’s can produce realistic and none realistic examples. At the start, the question was asked, how
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