Cinematography in Games

[PurpleRain]

I'm a movie buff so when games sport stories, dialoge or cinematography that's parallel to that of the big screen, I tend to favoure them more so (see Mass Effect and Half Life). After finishing Stranglehold I wanted to ask the question that does good cinematography in games make them more enjoyable or add to the experience. Why I brought up Stranglehold was because that game felt so much like one of John Woo's action movies. The spin attack, following the bullets and the epic showdown duels were ripe throughtout his movies. The in-game-movies as well had alot of great shots as well, such as following the comera through a bullet hole or showing the names of the place on the roof or footpath. These things gave the game a more 'movie' feel.

 

[Fire Daemon]

With a HD TV and surround sound these games must be great. I thought that some parts of CoD4 played like a movie (is that possible).
But making games more like movies is incredible expensive, and eats alot of time. So I don't think all games should be movie-like.

 

[Fire Daemon]

With a HD TV and surround sound these games must be great. I thought that some parts of CoD4 played like a movie (is that possible).
But making games more like movies is incredible expensive, and eats alot of time. So I don't think all games should be movie-like.

 

[PurpleRain]

True. But instead of haveing blocky acting and just normal mid-shots all the time, it was a nice change to see some more varied shot types. CoD4, as you said, layed alot like a movie. It made you actually connect with the characters and gave a really epic overall feel and not in the CoD3, explosions and bullets going everywhere!!!, sense.

 

[end_boss]

I'm a big fan of movies as well, but they're a medium that I like to keep separate from video games. In the majority of cases, I find cutscenes in games to be overly long, boring, and unable to grasp my already short attention span. In cases like Psychonauts, the cutscenes were awesome, but I have very little tolerance for cutscenes in JRPGs. More particularly so when they're not cinematic cutscenes, but simply the regular game screen with unskippable dialogue boxes.

 

[Frybird]

I absolutely love the "Movie-feel" in Games (Shooters, RPGs and [Action]Adventures, at least)

However, it is only enjoyable when it is incorporated into the Game itself.


CoD 4 and the Half Life Series are prime examples for that, as they manage to play out scenes that would be cutscenes in other games while still maintaining a unique style.
Even Mass Effect manages to be immersive. Although there are many non-interactive cutscenes, you still have certain control over the story itself, as well as there are some nice scripted cues that you still move within the storyline (for example, the shot you hear in the distance on Eden Prime when one of the characters gets shot "off-camera")

However, when i began to play Project Sylpheed, i did not really feel immersed in the story, because everything "important" happened inside of pre rendered cutscenes, even if it happened during a mission.
I do not blame the pre rendered cutscenes for this, but in this game it feels like the game you play and the story itself are two seperate things.


Long Story short: The "Movie-feel" is great, but the game must give the player a sense that he/his character is a part of this "Movie", instead of bringing the game itself to a dead stop whenever the story progresses

 

[Girlysprite]

Cutscenes are evil. Necessary evil, but they should be avoided where-ever possible.

 

[romitelli]

Cutscenes are evil. Necessary evil, but they should be avoided where-ever possible.

Any plot with a decent amount of depth has to be built on cutscenes.

 

[Frybird]

Cutscenes are evil. Necessary evil, but they should be avoided where-ever possible.

Any plot with a decent amount of depth has to be built on cutscenes.

Really? Okay, most Story Based Games with no or close to no cutscenes lacked a bit in depth and/or in development of the Main Character (Bioshock, Half Life, CoD 4)

But that does not mean that cutscenes are a necessity for a great story. "The Darkness" was almost entirely First Person (I only remember that some Dialogue Scenes, Loading "Screens" and the Epilogue were "real" cutscenes) and delivered not a perfect, but a very engaging and well written Story

As i said, i like cutscenes, but it would be great to see a game with a complex story and even a great main Character without straying from a set first or third person perspective without any cutscenes whatsoever.

But more importantly, it would be absolutely possible

 

[goestoeleven]

Funny that you would cite Half-Life 2 when that is really a prime example of a game that finds its own language to tell a story, leaving behind movie techniques that so many other games strive to emulate.

Take, say, a cutscene from MGS. That's cinematic. It's very much a movie scene. But a 'cutscene' in Half-Life never takes you from the POV of the player-character. You form your own 'camera angles' based not on cinematic composition but on 'hey, this is what I to look at'. The game does an excellent job of 'feeling' like a kick-ass action movie, which might be what you're really enjoying, but in terms of the actual techniques involved, Half-Life is forging storytelling methods unique to gaming.

That's not to say that games should never take cues from movies, they absolutely should, and it's one of the big reasons they've grown as immersive as they have. The next-gen versions of depth-of-field, motion blur, and HDR emulate the movie camera more than the human eye, to name one example.

