To display the most relevant entries to you in priority,
vote for the stories you are interested in
()
and reject those that you are not interested in
()
When I visited my cousin last week, his daughter Neeka Mashouf (age 13) and two of her classmates
(Nicole Bronstein and Sydney Schonefeld) were deeply engaged in creating a stop-motion animation
film for a class project, complete with a homemade stage and camera platform. The assignment was
to explain and show examples of Newton's three Laws of Motion in a creative way. They chose clay
as their medium and did all their stitching and editing in iMovie. It was fun to hear them talk
about their learning process. When they first started, they weren't capturing small enough
motions in each frame and the flow was coming out choppy. They went back to the drawing board and
this is what they came up with. Way more dynamic than any presentation I remember doing for
science class in 8th grade. It's exciting to see what this next generation of makers is crafting.
We had a week of record rain here in Eastern Massachusetts. Lots of roads were closed as ponds
and brooks overflowed their banks, and drainage systems backed up. At various places on Mass Ave
north of Cambridge water was gushing up out of blown-off manhole covers. Traffic was backed up
all over the place. Yesterday, the first after the rains stopped, many residents were pumping out
basements through fat hoses that snaked out into streets. Much of this water only pooled
somewhere else, since many drainage systems were filled too.
In some ways I’ve never stopped being the newspaper photographer I was forty years ago, in
my first newspaper job (I didn’t have that many, total, but that was more fun than the rest
of them). So I went out and looked for some actual floods worth shooting and found Magnolia Field
in Arlington, near the Alewife T stop at the end of the Red Line. It’s a big soccer and
lacrosse field, with with the Minuteman Bikeway at one end and a playground for kiddies at the
other. It normally looks flat, but inundation by water proved otherwise. I could tell by the high
debris mark that most of the field had been covered with water when the flood was at its maximum
depth, but there was plenty left when I showed up and shot the photo above and the rest here.
I took that screen shot at the end of the storm on Monday night. You can see how it was our
corner of a huge cyclonic weather system, rotating around an eye of sorts, out in the Atlantic
off the Virginia coast. This winter we’ve had a series of these. As I wrote in an earlier post, it
was one of these, spinning like a disk with a spindle in New York City, that brought rain to New
England and snow pretty much everywhere else in February.
Now it’s Spring, almost literally. The sky was blue and clear as can be, winds calm,
temperature hitting 66°. I know it won’t last, but it’s nice to get a
break.
You wouldn't expect to find "We've tightened up the graphics on Episode Three" among the
usual list of noted improvements between Telltale's episodic releases. After all, with
endearing, demented characters like Sam and Max taking up quite a bit of the screen, who cares how
many polygons are left for that pot plant in the corner?
"We wanted to bump everything up presentation-wise for this season," said designer Chuck Jordan,
drawing attention to the Telltale engine's impressive -- nay, tight -- visual
enhancements. The Penal Zone, the first of five monthly episodes comprising Sam & Max: The Devil's
Playhouse, features noticeably improved lighting, real-time shadows and more expressive
facial animation. As Jordan pointed out, "an expression can sell a joke for the first time."
Based on the demo I saw at the Game Developers Conference, it's also apparent that the improved
graphics do make a difference to that pot plant. Because you transform into one. "When you
finally get to control Max," Jordan said, "it's really weird." Like, really really weird.
You wouldn't expect to find "We've tightened up the graphics on Episode Three" among the
usual list of noted improvements between Telltale's episodic releases. After all, with
endearing, demented characters like Sam and Max taking up quite a bit of the screen, who cares how
many polygons are left for that pot plant in the corner?
"We wanted to bump everything up presentation-wise for this season," said designer Chuck Jordan,
drawing attention to the Telltale engine's impressive -- nay, tight -- visual
enhancements. The Penal Zone, the first of five monthly episodes comprising Sam & Max: The Devil's
Playhouse, features noticeably improved lighting, real-time shadows and more expressive
facial animation. As Jordan pointed out, "an expression can sell a joke for the first time."
Based on the demo I saw at the Game Developers Conference, it's also apparent that the improved
graphics do make a difference to that pot plant. Because you transform into one. "When you
finally get to control Max," Jordan said, "it's really weird." Like, really really weird.
Midnight Mansion 1.1.9Midnight Mansion... In the vein of games like Dark Castle and
Montezuma's Revenge, Midnight Mansion provides classic action gaming with vivid 32-bit graphics,
spine-tingling sound effects, and professional quality music.
As Jack Malone, you will explore eight huge mansions, each filled with traps, puzzles, and
secrets, as you search for legendary treasure. Ride on conveyor belts, avoid zapper beams, and
dodge monsters as you collect keys that give you access to new areas of each mansion. Three
difficulty settings allow players of any skill level to enjoy the game.
