Remediation Between Gaming and Film

NB. Major spoilers will follow to the plot of the film Run Lola Run, in order for me to talk about it in detail. I therefore suggest that anyone reading this should watch the film before reading this blog entry... (I will also describe plot elements from other films, most notably, The Matrix Trilogy and the more recent, SuckerPunch).

Remediation is a concept I had come across before, in several different mediums without being aware of it.

Remediation is "the representation of one medium in another..." (Bolter Jay, Grusin Richard, 2000, Page 45). A simple example of this is taking a feature, a time limit, from one medium, gaming and applying that into another medium, film, in the form of Run Lola Run.

In this case I will focus on remediation between films and video games. Many other kinds of remediation exist, scrolling TV news tickers emulate internet news sites, the fundamental rules of perspective of 3D shapes on a flat plane used in many current video games, were created in the Renaissance, centuries ago.  Some video games are in fact based directly on existing movie or book franchises.

These games are sometimes referred to as "movie tie-in games" when the game releases at the same time or shortly after the film. If these games are rushed to retail to meet the films deadline, then it is possible a decline in quality will follow. A well known example of a game based on a movie held in high regard by gamers and critics alike, is the N64 FPS game Goldeneye. This game was eventually released several years after the film that prompted it, thus leading to a dramatic overall of the gameplay features, likely increasing the games overall quality.

Anyway, onto how Run Lola Run uses Remediation from video games...

Run Lola Run

This was a very interesting film, and an excellent example of remediation in action. In this case, elements common to gaming, were taken and used in a film, which creates quite a unique experience. (We watched the film in German, with English subtitles).

Before I talk about the different elements which were inspired by games, I will first cover the bare bones plot of the movie, to give my writing some much needed context. The plot involves Lola and Mani trying to repay gangsters the £20,000 they accidently left on a train. Mani is contemplating armed robbery to get the money he needs to pay the gangster that employed him. Lola’s goal is to get to Mani, who will only wait 20 minutes before robbing the shop. The film has a number of unexpected twists, which I will describe below.

Time Limit

Perhaps the most obvious instance of remediation is the 20 minute time limit that Lola has to save Mani, before he tries to earn the money needed by robbing the nearby shop. Time limits are a common element in most older video games. A few notable examples are Space Invaders, Sonic 1,  and Mario Brothers Donkey Kong. In Space Invaders the player gets a Game Over if the spiky blue aliens reach the bottom edge of the screen. In Sonic 1, and the other original Genesis games, each level has a time limit of 10 minutes. Once this time limit is reached, Sonic loses a life and will be reset at the last checkpoint.

The film itself really seemed to have a large element of tension, since we, the audience, know that Lola is constantly running out of time to achieve her aim of saving Mani. Every time she is delayed, we wince, as we know that it costs her precious time, and consequently brings Mani closer to committing the crime and suffering the consequences.

Which brings up to the next element the film borrows from games, if Lola fails, in her task of Mani saving within the 20 minute time limit, she gets extra...

Lives

Lives. Lola seems to have multiple lives to achieve her goal. Lives are a tried and true gaming concept dating back to games like, Donkey Kong Space Invaders, and Pac Man. It seemed like a novel, clever idea to continue the film in this way. At the end of the first 20 minute run, I was convinced that the film was over, Mani was captured, and Lola was dead...

I will now summarise the key changes that occur in each new life. As I said above, major plot points/spoilers will be discussed in this section. You have been warned.

Attempt 1 - This is the first attempt, which introduces us to Lola and Mani's characters, and the people they interact with in the 20 minute time-frame they have. It sets the scene for the rest of the film, and gives us some idea of what to expect.

Result = Mani is captured; Lola is shot by a panicking policeman and dies. Lola gets another chance to try to save Mani.

Attempt 2 -

Result = Lola managed to rob her fathers business and escape with the money needed. Mani is run over by an ambulance, when running towards Lola. Lola gets another chance to try to save Mani.

Attempt 3 -

Result = Lola manages to win most of the money needed in a casino. Mani manages to chase down the homeless person who ended up with their money on the train. Mani gets the money back by threatening him with the gun. Meanwhile Lola saves a man in an ambulance.

Eventually Lola catches up to Mani, and is very angry with him, since he managed to get the money himself, and she went through all that distress for nothing. (Frankly I was surprised that Lola didn't leave Mani, after all her efforts were for nothing. The film broke so many conventional ideas, that I was almost disappointed that it had a conventional, "happy ending").

