RED WHITE & BLUE – Film screening

Brief Description
Director and writer Simon Rumley’s latest film is built around the universal horror of that ever-encroaching shadow of mortality. Set in Austin, Texas, the film is about the inter-twining lives of three different characters, and the tragic way in which they head down a violent road to a heart-rending oblivion.

Genre: Slasher horror/physiological thriller

Cast
Amanda Fuller – Erica
Noah Taylor – Nate
Marc Senter – Franki
Nick Ashy Holden – Alvin
Patrick Crovo – Carl

Running time: 103 mins

The above information was sourced from - http://www.frightfest.co.uk/09films/redwhiteblue.html

My Comments on RED WHITE & BLUE

Personally I thought the red white and blue film screening was a useful exercise into genres and how they are always being redefined. Different genres are just different categories of artistic composition, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content.

 In my opinion Red, White and Blue is a perfect example of how a classic genre like horror can be redefined. Red, White and Blue is able to redefine the horror genre by useing a distinctive style and form of storytelling not usually associated to the genre.

For example a typical slasher horror film usually spends minimal time on building the back story and relationships of characters, and instead spends most of the time creatively killing off the characters.

But in Red, White and Blue the typical slasher horror film structure is reversed, and   most of the time is spent building the main characters back story’s, while minimal time is spent on creatively killing off the characters.

Why I think this is relevant Game design

I think that one of the key elements of Games Design is the ability to take a classic genre like an FPS, and to slightly tweak the key elements of the genre to either create a new sub genre or to breathe new life into an existing one.

As the Games medium has evolved so has its associated genres, for example if you were to go back 10 years and look at what was defined as RPG, you would see a completely different style, form and content to what is now associated to the RPG genre.

A Lecture By Chris Goodswen BA (Hons), Msc Character Artist

Brief Overview of Lecture

Games Art and Design, and Masters Degree graduate Chris Goodswen gave a lecture about his journey from an unfulfilled working life to a career as a character artist.

 In the lecture he talked about how his unfulfilling 9-5 job and his underlying passion for computer games and character design lead to his decision to become a character artist.

 He then talked about how the Games Art and Design course at NUCA was his first step towards a career in the Game Industry.  He also went into some detail about his Masters Degree, and what it involved.

Towards the end of the lecture he talked about all the skills and knowledge he has gained from his further education and how he has developed his portfolio along the way.

He finished the lecture by talking about how he is currently a free lance character artist, and how he is still struggling to break into the Games Industry.

My comments on the Lecture

During the first part of the lecture Chris Goodswen spoke about his unfulfilling job, and how his underlying passion for computer games and character design lead to his decision to become a character artist. For me this part of the lecture was especially relevant, as I have come from a similar background, the only difference being I do not specialise in character design.

For me the lecture by Chris Goodswen was a good incite into how the Games Art and Design course can help develop some of the key skills needed for the games industry. Although I do think the lecturer was trying to stress the importance of how difficult the game industry is to break into.

 He also mentioned that even though he had done his Masters Degree and had built up a good portfolio, he is still unable to secure his dream job within the Games industry.

   

 For futher information on Chris Goodswen and to check out his work visit his website at http://www.tincow.net/

Why I Want To Create Games

Over the years I have seen Video Gaming evolve from a small niche market, into one of the world's biggest entertainment industries. I have witnessed Game premiers surpass Movie openings, and have been at my local Game store for many a midnight launch of such Blockbuster Games as Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.

 I have witnessed games evolve from being a source of entertainment into being seen as an Art movement. Games and their designs have created iconic characters and cult followings, and have even started to influence other forms of entertainment, such as Films and Books.

 As technology advances, computer games are finding new ways of connecting with their audiences, such as physically interactive games, educational games, and games set within a historical or political context.

My First Experience of the Games Industry

My first Gaming Press Event

In 2008 I was given the opportunity to attend a Gaming press event in London's Whitehall War rooms. I was invited by Codemaster to the first screening of two games in the final stage of development. I was shown a presentation of an early build of the games and had a chance to quiz designers and developers on story mechanics and the USP game play features of each game.

 I wrote a preview of one of the games and posted it on their forum. They we so impressed by the response they received I was invited to a tour of their Head office in Warwickshire.

The tour really opened my eyes to the whole development process that goes into games. I was able to see first hand how games are created and the environment they are created in.

Ubisoft pre-game preview and feedback Community Day

Ubisoft then invited me to a special preview of Brothers in Arms hells highway, at the Union Jack Club in London. Here I gained an even better understanding of the development process. I played an early build of the game, and gave feedback to the developers, about graphics and game play mechanics.

