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How you feel when you play games and films (research for my 3rd year film/dissertation!)

wolfgirl

wolfgirl

Almost a Jibble Sammich
Hi guys, would be really grateful to get some feedback on this issue as its the topic of my third year dissertation and grad film and it would provide valuable research and may provoke inspiration :)

I'm very interested in the convergence of games/films recently (as we know it started with games like Resi being inspired by Romero's Dead series, Dead Space took influence from Alien, Rockstar's games also take a lot of influence from films - e.g. Red Dead Redemption and Western genre, LA Noire and noir films, GTA and gangster/crime films etc etc). Cinematic games like Uncharted, Halo and countless others have inspired me (especially Heavy Rain and how that tries to merge games and film to create its own medium). Obviously this omits more gameplay based games such as Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog, so I'm not looking at ALL games. Just how the cinematic ones are trying to be more like films, and films are getting more inspired by games/becoming more game-like (not just game-film cash-ins like Lara Croft and Resident Evil but stuff like Scott Pilgrim, Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi (took influence from games visual style for blood effects), Stay Alive etc).

I want to look at the merging of cinema and games in my dissertation, and also use it as a basis for my 3rd year grad film (I'm very inspired by the Halo Reach 'Hope' trailer visually, and for the content I'm interested in the psychology of gamers - it's hard to explain but when I can refine my brief I'll post it here if you guys want :D). So please help me by answering the following questions:

How do you feel when you play a video game, and how do you feel when you watch a film? What's the difference for you? What gratifications do you get from both media?

Thanks :) xxx
 
You might want to take a look at this trailer to for how movies and games get influence from each other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HigXVoGpU24 I think its pretty powerful for a video game. I know a lot of people see games as something for kids, but that trailer is intense without having to try.

Give me a sec and I'll answer your question to! XD
 
Meg said:
You might want to take a look at this trailer to for how movies and games get influence from each other. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HigXVoGpU24 I think its pretty powerful for a video game. I know a lot of people see games as something for kids, but that trailer is intense without having to try.
Click to expand...

I could actually hug you right now. That's going in my inspirations - I love the way the backstory is told in that trailer. I could use something like that in my grad film!! Thank you :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKRlWLDWhGI -> this is the 'Hope' Halo Reach trailer which is my main inspiration. My fiance and I are devising a story slowly but surely - THEGUNNSHOP on Youtube posted a video not too long ago about technology that's being developed that could be used for games where it reads your brain patterns and controls the game according to how you think, so instead of your brain translating your thought to your hand to your controller, it goes straight to the game. E.g. say you're playing COD and someone pops up, you instantly think 'bang!' or 'shoot him!' and the technology translates that to the game. I am interested in that psychology. I was thinking maybe it could be shot FPS/POV style helmet cam like this trailer, and you see enemies pop up onscreen and the viewer would instantly think 'kill him!' but I am also inspired by the way games like Heavy Rain (that merged games and films) gave you choices and it affected the rest of your game) so maybe when the enemy pops up our character would see two scenarios - one for killing him, one for sparing him, the consequences of each, the viewer has to decide which one is real... it sounds strange but I can see it working in my head xD I am very interested in the way camera angles in films and camera angles in games are different and how they affect the viewer, so I'm also playing with that in my ideas.
 
wolfgirl said:
How do you feel when you play a video game, and how do you feel when you watch a film? What's the difference for you? What gratifications do you get from both media?

Thanks :) xxx
Click to expand...

I'll take a shot at these questions lol.

How do you feel when you play a video game?

is an interesting question. I've often thought of video games as a pass time that allow me to escape reality and just kind of 'be gone' if you will. I tend to be far more focused in the video game world than in real life. Games like Doom 3 (which I will use as an example here, since it probably drew from me the most emotion of my video game years) in which you play as a marine on a Mars base overrun by demons had a great atmosphere to get lost in, as it was so easy, quite simply.

Upon starting the game I felt eager at seeing what the game would throw my way, at the same time wondering if it will actually be a challenge. After gathering my weapons and finding the scientist and everything literally starts going to hell, that's when the adrenaline came. All of a sudden I was thrust into a world where creatures who would bring about my doom would spring out of nowhere, often in the dark. As I progressed through the science labs, the sense of caution was heavy, especially later in Delta Labs where there was rarely any light save for the flashlight and at this point handfuls of enemies had been introduced that could kill the player quite quickly. I paid closer attention to my senses. I was so relieved when I beat the game. I'd gone through hell and survived.

