aww RIP Gilbert Taylor (212 views)

[pichubro]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23808854

This dude was legendary. He was behind Star Wars IV, Dr. Strangelove, Flash Gordon, 1979 Dracula, Frenzy, The Avengers TV series and a bunch of other stuff.

Some of my favorite films. It was a good run.

[Mario the black knight]

Sounds like a legend

Requiescat in Pace

[pichubro]

He was very talented on getting the perfect wide angle shots. He was what made Star Wars look so grand; and he was even good at interior shots which is proven in Dr. Strangelove's war room scenes.

[Mario the black knight]

Yeah, I think I liked something different about the way each Star Wars film was shot. And I liked his interior shots within the Death Star, they always seemed to be at an angle, like it's hard to describe what I mean, but I liked it.

I think you would REALLY have fun with a video production class, I sometimes forget your Kojima-ness, hah a ha

[pichubro]

Yeah, Dr. Strangelove was often filmed at angles as well, he tried to get the tone of a room in the shot alone. He often did over the shoulder shots as well.

This clip is a great example
youtu.be/PSofqNSuVy8

Do you recall the time in the late 90s/early 2000s era when people tried to do the wide angle lens close up shots to look "artsy"? Instead of looking interesting or dramatic, it ended up looking creepy and unnessesary. The original Lord of the Rings did this I noticed! Even if it was just for regular dialogue the had a wide angle shot of just someone's face and you could almost see the pores on the person's skin! It was bad, those kind of shots are only good for creepy or horror scenes, not fricken fantasy characters talking to each other normally. Thank god the Hobbit never did that and thank god that phase died out.

I could take one, if I want. One of my major electives of choice is a film based class, though I think it was more towards sound production than film analysis. I THINK they offer a video editing course as well.

I'm actually pretty excited in what Hollywood is doing these days, a lot of films like Hugo, Pacific Rim, True Grit remake, and the Hobbit all understand something: avoid using Talking Heads, and if there is action or epic shots, use the wide angle lens from an angled view. The setting will sell itself for the most part. It seems that directors are looking back on the old classics and going "films were just more interesting to watch back then" because they were. Creativity is born from limitations. People like over the shoulder shots and stuff that makes them feel like a bystander (our eyes are never constantly level like cameras), not zoomed in faces and people standing like statues talking to each other.

I love the visual aspects of films, I can usually forgive a mediocre film so long as the cinematography is fantastic. Airplane is probably an example of average cinematography, but the writing and acting make up for it.

[Mario the black knight]

I see what you mean, that is pretty cool, you can see everything happening so well, and the set design lends itself to his shots so much

I have no idea what you mean, though I think maybe Kill Bill did it? I remember noticing pours in that one, and they used really narrow depth of field as well

Well I mean visual storytelling like I took. It's not about watching films, it's about making them. I think you would have SO much fun with what you already know making stuff. Especially if you get a more artsy professor than I did. I got a news man. If you got an actual "film" professor, I think you would have a lot of fun, if you have the ability to ignore obnoxious film majors. Good lord I hate film majors.

[Mario the black knight]

Though I think either way learning how to frame up shots properly and learning the basics and ways to understand how to do all the stuff you see these guys do and understand why and everything about it would still be a lot of fun for you, since I think you really have a lot of aptitude for it anyway, I think it would help you become a more effective game designer as well

I could see you being like a game director and setting up scenes and making awesome cutscenes with cinematic quality

[pichubro]

I mean this
youtu.be/x4QJwGTOny8

First off, can't help but laugh when it zooms into Gandalf's face for DRAMATIC EFFECT. And then quick cuts to the eyes. Wut xD

There are two main reasons why directors do this: to hide a lackluster set, or because they think it looks cool. But it makes the action harder to follow and ends up looking goofy at points. Can you imagine Star Wars being filmed like it? Zoom into Luke's face when he swings a lightsabre and have the jumpcuts so quick that you can't tell wtf is happening? Or have the space battles filmed so fast and quick that you barely see the explosions before the next ship explodes and then zoom into Solo's face as he makes a giant grin going "YEAH!" hahaha So glad this phase is pretty much over but it was almost painful to watch at point. I think Peter Jackson got the hint because the next two films seemed to do it less.

One of my high school teachers minored in film, he was cool.

[Mario the black knight]

Awww...But I like that scene. Though they didn't do a good job making you feel like Saruman was really betraying Gandalf as well as they could have. I mean obviously he beat the hell out of him, but I mean beforehand, Saruman never seems like a good guy even from the start.

I guess that does make sense, but the set was also kinda cramped, so showing the action would be tough, though it did feel very jumpcut ish at times, not every part felt like a coherent sequence. I just like the idea of how wizards fight, since they inhabit old man bodies, they have to fight in more magical ways. Though I guess it could have been cooler.

I would REALLY love to see you direct cutscenes, since you clearly understand this stuff way better than I do, ha ha ha

[pichubro]

As long as the fight scenes are displayed in a way the viewer can follow the sequence, the technique to show it doesn't matter as much. I think they could gotten away with way less jumpcuts. A small set doesn't make for bad fight scenes necessarily if you have good space management and set it up to be an intense fight regardless of setting. Personally, I would have gone for maybe an over the shoulder shot over Gandalf looking at Saruman instead of having the camera staring at Gandalf... because you lose the point of reference. When the fighting starts, the viewer really isn't getting much information in terms of space in between them and how they are moving about the room really until the end of the battle. It's just a personal preference, but I find jumpcuts obnoxious when there are too many at one time :3

You know, a couple weeks back I had an idea for a trailer for my cat game. The cat is sleeping on the foot of the people's bed when a door just barely in frame slowly opens with a creaking sound before slowly closing. It opens a second time a little bit faster and louder, waking the cat up. The cat sits up to attention upon the third opening, and then when the cat jumps off the bed to investigate and enters the hallway the door slams. It cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the car staring down a dark hallway, and at the end of it, another door opens. I dunno, it was partially inspired by a dream I had.

I also had the idea of tricking the player once, if it has loading screens. Make a fake loading screen and someway make it creepy or scary, I guess kinda like what RE2 did, but less jumpscare-y.

I also maybe had the idea of entering the konami code during the credits could do something special. Like maybe play a level as the monster or have some kind of easter egg.

[Mario the black knight]

Yeah, I guess that does make a lot more sense. Wow..I never thought of that..

Hmmm, interesting. it feels a little incomplete, but once more details of the game are developed, it could make sense, just enough that you understand that theres a threat at least, though I guess you would know how to create that effect given the tone of the dream, and the setting probably

Hah a ha ha, yeah, kinda like this one game for gamecube, I forget what it was called, but apparently in certain parts of the game it would trick the player into thinking the save file was corrupted or something

Ha ha ha, maybe a minigame where you get to play as the owners and play with the cat?

[Mario the black knight]

That game was Eternal Darkness, and apparently they have a bunch of those when your character's sanity is low, like it'll make it look like your inventory is empty for no reason or your healing items make you fall apart and bleed all over, and just general weird stuff to make you freak out, though I think they come at the cost of a bit of immersion.

Also, if you put a cat petting minigame at the end of the game, the music should be like this, except with cat noises

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1nDafqdH9o