 

[goestoeleven]

I said 'emulate' way too much in that post.

 

[PurpleRain]

That's not to say that games should never take cues from movies, they absolutely should, and it's one of the big reasons they've grown as immersive as they have. The next-gen versions of depth-of-field, motion blur, and HDR emulate the movie camera more than the human eye, to name one example.

Exactly. One thing that poped into my head while reading this was Assassins Creed. The controllable cutscenes would let you pick different camera angles and the leap of faith that really gives you the feeling of vertigo.

Things like the leap of faith aren't a movie sort of feel, and aren't even a cutscene really, but still use great cineamatography to convay that feeling of vertigo. Even Kameo, while in the palace the surrondings where really beautiful.

 

[neems]

This is kind of a difficult one, as what I understand by 'cinematography' is different to just simple visual design.

The aforementioned COD4 definitely has some cinematic moments, although I was struck by what goestoeleven said about HL2 - having it's own style rather than being cinematic - and I think perhaps certain elements of COD4's presentation have been inspired by the HL2 model. Of course, so many games use the in-game engine, player's pov, controllable viewpoint cutscene these days.

Crysis had some good cinematic moments - an obvious one being in the first level where you come to the edge of the hill as the sun is coming up, and the screen goes letterboxed as you survey the scenery. Most (all?) of the cutscenes in Crysis are letterboxed, and even though they more-or-less use the game engine and player's pov, I think they more obviously ape movies than HL2 or COD4 do.

I'm sure there are plenty of others... Max Payne? (In particular MP2). Shadow Of The Colossus?

I definitely think that developers tend to look to movies for inspiration - I'm not always convinced that it's a good idea. Maybe the Valve way is best - telling stories using, er, Videography (computography?).

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

So long as complicated visual effects do not detract from the gameplay, they certainly enhance the gaming experience.

 

[PurpleRain]

So long as complicated visual effects do not detract from the gameplay, they certainly enhance the gaming experience.

But the cinematography has nothing to do with graphics. Different camera angles/shots. Scenes that make you go "wow, that looked good." It's all that kinda stuff. Following a bullet through someones skull, or an event that's happening on screen at once.

The new Brothers In Arms Hells highway looks good. It seems they're taking a step away from FPS when something really cool happens, such as an explosion or an event. One thing desent with GoW is that it had cinematography up the arse. Press the 'Y' button to watch the building crumble apart. I thought that was one of its only good aspects.

 

[goestoeleven]

I don't mean to be anal or condescending, but I think that we can find a better term to use than cinematography, since 'cinematography' essentially means the manipulation of light and film stock by the director of photography of a film. (I'm sorry, I'm a film major and can't help myself).

I think that a better term is, in general, just a blanket 'visual design' or if you want to get French about it, 'mise-en-scene' which is a purposefully vague term that basically refers to, well, everything on the movie or tv screen (or on stage in theater). It's a term that could easily be appropriated by games.

Half-Life 2 and Call of Duty 4 definitely have fantastic mise-en-scene, made even more interesting and fascinating by the added interaction between the level design and player. These fabulously scripted scenes play out, but the player controls the camera angles, and therefore the 'shots', but the level design works to influence his choices. They kind of nudge and say "You would probably look here." Both games excel at this. It's not something I'd given a lot of thought to until I started listening to the HL2: Episode 1 commentary. It's a much more complex and ultimately satisfying approach than traditional cutscenes and the way I think games are headed.

 

[PurpleRain]

I don't mean to be anal or condescending, but I think that we can find a better term to use than cinematography, since 'cinematography' essentially means the manipulation of light and film stock by the director of photography of a film. (I'm sorry, I'm a film major and can't help myself).

I think that a better term is, in general, just a blanket 'visual design' or if you want to get French about it, 'mise-en-scene' which is a purposefully vague term that basically refers to, well, everything on the movie or tv screen (or on stage in theater). It's a term that could easily be appropriated by games.

Half-Life 2 and Call of Duty 4 definitely have fantastic mise-en-scene, made even more interesting and fascinating by the added interaction between the level design and player. These fabulously scripted scenes play out, but the player controls the camera angles, and therefore the 'shots', but the level design works to influence his choices. They kind of nudge and say "You would probably look here." Both games excel at this. It's not something I'd given a lot of thought to until I started listening to the HL2: Episode 1 commentary. It's a much more complex and ultimately satisfying approach than traditional cutscenes and the way I think games are headed.

Thanks. I'm hoping to get into uni this year to study film so at the moment I tend to get my terms a little confused.

Most FPS's are now leaning towards getting rid of cuts scenes as they can occasionalybreak the atmosphere. I prefer it in Half Life when I'm gazing in awe of whats actually happening around me. It gives it a more life like feel.