Let's see if I can sum that up a little for you lol. When I play a game, I'm one of those people who gets really into the game. When it's done it's job (like in Doom, Silent Hill, and some Resident Evils), I feel the emotions the characters feel- angst when you know there is danger about, sadness when an accomplice dies and relief when it's over. I focus so intently that my senses block out just about anything except for the sensory stimuli offered by the game. As I said before, because of this and the need to do so, I pay much more attention to my senses and they therefore seem better tuned, I guess you could say.

How do you feel when you watch a film?

Ah, film. One of my favorite genres. I enjoy film as a route to escapism in a different way. As I can't interact with film, the tunnel vision effect of gaming isn't really there. When I watch a horror movie, the sense of urgency for ME to survive is no longer there, so it's up to the creators to make me want the characters to survive.

Side note: While most movies have more of a sideline feel to them, there are always exceptions. Notable examples pertaining to me - I grew up in a tense, abusive home, and so anytime I watch Girlfight (Michelle Rodriguez's debut feature film which basically mirrored what I went through, but kinda twisted the characters around a little) it's hard for me to get through it without feeling some residual pain from my past. Likewise, I can no longer watch James Wan's Death Sentence because my brother was killed when he was 16, a year ago today, actually. Within the first half hour or so of Death Sentence, Kevin Bacon's son is murdered and later dies in the hospital. This still makes me cry and I have to turn off the film even though it is one of my favorites.

Aside from these few circumstances in which film proves to have the ability to evoke powerful emotion in myself, it's just not the same. The danger isn't there. It's hard to explain. :/

What is the difference for you?

There is one major difference for me. Seeing as how with video games one is thrown into the situation and must find their own way through, video games force you to be fully engaged and I think this makes for a much closer relationship to characters. With film, you are not fully engaged, and so the experience itself tends to be more bland and less engaging in general.

What gratifications to you get from the media?

I'm going to use Resident Evil (the game and the movie) as a form of comparison for this question.

When it comes to video games, the hero's triumphs are your own. When you finally beat that final boss at the end, the feeling of making it through a hardship in another reality is rewarding. You get to be whoever you want to be (to an extent) with whatever skillsets you want to have. It's surreal in a sense, to be and do whatever you want, even if it's just as long as you're playing the game.

In a sentence: Be who you want, when you want and do what you want, when you want.

Watching the movie is not on the same scope as the game. It generally evokes questions- Would I survive? Would I have thought of that? Would I be able to be so selfless? Film offers a chance for me to evaluate myself on a deeper level by probing things I would normally have no reason to even really think about. I mean, sure the chances of a viral zombie outbreak actually happening are pretty much zilch, and yet if it wasn't for the movie (and others of course), I wouldn't know how to survive a zombie outbreak lol.

In a sentence: They make me ask myself questions, however relevent or not, about myself.

Sorry if that was long, but I can get a bit wordy :3. And feel free to ask questions if you need me to be more specific or rephrase or something lol.
 
Rain611 said:
I'll take a shot at these questions lol.

How do you feel when you play a video game?

is an interesting question. I've often thought of video games as a pass time that allow me to escape reality and just kind of 'be gone' if you will. I tend to be far more focused in the video game world than in real life. Games like Doom 3 (which I will use as an example here, since it probably drew from me the most emotion of my video game years) in which you play as a marine on a Mars base overrun by demons had a great atmosphere to get lost in, as it was so easy, quite simply.

Upon starting the game I felt eager at seeing what the game would throw my way, at the same time wondering if it will actually be a challenge. After gathering my weapons and finding the scientist and everything literally starts going to hell, that's when the adrenaline came. All of a sudden I was thrust into a world where creatures who would bring about my doom would spring out of nowhere, often in the dark. As I progressed through the science labs, the sense of caution was heavy, especially later in Delta Labs where there was rarely any light save for the flashlight and at this point handfuls of enemies had been introduced that could kill the player quite quickly. I paid closer attention to my senses. I was so relieved when I beat the game. I'd gone through hell and survived.

Let's see if I can sum that up a little for you lol. When I play a game, I'm one of those people who gets really into the game. When it's done it's job (like in Doom, Silent Hill, and some Resident Evils), I feel the emotions the characters feel- angst when you know there is danger about, sadness when an accomplice dies and relief when it's over. I focus so intently that my senses block out just about anything except for the sensory stimuli offered by the game. As I said before, because of this and the need to do so, I pay much more attention to my senses and they therefore seem better tuned, I guess you could say.