 At the event they had a military advisor and two World War two veterans, from the wartime operation the game was based on. I was able to meet the vets and listen to some of their wartime stories.

Here I learned how games can convoy true life experiences and make the player feel the emotions of a character based on a real person. It also helped me understand the

extensive research that some developers go to, to make the story feel real, and the continuity of the game authentic.

Infinity Ward Community Day

I also went to a promotional event by Infinity Ward, creators of COD 4. The community day was to promote their first downloadable content for COD 4. As a result they had multiple consoles set up, with models that had t-shirts that said “play me and win this off my back”, which I did adding to my hoard of COD freebies.

There was a competition being held and the whole event was filmed for Xbox lives' Acey Bongos, and I was overjoyed when I court a glimpse of myself on the video.

 Here I witnessed how developers can gain important feedback from the gamer while promoting the game.

My History of Multi Player Gaming

Super Nintendo

Aged 8 - Mario Cart – My first proper experience of multi player gaming was when I played Mario Cart on the Super Nintendo. It allowed four players to race each other, and A.I characters in a number of different championships. tured a battle mode were up to four players could battle each other in a power up based game. 

 

 In the early days of gaming colourful, pixelated, 2D characters were enough to satisfy most gamers young and old.

Nintendo 64

Aged 10 – Golden Eye – Was the first 1st person shooter I played which had a really good multi player, it had well designed levels were the weapons where fairly laid out, and had lots of iconic James Bond characters, it was also very competitive as player skill was a necessity for winning.

When Golden Eye first came out the graphics were considered revolotuionary, the detail of character and level design was unseen at the time.

Xbox

Aged 14 – Halo – for me this game took multi player to the next level of enjoyment, as it was the first game I played were you could have up to 16 players via linked up Xbox’s and TV’s. I remember the first link up I had, we had 3 TV’s in two rooms, with 4 people on each TV. It was a brilliant example of how computer games could be a social event.

Xbox Live

Aged 16 – Halo 2 – With the introduction of the online gaming technology that was Xbox Live, there was a completely new genre of games created, especially for games consoles which had only just caught PC’s up. Halo 2 was the first online multi player game I played, and unlike previous games you could play with guests online which retained the social aspect of offline multi player. 

Xbox 360 

Aged 18 

Gears of War - Only allowed up to 8 players, instead of the typical 16 used in other online games, by having less players the combat was more about skill, than just the usually fragfest.
 

Halo 3 - Was one of the first games to create an online community, it used new innovative game play features, such as a theatre mode and map editor. 

Call of Duty Modern Warfare - Brought first person shooters to the masses, with stunning graphics, addictive gameplay and a well designed matchmaking system. It would soon grow in popularity, and lay down the foundations for one of the most popular series of FPS games.

Aged 19 

Call of Duty World at War - With the addition of a Cooperative mode called "Nazi Zombies", a new gameplay mechanic was created. As a result the COD franchise grew in popularity and influenced a whole range of games from different genres to include similar co-op modes.

Left for Dead - Built on the success of the Cooperative mode "Nazi Zombies", the game was solely based on Cooperative play, it help to create a sub genre of online shooters. 

Gears of War 2 - grew the success of the first game, adding additional gameplay features that reflected the new trend of "Nazi Zombies" style Cooperative modes.

Aged 20

Left for Dead 2 - A slightly improved version of the first game, but was criticised for not being innovative enough.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - Helped grow the COD franchise even bigger, through slight gameplay tweaks the game was given new depth and helped destroy a whole new generation's social lives.

Aged 21

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood - Was a solid first person shooter with a very enjoyable multiplayer, however it was never able to distinguish its self among the vast number of online multi player games.

Red Dead Redemption - Was a moderately successful game, by using a free roam mode that allowed players to just play casually and with no clear objective, the game was unable to push the limitations of the classic game model. This feature created a more unique multiplayer experience than games like cod & Halo.

Halo Reach - Growing on the success of the Halo franchise, the game offered refined gameplay to appeal to its online community. It also showcased a new level of player/character customisation. A feature witch is soon to be incorporated into many future games.

TBC

My First Computer Game Experience

  I remember the first time I played a computer game I was eight years old. I had just entered my front door, and as I did I could hear the distant sound of gunfire, accompanied by a quirky theme tune. As I pushed open my elder brothers door I was confronted by him aiming a bazooka at his TV screen, and with a grin on his face he was rapidly pulling the trigger, as bright colourful 2D tanks rushed towards the screen, soon to be blown to small pixelated pieces. I fondly remember how exited I was when I saw my brother having so much fun, and when it was my turn, it didn’t take long for me to immerse myself in the interactive entertainment medium of computer games.

I found out later that the Game was Super Battletank