Features:
A fun tutorial mansion to get you right into the game
Over 750 rooms to explore in eight giant mansions
A wide variety of unique and challenging monsters
Non-violent gameplay so the whole family can enjoy the game
Spine-tingling original sound effects and pro-quality music
A suspend game feature that allows you to step away from the game at any time and come back
to it exactly where you left off
Fluid 60fps animation to keep the action intense
Multiple user accounts so that everyone in the family can easily keep track of his own
progress
Online high scores allow you to compete with other players
Movie recording feature that creates movies of each game that are so tiny, you can easily
email them to friends
A fully featured mansion builder so that you can create your own levels
Intel-compatible!
WHAT'S NEWVersion 1.1.9:
Fixed some license file issues, where the game would sometimes repeatedly prompt registered
users to re-enter their code, claiming the computer seemed to be different from the one the code
was entered on. This should now be fixed.
Fixed text in in-game dialog boxes to draw correctly on more recent versions of MacOS X, such
as Snow Leopard.
Changed "hand" tool in editor to move sprites around. It takes into account the current
"Align to grid" settings.
Fixed an editor bug where, if you entered a number higher than 32,767 in the "ObjectID to
affect" field for a lever, this number would not be saved properly, and the lever would not
affect the ObjectID you had specified.
"Now it's a fight," this new trailer for EA Sports MMA proudly proclaims. And it's
true -- EA Sports has a huge fight ahead of it. Not only is EA Sports MMA a latecomer to
the genre, it's missing the UFC
license and some of the biggest fighters in the business. Still, the game looks to stay true to its
promise of showcasing "authentic Strikeforce environments," and the animation does look
particularly good (and very reminiscent of the Fight Night series).
Still, it's hard to know if EA Sports has what it takes to go up against THQ in the MMA arena. Will
EA get its foot in the ring, or will it be KO'd before the fight even begins?
"Now it's a fight," this new trailer for EA Sports MMA proudly proclaims. And it's
true -- EA Sports has a huge fight ahead of it. Not only is EA Sports MMA a latecomer to
the genre, it's missing the UFC
license and some of the biggest fighters in the business. Still, the game looks to stay true to its
promise of showcasing "authentic Strikeforce environments," and the animation does look
particularly good (and very reminiscent of the Fight Night series).
Still, it's hard to know if EA Sports has what it takes to go up against THQ in the MMA arena. Will
EA get its foot in the ring, or will it be KO'd before the fight even begins?
First came Wired’s
official iPad demo, and now there’s a new inspirational vision of the future of digital
magazines, courtesy of the following video.
Alexx Henry Photography collaborated with co-directors Cory Strassburger and Ming Hsiung to
produce the following cover and feature spread interactive animation for all-digital magazine
Viv Mag.
The concept is to envision the interactive publishing potential allowed by the iPad and other
tablets coming onto the market in the near, near future. You can check out a
behind-the-scenes look at how the video was put together in the second clip below.
Let us know what you think: Are tablets the ultimate savior of print publishing? Would you be
interested in checking out a digital magazine like the one depicted in the video?
Animation Workshop will assemble your animations from still images, text and other animations. It
brings an inexhaustible library of graphic effects to the table. It maintains its text as
editable text objects, rather than graphics – the text content of your
animations will be editable after they're created. Export Animation Workshop's animations to GIF,
MNG, AVI, MOV and SWF.
Whether you need really quick banner advertisements, eye-catching graphics for a PowerPoint
presentation, video titles that are hard to ignore or animations for Presentation Wizard or
Screen Saver Construction Set documents, this will make it happen in minutes, and make it look
like you have a complete graphic design house on speed-dial.
PNG/MNG Construction Set represents the state of the art in animation software. It will assemble
your original animations effortlessly through its Animation Wizard, squeeze them down to as close
to nothing as possible with its Supercompressor; create eyecatching banners and animated
transitions; manage your MNG files; add transparency to existing PNG graphics and a lot more. The
extensive documentation and tutorials included will get you up to speed in less time than it
takes most elected officials to redefine the truth.
Pile Up is a simple, yet highly addictive game that puts you in control of a
traffic intersection. In this fast-paced, strategy game, your job is simple. Let the cars know
when it's safe to enter the intersection to get to their exit. Tell the cars to go at the wrong
time and it's game over!!
Incredibly simple, but amazingly engaging.
Beautiful styled graphics and animation.
Insanely addictive 'just one more go' gameplay.
Three uniquely challenging levels.
Think you have what it takes to get onto the leader board? Challenge yourself and your friends
to beat your best scores... Bring it on!!