How do you feel when you watch a film?

Ah, film. One of my favorite genres. I enjoy film as a route to escapism in a different way. As I can't interact with film, the tunnel vision effect of gaming isn't really there. When I watch a horror movie, the sense of urgency for ME to survive is no longer there, so it's up to the creators to make me want the characters to survive.

Side note: While most movies have more of a sideline feel to them, there are always exceptions. Notable examples pertaining to me - I grew up in a tense, abusive home, and so anytime I watch Girlfight (Michelle Rodriguez's debut feature film which basically mirrored what I went through, but kinda twisted the characters around a little) it's hard for me to get through it without feeling some residual pain from my past. Likewise, I can no longer watch James Wan's Death Sentence because my brother was killed when he was 16, a year ago today, actually. Within the first half hour or so of Death Sentence, Kevin Bacon's son is murdered and later dies in the hospital. This still makes me cry and I have to turn off the film even though it is one of my favorites.

Aside from these few circumstances in which film proves to have the ability to evoke powerful emotion in myself, it's just not the same. The danger isn't there. It's hard to explain. :/

What is the difference for you?

There is one major difference for me. Seeing as how with video games one is thrown into the situation and must find their own way through, video games force you to be fully engaged and I think this makes for a much closer relationship to characters. With film, you are not fully engaged, and so the experience itself tends to be more bland and less engaging in general.

What gratifications to you get from the media?

I'm going to use Resident Evil (the game and the movie) as a form of comparison for this question.

When it comes to video games, the hero's triumphs are your own. When you finally beat that final boss at the end, the feeling of making it through a hardship in another reality is rewarding. You get to be whoever you want to be (to an extent) with whatever skillsets you want to have. It's surreal in a sense, to be and do whatever you want, even if it's just as long as you're playing the game.

In a sentence: Be who you want, when you want and do what you want, when you want.

Watching the movie is not on the same scope as the game. It generally evokes questions- Would I survive? Would I have thought of that? Would I be able to be so selfless? Film offers a chance for me to evaluate myself on a deeper level by probing things I would normally have no reason to even really think about. I mean, sure the chances of a viral zombie outbreak actually happening are pretty much zilch, and yet if it wasn't for the movie (and others of course), I wouldn't know how to survive a zombie outbreak lol.

In a sentence: They make me ask myself questions, however relevent or not, about myself.

Sorry if that was long, but I can get a bit wordy :3. And feel free to ask questions if you need me to be more specific or rephrase or something lol.
Click to expand...

I have nothing at all to add here lol. This would be my exact response.
 
How do you feel when you play a video game, and how do you feel when you watch a film?
What's the difference for you? What gratifications do you get from both media?
This is a difficult question to answer because different people are attracted to different genre's which in turn provide a different viewing/playing experience, as you stated. The two media do not run 100% parallel for me.

My favorite movies are movies where part of watching is trying to figure out the plot before it unfolds. Sometimes I enjoy watching a movie because of the film techniques it uses, or that twist at the end makes the entire story different on the second viewing. My favorite example of this is Fight Club, where virtually every scene in the movie has a double meaning. Even if you manage to figure it out early, the first half where no hints were dropped could still be interpreted in a very different fashion. In all of those aspects, my video game tastes run parallel. I love games that can immerse me to that level.

Respectively, I find that RPGs of all types have the most intriguing plots. Game creating (on the visual level, where I would be able to understand some of it) do not vary enough where that would be a great hobby. The only game I can think of that had a standout and worthy praise method of story telling was the Mass Effect series, mainly because with the proper story reconstruction (phasing out levels and whatnot) it could be as great a movie as any space-based action film... I'd argue the story is better than Star Wars, in fact.

The only place where there's no movie equivalent is in the arcade-style games. SSX, Super Smash Bros., you know... the games that are made to just be fun to play nonstop even if there's no story to speak of. Well, there's probably a good argument for that being the porn of videogames... So I guess maybe I do go to the two media for the same reasons.... damn, and here I was trying to make a point.

I guess the point that could be made is that videogames are harder to be looked at as an art form. Most developers don't think of them that way and therefore don't make them that way, while movies have a prestigious set of creators and critics with the most innovative and well-made movie getting acclaim be it through the academy or a film festival.
 
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