First Person Shooter Game Brought to Life by British Filmmakers

The London based film company, Realm Pictures, brought every video game/film nerd's wet dream to life. This past August, they created a first person shooter film that allowed random strangers they found on the internet to control the actions of the main character.

Yeah. You heard me. Realm Pictures specializes in fantasy-like films, photography and visual fx, so they are no stranger to creating interesting content that pushes the bounds of reality. With a camera strapped on to a helmet, and some tricky computer work, Director David Reynolds and his team were able to live stream an actor wandering through a church yard and fighting zombies.

But here comes the cool part. Reynolds was able to live stream the video to Chatroulette, a website that allows you to talk and video chat with random strangers. And those strangers got to control what the actor did, just like a real video game. With multiple locations, a handful of hidden weapons and items, a horde of zombies and a demonic final boss, players were able to choose their own paths by giving the actor commands, and hopefully make it through to the end, where the team of filmmakers was waiting for them in their control room. Here's the awesome video:

But how did they do it?!

It wasn't as easy as setting up an intricate obstacle course and flooding it with actors in zombie makeup. Reynolds orchestrated something very innovative technologically, that could really change both the gaming and film world. By strapping one of the zombies with a wireless router, they were able to live stream HDMI from the camera on the actor's helmet back to the control room, where Reynolds and his team controlled the website, and visual and sound effects. Reynolds also provided the voice of the shooter, so he would be able to react and communicate with the strangers. They created a behind-the-scenes video, which was even more interesting than the actual film.

And their accents, am I right ladies?

Currently, Realm Pictures are starting to produce their first feature film, so a sequel won't be in the immediate future. But, Reynolds stated "our fanciful conversations about what 'level 2' could bring are now becoming a reality real quick!", so don't cry yourselves to sleep just yet. 

This level of audience participation is pretty groundbreaking. It takes the concept of "Choose Your Own Adventure" games and films to the next level, getting rid of the preplanned paths and allowing the "gamers" to decide whatever they wanted in a controlled environment. Though video games almost look like films nowadays, with graphics getting more realistic by the second, this is truly a new way to combine the two mediums. If developed and expanded, this kind of gameplay may catch on, and hopefully Realm Pictures will be the leading pioneer to this new frontier.

Visual Effects Breakdowns

The amazing part about TV shows and movies today is how visual and practical effects can expand the scope of a story. The abundance of this accessible technology allows TV shows to use what was, for a brief period of time, a costly technique that was usually reserved for movies. Like most things in cinema and film, the less obvious the CGI, the more power it gives to the scene. Good green screen use can make or break a scene and in a show like "Game of Thrones" the CG makes scenes more than the actors do. The show employs a company called Spin VFX for their visual effects needs. Spin VFX have created visual effects for a number of TV shows and films that include After Earth, Max Payne, and Titanic. The men behind the magic are VFX Supervisor Doug Campbell and Supervising Producer Luke Groves. Campbell has been nominated for 5 primetime Emmys and Groves has 3 nominations. The following video is a deconstruction of the visual effects that appear in the show during its third season.

Crazy right? They do such a good job that you don't even know where the effect ends and begins until they remove the key. In certain scenes it's easier to tell than others but for the most part it's pretty damn good. One thing I noticed that was interesting is that in scenes where the final shot needs to take place at night (such as the man walking up the stair case with the green screen behind him or in some of the wide shots of the castle and surrounding camps) the scene is well lit and then darkened by the VFX team in post. I can only assume this ensures that no matter how much the brightness is affected in post, the lighting off the actor's face and surroundings are well lit for the viewer. For further viewing and reading the link to Spin VFX website is right  HERE. What I find fascinating is the ability to peel back a layer of a tv show and have an entirely new appreciation for the work that goes into what we watch. For instance, the scene in the video where they are climbing the 700 foot ice wall was composed of 80 shots...whoever figured these techniques out is a gosh darn genius. 

Gravity

Let's talk about Gravity.

No, not the law discovered by Mr. Newton in the 1680's, but the film directed by Alfonso Cuarón coming out this weekend. 

Critics are going crazy for this film. IMDB has given it an 8.5/10, Metacritic– a 97/100, and Rotten Tomatoes a 98%. So what are they loving so much about it? I'll have to see it to know for sure... but I'm guessing it has something to do with it's stunning visual effects, non-stop intensity, and rumored 17-minute opening shot.

With such stunning visuals, I feel like this may finally be a film worth seeing on the largest screen possible and, dare I say, 3D? I know there are a lot of haters out there for 3D, but if there's an environment that could put it to effective use it would definitely be outer space. It's clear that Cuarón thought long and hard about how to immerse the audience in the beauty and terror of being hundreds of miles above earth.