REQUIREMENTSMac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
PRICE$4.97
DEVELOPERSector3
Games
DOWNLOADS12 DOWNLOAD NOW
(18.3 MB) More information
Parallel Lines is a project by from Ridley Scott Associates that will be released April 8. It's a
neat premise! Five directors were each challenged to create short films in different genres using
the same dialogue. The five 5 beautifully diverse films are by Greg Fay, Jake Scott, Johnny
Hardstaff, Carl Erik Rinsch and animators Hi-Sim and their genres range from drama, animation,
action, to sci-fi and thriller. Trailer for Parallel Lines...
Jibjab co-founders and brothers Evan and
Gregg Spiridellis are pulling no punches in an interview that NewTeeVee reader and CinemaTech blogger Scott Kirsner was kind
enough to pass on to us. Asked if advertising works for his industry, Gregg responds: “To
support a high-quality produced product at scale — no way. Absolutely no way.” He
admits that advertising might work great as part of a larger strategy if you already have your
production costs covered, adding: “If someone is saying: I want to do webisodes, I want to
produce a series of two-minute comedy shorts and I want to make a lot of money with advertising,
I’d say: ‘You’re probably not, but good luck.’”
Jibjab has been monetizing its content through a mix of subscriptions, digital download sales,
ads and partnerships with brands like OfficeMax, for whom the studio has been producing the viral holiday hit Elf
Yourself. Jibjab originally inked a number of exclusive distribution deals withÂ
portals like Yahoo and MSN, but it doesn’t pursue that strategy anymore. “YouTube put
a bullet in that brain,” says Gregg Spiridellis. “There (are) no more exclusive
distribution deals in a post-YouTube world.” Now, the duo is quite happy to have its
content on as many platforms as possible, including Facebook. “We are happy to be a network
as opposed to a destination,” Gregg explains.
The duo reminisced a little bit about the early days of web video, when everyone was still on 56k
modems, revealing that animation was at that time really just a means to an end — and even
that was oftentimes difficult. “Incredibly frustrating in the early years,” remembers
Evan Spiridellis, “knowing that you wanted to make this thing that sings, and you had to
strip it back to 300k.” You can check out other videos Scott has been doing on his site.
Deux animations jouant sur un loop d’images, inspirés par le travail de
l’artiste français Augustin Lesage. Intitulé 1923 et 1925, elles sont
dirigées et produites par Max Hattler. Les films
ont été créés durant cinq jours avec des étudiants de The
Animation Workshop à Viborg, Danemark.
At ShoWest 2010, Dolby Laboratories announced it is working with Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar
Animation Studios to deliver a new audio format, Dolby Surround 7.1.
Random Thought! I'm oddly comforted by the thought that, if I lived in Russia,
comics would be reviewing me... (Taken from my Twitter feed on Sunday.)
Random Thought! I have no interest in that Young Allies book beyond how
awesome the name Bastards of Evil is. That's not just a good bad guy team name, it's a Joe
Casey-esque bad guy team name, and no one does supervillains who revel in their villainy as well
as Casey these days, so nicely done, Mr. McKeever.
Random Thought! Because it gives me focus, the rest of the column will be my
"I'ds of March" to follow-up on Brian's annual posting. Sure, that was yesterday, but I don't
want to step on his toes, let him do his thing and I'll keep mine in this column. If I remember
next year, the 15th will be on a Tuesday and mine will actually go up on the day. I did this
previously, on my blog, two years ago. (Linking to that so I won't repeat myself...)
I'd... have ended Secret Invasion with Noh-Varr helping to turn the
tide against the Skrulls and, then, turning on the heroes, because he intends to take over the
planet himself and remake it in Hala's image. Not taking over then, Norman Osborn could still be
in charge and Dark Reign happens mostly as planned, but Noh-Varr is set up as a threat, someone
who isn't working for the same goals as anyone.
I'd... have brought Steve Rogers back in Captain America as a regular
arc with Butch Guice as the artist, kicking off his run on the book. Not necessarily as smart a
sales/business move, but I think it would have worked artistically better.
I'd... have not marketed Joe Casey's tenure on Superman/Batman as a
follow-up to "Our Worlds at War" and would have also let people know that was writing the book
when the first issue came out in October and made it clear what was going on.
I'd... hire Jim Starlin to take over one of the Marvel cosmic books. With Thanos
coming back, all we need is Starlin. It would lighten the load for Abnett and Lanning a bit and
also give the line a little bit more diversity in writing. I've enjoyed the unified vision, but,
come on, DnA and Starlin writing those characters? That would be amazing.
I'd... have hired J.M. DeMatteis to write Spider-Man: The Clone Saga.
Or, at least, a back-up strip to give the series a little more flavour and breathing room. I'd
have also included some extra material like one-page interviews on the story throughout the
series. Small things to make it a better experience.
I'd... have not made Wednesday Comics exclusively 12-part serialised
stories. Do some one-offs and short serials, mix things up a bit, play with the newspaper format.
I'd... have released the "Final Crisis Aftermath" book in a different manner,
maybe not all at the same time nor with such similar titles. They all sort of blended together
that way when they might have done better by making their differences more obvious and trying to
target each book's specific audience more directly.
I'd... release Paul Jenkins's Hellblazer run in trades. Plus, I do a
trade or two of the remaining uncollected issues from that series. The one- and two-parters that
popped up over the years.
I'd... have hired almost any other artist than Philip Tan for the second
Batman & Robin arc. That arc sticks out like a sore thumb and DC could have found
someone much better suited to Morrison's writing -- and someone whose work doesn't look ten times
worse in the middle of Frank Quitely- and Cameron Stewart-drawn arcs.
I'd... have hounded Chip Zdarsky to contribute to Strange Tales...
because he's great.
I'd... hire Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk to do a second Dark X-Men mini-series
later in 2010 to explore what happens to the characters without Norman Osborn in charge. That
could be very interesting and act as a nice sequel to the recently-concluded mini.
I'd... have hired a writer with sensibilities much more in common with Grant
Morrison than Keith Giffen to write The Authority: The Lost Year. A cool idea for a book
that went wrong by hiring the wrong writer to do it. That needed someone much more in tune with
the way Morrison writes.
I'd... have chosen more Spider-Woman over the motion comics animated
thing.
I'd... have made those Dark Reign: The List issues actually... you
know... mean something...? Like, made them count for something lasting and important within the
"Dark Reign" story rather than just coming out and... not really doing much of anything.
I'd... hound and pester Craig Ferguson until he agrees to write an Aquaman
comic, dammit!
Random Thought! That was fun.
***
Random Comments! Your comments. My replies. Rather obvious. Trying something new
by replying to portions of comments directly. If it's confusing or people don't like it, let me
know.
Bill Reed said: People actually watched Corner Gas? Really? Did they enjoy
it? Does one have to be Canadian to enjoy it? Some station or another here in God's United States
aired it for a bit there, and I stumbled upon it one day... it's like some kind of terrifying
black hole of quality.
Corner Gas is a decent, middle-of-the-road sitcom. It only produces a couple of chuckles
in an episode, but gets the odd big laugh. Or, it did when it was on. I don't think it's a
uniquely Canadian thing, but who knows with you Americans?
I'm tired of this shtick already. Deadpool isn't that overexposed. I proved it with maths.
Still, he does have a surprising amount of solo titles, more than I think the market will be able
to support. In a year's time, he'll probably be back to one, unless the movie comes out.
Just because other characters appear in more books, doesn't mean Deadpool isn't overexposed.
Something like that is relative to the character and how much exposure is too much. Spider-Man
and Batman appear in more books? Fine, but we're also used to them appearing in a lot of books.
There's a longtime demand for them to appear in numerous books. As of yet, there's an apparent
shortterm demand for Deadpool that could easily turn against the character like happened to
Punisher and Ghost Rider. Your math, while interesting, doesn't tell the whole story.
CW said: The whole 'Deadpool overexposure' thing is really weird for me. Not
because I hate the character, or I'm offended by the character being rammed down my throat, but I
guess I'm from the time when Joe Kelly and Ed McGuness couldn't buy readers for his solo series.
I grew up with Deadpool as a third-rate Wolverine knock-off (violent guy with an attitude)
fighting second-rate characters (Black Tom?) from a second rate X-book (Leifeld-era X-Force, you
suck!). That Joe Kelly was able to take the character and make something truely moving and
halarious is nothing short of miraculous. The book was constantly fighting cancelation, and
although it never really recovered after McGuness left the book, it was still one of the best
books Marvel was publishing at the time.
Everything being published today featuring the character is a pale shadow of what was done in
that first series. I don't believe that later work of any creator or of any character can
diminish the original work, but what's being published as Deadpool comics these days makes me
almost say he's been ruined. As it is, I see those books as being the one shining gem in a big
pile of turd. And it makes me realize just how funny and vindictive the fates must be to make
*now* be when Deadpool is at his most popular among the hoi poi. It's almost like something...
Deadpool would come up with.
Agreed. Having read Deadpool books for reviewing purposes at CBR, I can vouch for the
lack of funny. They're cute. There's maybe one funny moment per issue. Then again, humour is
relative, so maybe lots of people are finding the current books very funny. I did enjoy
Deadpool's recent guest-spot in Amazing Spider-Man by Joe Kelly and Eric Canete. That
was great.