Before I go any further I recommend you watch the trailer. There have been a few different trailers made, but I think the first one they made is most effective:

DON'T FORGET FULL SCREEN

Not everyone loved this trailer, but it hit me on the spot. When I first saw it I thought it was some sort of space documentary, and I think that's exactly what they wanted. Then all of a sudden BOOM – NOT SO MUCH. Although they have sound effects of destruction in the trailer, I've heard that the film is scientifically accurate and contains no sound because there is no sound is space. All you hear is their voices over the radio and possibly

some dramatic music at certain times. I also think this will be one of the more impressive performances by Sandra Bullock. I know some people are skeptical, and I get that, because how great of a performance can she really give while strapped into a space suit while spinning in circles through space? But when something is stripped down to it's basic elements is when it has the opportunity for huge success. In this case, it's Sandra Bullock's vocals. Curón and Bullock worked for hours on how to capture the terror of flying through space with just the sound of her breath. When I re-watched the trailers with this in mind, I really think she nailed it. And what's so spectacular about it is that it doesn't stand out. I can't see her eyes or the sweat on her forehead but I know she's terrified. I'm not thinking about how I know she's terrified, I just know she IS.

The other element I really like about this film is the characterization of earth. Although it seems like there are only two main characters, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, I see it as three. The earth is moving, living part of the film and it's instrumental to the orientation of the camera. Very few films, if any, have done this before.

So in case you haven't figured it out yet I'm very excited to see this film. It has a fantastic director, quality actors, and state of the art visual effects. I'm quite sure it's box office sales will orbit above everything else this weekend, and it deserves it.

As a final piece to enjoy... The Onion made an entertaining review for the film:

My Favorite Movie

Over my break thus far, I have sat down and watched my favorite movie Inception directed by one of the most notable directors in the industry: Christopher Nolan. I mean not only was this movie well written, but the special effects and visual effects were tremendously well done. The first time I went to watch this movie I wasn't to intrigued to see it after watching the trailers. However, when I saw the movie, I left the theater totally mind blown. LITERALLY. I was so confused about what happened, but the story kept me on my seat and each minute that passed through the last scenes was a total nail biter more me. I watched the movie again and again and began to understand more of it and the hidden messages through out. I thought the characters were well picked for these roles. Leonardo DiCaprio played Cobb, the dream extractor and played an excellent leader of the group. Learning about his life through the plot made it even better and the story entertaining. Ellen Page showed true maturation through this film. After seeing her in Juno, I didn't expect her to do as well as she did, but she pulled off the part well. What can I say about Tom Hardy? An amazing actor with a lot of talent. I found his acting to be tremendously well-done and thought he did well playing the "bad-ass" of the group. Finally what movie isn't complete today without Joseph Gordon-Levitt? I remember watching him as a kid in one of my favorite child-hood movies "Angels in the Outfield." He has also grown up to become a really mature actor with the potential to do many different parts. I've enjoyed his roles and look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

After a few awards at the Oscars in 2011 including best achievement in Cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects. I have to agree on all these awards because this movie produced excellent sound that followed the movie well. One of my favorite effects from the movie was the rotating corridor scene when Joseph Gordon-Levitt was fighting off an assassin. The scene consisted of a 120 foot long by 30 foot wide revolving corridor. The corridor was constructed of wood and was backed by steel tubing. I-beam rings with roller wheels were placed every 16 feet along the length of the corridor. The wheels were connected to two 55-hp electric motors, which were synchronized by a computer. The corridor would rotate every 10 seconds clockwise and counter-clockwise. The cameras were placed on tracks that were placed in the corridor to shoot the fighting scene. 

  

Revolution on NBC

I would also like to talk about Revolution this week. I started watching it about a week ago and I am not caught up with all 4 episodes thus far, and I have to say that I am enjoying it. The Pilot episode felt a bit rushed but it got a lot better from there. The Pilot wasn't bad, it was just they dove in head first with all of this information and and background info and what happened and why it happened (the power going out) and how everyone came to be. As someone who is into VFX, the one thing I was disappointed in was the plane crash in the beginning, it just looked odd, I feel like that is not how a plane would crash. Besides that, all of the matte painting and set extensions look incredible and they really made it feel as though you are in post apocalyptic America.

Another thing that I had a problem with was the look of some of the characters. Some of them look as though they just had a haircut and just put makeup on and have no cuts or blemishes whatsoever. I mean, it is after all 15 years after the power went out so they may have figured something out. But that does not take away from the story and what is happening so I can overlook that pretty easily.

Something that I really did like was the action sequences and the build up for a lot of them. I think they made the audience feel suspenseful during many parts and had enough action to entertain anyone and still have a good story.

It was recently picked up for a full first season of 22 episodes so obviously it is getting some good reviews considering that most TV shows don't even make it past their first season. I am going to try to watch every episode of the season and see how it turns out. Who knows, maybe it will become the next big thing.