Mecha-Shiva said: Frisky Dingo, man... what a great show. I ran into Adam
Reed at my mechanic's (I had no idea what he looked like, but he started talking to someone at
the counter and I'm wondering why this guy sounds like Xander Crews then he said his name and it
made sense) but lacked the balls to say hello or anything. I don't understand why Frisky Dingo
(or the all-too-brief Xtacles spinoff) never got the same kind of attention as the Venture Bros.
Not to take anything away from the Venture Bros., which is great, but... other than the crappy
animation, I see nothing not to like about Frisky Dingo. Ka-kow.
I can understand why: The Venture Bros. do self-contained episodes. Frisky
Dingo opted for episodes that told one big story, much like a comics storyarc written for
the trade. That doesn't make it less good, it just makes it harder for people to get into it.
That, and The Venture Bros. is better. Sorry.
Mario said: People who don't like Deadpool or constantly whine about his
overexposure are simply in denial of their desire to read a comic that will have no "serious"
long term effect. Deadpool comics are all about enjoyment (in the best and worse ways
possible).
No, I'm all for those books. I've read recent Deadpool books and they're just not good.
Not funny or entertaining.
Jason Arron's Wolvering doesn't suck.
No, Jason Aaron's Wolverine book doesn't suck. That's what made me realise that I just don't care
for the character. I'd read an issue here and there and enjoy what I've read, and, yet, I felt no
desire to read another issue.
FunkyGreenJerusalem said: That's because it's by an Australian director
Gregor Jordan, who makes the most empty and souless films of all time. He won a big short film
competition in Australia with a clever short... although apparently it's VERY similar to another
short, or scene from an old film. He then made a crime film which wouldn't have gone anywhere,
except it had Bryan Brown swearing a lot, and was the breakthrough (in Australia, which led to US
work) of Heath Ledger. That got him signed up to a five picture film, and it's been a slow and
steady output of dribble ever since. (I know his career because I keep thinking every film will
be his last, and am just shocked at watching his mediocrity continue to live). Having seen The
Informers the other week, don't stress Chad, just about every character in it will die of AIDS
soon after the credits. (Although I think we're supposed to ignore that by combining the stories,
and making them all happen at once, nearly every character had, presumably, unprotected sex with
someone who had slept with another character, all leading back to the girl who dies of AIDS at
the end... AIDS of course being added in, as it's not in the novel, to give the film some kind of
ending).
I haven't read the collection in a while, but, yeah, I don't remember AIDS being in any of the
stories. Hell, the girl doesn't even die necessarily in the book. Thanks for the background info.
From what I read, the director really fucked with the script and cut it down considerably.
I loved when that book hinted that Xavier was in their heads and manipulating the X-Men the
whole time. That never went anywhere.
That was very frustrating. Xavier was perfectly happy to alter Magneto's memories and mind, but
wouldn't act on a larger scale to solve the problems with mutants and humanity -- or, at least,
influence the minds of the right people to move things along. Again, small-scale, status
quo-feeding bullshit.
So you're praising Ellis for writing a nice outline of a story, and then publishing it as a
story? From memory, the book has a scene where the main characters - all of whom have nothing
original or distinguishing about them - are standing in a warehouse. The police are intercut with
the heroes talking, surrounding a warehouse, and they kick down the door... but they have the
wrong warehouse. That's Chuck Austen level of writing.
No, Ellis wrote a conclusion to his story, but part of it was introducing ideas that could be
more fully explored in the future. And that scene happened, but it, you know, made sense in
context and wasn't bad. But, I'm not going to change your mind.
Willie Everstop said: Random Thought! What the hell is up with comic
characters leaving the word what out of the phrase "What the hell" lately? Is it a creator quirk
or just some weird way to avoid censorship? It always seems out of place to me.
I say 'the hell?' or 'the fuck?' Just a variation on the phrase that some people use.
TimCallahan said: Hey, I was an English major and I read ALL the assigned
books. (Problem was: I usually didn't read them until the day before the final, and Chaucer isn't
really all that great when you read him like that. He may not be great for other reasons -- the
jury is still out on that.)
I did that with Moby-Dick since it was the one book in my American lit class in
undergrad that we had to discuss in an essay on the final exam. By the halfway mark, I
was skipping the chapters on whales, sticking to the narrative. Good times.
Rome said: BTW, did you like the new Iron Man 2 trailer? Any thoughts on the
Suitcase Armor?
Looks decent. No real thoughts or judgements since the first movie was good enough to earn the
sequel a viewing. So, I'm trying not to care too much, preferring to leave my thoughts until I
see the finished product with everything in its proper context.
Jack Norris said: As soon as the words "hero's journey" pop up in an
argument, I automatically feel less obligated to read on in a respectful manner. It's become the
fans & critics (oh, and let's not forget some creators as well) version of "because, uh...
because Jesus, God and the Bible, that's why!" in the way that it's just an empty appeal to
authority.
Agreed. But, the endpoint of Peter's progression into adulthood is leaving Spider-Man behind and
learning about real responsibility. Just the way it is.
Mike Loughlin said: My problem with JMS' better comics (Midnight Nation,
Rising Stars, Supreme Power) is that he spent an awful lot of time on set-up, and very little on
delivery. I read all 18 issues of Supreme Power, but got the impression that the story JMS wanted
to tell would have taken at least 50 more. Rising Stars started out great (although the art was
sub-par), but ended limply. Midnight Nation is a self-contained story, at least, but they seemed
to spend most of the issues lurching toward a rather predictable conclusion (I liked it, despite
its flaws). I think JMS is good at world-building, but falters when it comes to structuring.
Yeah, that's why Babylon 5 was so great: he had the room to set up plots and characters
and world build without it cutting short the eventual payoffs. Comics are limited by page-count
and the speed at which they come out and JMS seems to need more room to work. He hasn't adapted
to the medium as much as he should have by this point.
SIX - A Theme you leave on your BlackBerry for more then a WEEK
This theme includes a bottom Dock with slide dot selector. Simply tap each of the 3 dots on the
dock bar and it will show/hide each set of icons with bar animation. Contact lis
Voici le demoreel 2010 présentant les derniers travaux produits par la
société Hybrid Medical Animation.
Des projets spécialisés dans le milieu pharmaceutiques, le tout sur la bande-son
“Sam” de Massive Attack extraite de Danny the Dog. A découvrir dans la suite.
When Disney purchased Pixar Animation Studios in 2006, one of the most influential factors behind
the acquisition, besides acquiring the top computer animation studios in the world, was that John
Lasseter, one of the powerhouses behind the rise of Pixar, would be put in charge of Disney's
downtrodden animation studio. A fan of hand-drawn animation, Lasseter's return was sign of Disney's
willingness to reinvigorate the dying art that the studio had all but destroyed only a few years
earlier. His first project as Chief Creative Officer (CCO) was The Princess and the Frog -
which is out today on Blu-ray - a film which sees the return of the studio to its animation and
storytelling roots....
Why are modern video games still having problems with voice acting? And what can be done to solve
them? Gamesblog investigates...
Most admirers of Quantic Dreams' interactive drama Heavy
Rain will readily agree on the game's most glaring fault – the
inconsistent voice acting. The visuals are astonishingly atmospheric, the plot (though choppy at
times) is compelling, and the lush orchestral score is wonderfully resonant... But... Well, some
of the acting performances are wooden to the point of somnambulism.
The thing is, Heavy Rain is far from alone. Although the videogame industry loves to compare
itself with the movie business, and clearly has ambitions to become the story-telling medium of
the 21st century, poor vocal performances are common, even among Triple A titles. In the last few
months Aliens vs Predator, Army of Two: 40th Day and even Final Fantasy XIII have drawn criticism
in the areas of scripting and performance. So what's going on?
"Although improving all the time, there is still a lack of focus on story and character in
games," says Andy Emery creative director at Side, a leading
provider of casting, directing and recording services to the videogame and movie sectors. "This
has to be an integral part of the project from start to finish. We see problems with poor scripts
all the time. A professional scriptwriter is an essential part of modern game development but
still we get 'developer written' scripts with alarming regularity. Even with the best Hollywood
actors on board, a poor script can result in poor voice acting."
A sometimes mediocre script certainly contributes to the problems in Heavy Rain, where key
snippets of dialogue are so laboured and cliché-ridden, they more or less eject you
straight out of the experience. But then, actors work with dodgy scripts all the time, and can
still put together a reasonably compelling performance (just ask anyone who's appeared in a
romantic comedy in the last decade). Experienced direction helps, too.
Clearly, there are deeper problems, involving the whole process of recording voice performances.
And it starts with timetabling.
Traditionally, voice acting has been recorded toward the end of the cycle, when the over-arching
structure of the game and its narrative are safely locked down. There are compelling reasons for
this. Games tend to evolve enormously over the standard two-year process, with whole missions
often culled at a late stage, as playtesting reveals unforeseen fault lines and design issues.
Having to recall actors and record chunks of new dialogue to reflect story changes is perceived
as an expensive, time-consuming chore – the last thing a hassled studio needs
in the generally hellish run up to a major delivery deadline.
But while those justifications made sense in the old days, when voice performances tended to be
restricted to skippable cut-scenes there for decoration only, they begin to look less convincing
in the modern era. With titles like Heavy Rain and the forthcoming psychological thriller Alan
Wake, where cinematic fidelity is a cornerstone of the experience, voice recording can't just be
something jammed in at the end ostensibly to cut costs. But more on that later.
There are also fundamental differences between voice acting in a videogame and voice acting in
linear artforms such as radio plays and animated movies. Due to the interactive nature of games,
actors can't be given a standard film script from which they're able to gauge the throughline of
their character and a feel for the dramatic development of the narrative. Instead, lines of
dialogue need to be isolated into chunks so they can be accessed and triggered within the game in
line with the actions of each individual player. Consequently, the performer will usually be
presented with a spreadsheet jammed with hundreds of single lines of dialogue, with little sense
of context or interaction.
As Emery argues, there's really not a lot of alternative. "For large complex RPG and MMO games,
with dialogue that could add up to over 30hrs of play time, it's simply not practical to give the
actors the whole script. You also risk information overload, with the actor struggling to focus
on the areas of importance for their character. Star Wars: The Old Republic, the new MMO being
developed by Bioware is a great example, as the project contains over 40 novels worth of scripted
dialogue. The key is to give the actors the information they need for their scenes and ensure
they are well directed by a professional and well-briefed director."
But according to David Sobolov, one of the most experienced videogame voice actors in the world
(just check out his website), the significant time
pressures mean that close, in-depth direction is not always possible. "Often, there's a need to
record a great number of lines, so to keep the session moving, once we've established the tone of
the character we're performing, the director will silently direct us using the spreadsheet on the
screen by simply moving the cursor down the page to indicate if he/she liked what we did. Or
they'll make up a code, like typing an 'x' to ask us to give them another take..." It sounds, in
effect, like a sort of acting battery farm, a grinding, dehumanising production line of
disembodied phrases, delivered for hours on end. Hardly condusive to Oscar-winning performances.
Yet the establishment of a fully-rounded character is a vital element of the acting process. Most
western drama schools conform to the model of acting developed by Russian Theatre practitioner
Constantin Stanislavsy. His works on the development of character - An Actor Prepares, Building a
Character and Creating a Role - remain essential reference texts, even though his methods have
been superseded and remixed by dozens of acting luminaries ever since – most
notably perhaps, Lee Strasberg, at The Actors Studio. Stanislavski placed enormous emphasis on
the ability of the actor to understand and inhabit the character's life, not just the two hours
of it presented on screen or stage, but everything that took place beforehand. This takes time
and imagination – elements seemingly absent from the factory-line schedules of
many recording sessions.
It's clear, however, that some studios have grasped this vital element. "The actors always have
the opportunity to learn about the character before the session," says Emery of the work
undertaken at Side. "For most leading roles the actor would have had a full audition, with a
director present to brief them about the character and their motivations. Prior to a session they
are sent their script and character bios, and where possible, an overview of the general story
arc. This allows them to better understand the character they are to play and how they should be
played."
But then there's an added inhibitive element in the videogame voice recording session
– actors usually perform in isolation. This is, of course, a necessary evil as
in-game dialogue will need to be chopped up, mixed and played in a variety of contexts. But this
isn't much consolation to the actor. "I've only worked on one game where that wasn't the case,"
says Sobolov. "When I played The Arbiter in Halo Wars, they recorded cut scene dialogue with all
the principal performers in the same room together much as they do in television animation. Most
times we have to silently skip over the other character's lines (if they're shown to us at all)
then deliver our dialogue as if we were having a conversation in real time." Again, this runs
counter to drama training where the art of reacting to other performers is an intrinsic element.
Little wonder, then, that without a full script, a character chronology to study or other
performers to interact with, voice acting can be both stilted and lacking in nuance. It's an
intrinsic problem that the key voice over studios are really looking in to. Mark Estdale,
director at casting and voice recording agency, Outsource
Media, has been working for ten years on a system to provide voice over actors with a
quick-n-dirty frame of reference for their characterisations.
"What the actor needs is something at the point of performance that they can react to," he
explains. "To provide that, you need to throw away all previous script models. What we've done is
build a database that can actually emulate game engine behaviours and recalls for the actor any
kind of pertinent information - visuals from the game, audio, other actors' lines
– and it's all instant recall. So you get the actor in the studio and when
they're in the zone you hit them with this radical system – it's all on screen
in front of them, and they're getting all the cues they'd get in the theatre or on a film
production, they're not reliant on trying to figure out what the heck's going on."
Added to this, there's a very simple way to improve the quality of acting in most videogames:
start early. "To achieve a cinematic level of quality that so many titles demand now, the voice
acting can't be left to the end of the development cycle," maintains Emery. "Making character
performances an integral part of the pre- and main production stages opens up a whole range of
opportunities to improve the final quality." Mark Estdale wholeheartedly concurs. "Actors need to
be cast when the developer is starting the design process. I'm working on one production now
where we're there really early in development, and the whole cast is involved - they're giving
voices to the characters as they're being designed."
Not only does this create a sense of ownership of the character, it also means that the director,
writer, cast and game designers get to spark off each other – schlocky lumps
of leaden dialogue, implausible character volte-faces and rampant cliché may all be
avoided in a truly collaborative and respectful environment. In some ways, what developers need
to do it stop drawing all their cinematic reference points from the big CGI-stuffed blockbusters
and start looking at the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh who employ improvisation and
collaboration to build drama.
Ultimately, Emery pinpoints an evolving role within the game development process; instead of
script writers, what is needed now are 'narrative designers', experts in the creation of plot and
dialogue for an interactive medium. "Good narrative designers can work with game designers to
ensure the story and dialogue becomes a fully integrated element of the game design, rather than
a hindrance to pure interactivity. A lot of game players do not like to be stopped while a cut
scene delivers story elements and clever Narrative design can ensure the story is delivered in a
less obtrusive way.
"As narrative designers become more adept at delivering a compelling story in ways less obtrusive
to game play, the distinction between 'Story' dialogue and 'World Filling' dialogue will continue
to blur. The challenge will be to ensure ALL acting in games is believable, from in-game
greetings, to death cries, to the epic monologue."
And Emery also highlights other vital elements of convincing non-linear narrative. "Good audio
implementation ensures that individual files, separated for reasons of interactivity, can sound
like fluid, natural, overlapping dialogue once triggered in the game. Using a professional
director who is involved in casting, rehearsal and dialogue recordings makes a huge difference.
It's essential to have someone who knows the project inside out, has been on board from the
start, can talk to actors in their language and translate that into a performance."
The ultimate solution for Emery, however, is the emerging field of full performance capture, in
which one actor provides motion and facial capture, as well as the voice. "For full performance
capture sessions, it is more like a film shoot with script table reads, rehearsals and further
familiarisation with the project all prior to an actual shoot," he says. "On the actual shoot the
director will rehearse each scene with the actors together so they can get a feel of what will be
going on in each scene and how they will interact and then have multiple live takes to get the
required performance.
"On Dead Space: Extraction it was clear from the outset that the team was taking character
performances in the game very seriously. They looked for actors to provide not only a vocal and
facial performance but also facial likeness to be used in the game. Although the actors needed to
have the right voice and the right look, the team were happy to be flexible about accent. The
most important thing was to cast a group of distinct, believable characters and I think we really
hit the mark, and the gaming press agreed with us."
The weird thing is, this is exactly the avenue Quantic Dream chose. Of the four principle
characters in Heavy Rain, three were played by actors who provided the voice, motion and
facial capture data.
According to Madison Paige's body actor, Jacqui Ainsley, all the actors were given full
scripts, and they spent three years on the project – ample time to inhabit
their roles. Throughout the process, the game's creator and writer David Cage also provided
oodles of background detail regarding the moral choices at the heart of the drama. They did
everything right.
And certainly there are moments of profundity in the game, moments when the dialogue and
performances click into place with spinetingling effect. It could be that the actors were
inexperienced in games, that the audio implementation, with so many branching dialogue elements
to cope with, could not always call up exactly the right vocal intonations for the moment.
Perhaps it is down to the ambition of the project, the fact that it has effectively created its
own genre, that a few inherent weaknesses are cruelly magnified. The sheer size of the script
(apparently 16 movies worth of text) may have contributed, though this scale is becoming more
common these days. According to a preview of Rockstar's forthcoming adventure, LA Noire, in this month's Edge, the script weighs in
at 22,000 pages. Yet still, the interactive drama, a genre at the forefront of narrative
development, is in its infancy.
Most titles, however, sit in well-defined game types, developed by experienced studios. For them,
there is no excuse anymore. David Sobolov is predictably passionate on the subject. "We're moving
into a time where games are attempting to create an emotional experience rather than simply a
visceral one. If developers intend to tell more complex stories they're going to need to hire the
best talent they can find to complete that journey.
"A game can't be successful anymore if it's developed as a piece of software. It has to evoke
emotional reactions and create a reality a gamer wants to buy into to be successful. In the best
titles, good voice acting can be the glue that keeps a gamer immersed in the world that the
developer is creating, often subconsciously. The human voice is the one thing in a game that's
100% real..."
A website that sorts everyday the most relevant information to you.
Vote for the news and Matoumba will learn your tastes and the information that you like the most.
It is all FREE!
Find here the history of the stories you found interesting.
Show this to people who share the same interests as you,
and if they use Matoumba, their own votes will fine recommandations to you.
We’ve
witnessed publishers drooling over the 
Recommandations
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