Overall I greatly enjoyed watching Run Lola Run! It seemed like a well made, thought out film, which I'd happily recommend to friends.

Another example of remediation from gaming to film is the well known sci-fi franchise the Matrix trilogy.

The Matrix Trilogy

Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix

The Matrix Trilogy is another good example of remediation in action. Video games have often tried to change and manipulate the laws of reality, gravity, physics etc, in gaming. This is exactly what Neo, Trinity and Morpheus do while inside the Matrix. They bend and warp the rules to suit themselves. This allows them to react and fight with super-human speed, run up and along walls, jump massive distances, and even fly. In addition to this, characters can enter a state known as "Bullet Time" where time slows down to the point where they can see and dodge individual bullets. As the trilogy progresses Neo becomes progressively more powerful and gains new abilities, in much the same way a video game character would level up in an RPG. Indeed by the end of the second film, The Matrix Reloaded, Neo is able to exhort some control of his abilities in reality, although this takes a terrible toll on his physical body.

Suckerpunch

Suckerpunch Trench Battle

Suckerpunch is a recent action/adventure film and perhaps the most recent example of remediation in film. Large segments of the film take place in the main protagonists mind, and these are the bits which use remediation heavily. Below I shall describe some of these segments, and relate them to games I have either played, or have knowledge of.

One futuristic section of the film is set on a fast moving train, where the characters must get to and disarm a bomb before it reaches a massive city and detonates. This segment is highly reminiscent of the first Gears of War game. In Gears 1 the main protagonists are using a train to transport a bomb to an enemy base. In both cases, the characters must fight multiple enemies on the train, in order to disarm or transport it.

Another segment of the film, involves the characters fighting their way through a futuristic version of WW2-like trenches to reach a military bunker. Once inside the bunker a map must be stolen. That sentence may seem normal, until you consider that the enemy soldiers are not German infantry, but steam powered zombies. The look of these soldiers recalls the Hellgast in Playstation 3's Killzone series of games. One of the main characters also pilots a hulking mech, complete with grenade launchers, machine guns, and jump jets that allow it to fly for periods of time.

Suckerpunch Zombie Soldier   

Helghast soldier from Killzone.

An earlier segment of the film has the main protagonist Baby Doll fighting and overcoming gigantic stone samurai warriors. These warriors wield both conventional weapons such as swords, and spears, as well as shoulder mounted missiles launchers and massively destructive mini-guns. This segment, sans the modern weapons, reminds me heavily of games like Ninja Gaiden, where the player plays as a fast moving ninja master character. In Ninja Gaiden the player fights both human Samurai and demonic enemies, called fiends. The general feel of the fast paced, brutal combat seemed to be replicated in this film.

I think it is also worth mentioning that the overall plot of the film, the girls stealing the 5 items (which they acquire by fighting through epic CGI battle sequences), to use in an escape plan, is similar in structure to many video games. Many video games have the player going on a quest, overcoming challenges to gain x number of magical items. Indeed, the popular Legend of Zelda, series of video games usually boils down to this basic narrative formula.

It was enjoyable to write about some of the films I've seen recently, and show how these relate to gaming.

Thanks for reading.

Bibliography

Jay Bolter & Richard Grusin (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media MIT Press

Examples of Remediation Worth Watching

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright), 2010

This crazy film was based on an even crazier comic. The entire film is packed with hundreds of video game references, everything from on-screen statistics meters, dramatic "KO!'s" to direct uses of video game music. (Legend of Zelda forest theme).

Favourite moment = When Scott confronts his "dark" self. Excellent parody of gaming conventions.

Run Lola Run! (Tom Tykwer) 1998

Favourite moment = When Lola escapes her fathers bank in the second attempt, only to think the police are pointing the guns at her...

The Matrix (The Wachowskis) 1999

The first Matrix film. Favourite moment = When Neo first realises the potential of his powers, and uses them to defeat an enemy agent.

The Matrix Reloaded (The Wachowskis) 2003

The second Matrix film. Favourite moment = Highway chase/battle scene. Lots of fighting on top of and around cars/trucks.

The Matrix Revolutions (The Wachowskis) 2003

The third and final Matrix film. Favourite moment = Neo and Smiths final battle in the rain.

SuckerPunch (Zack Snyder) 2011

A bizarre thriller/action adventure film. Great CGI battle sequences.

Favourite moment = Futuristic WW2 trench battle sequence.

Games Mentioned

Goldeneye (Nintendo 64) Rareware, 1997

Gears of War 1 (Xbox 360) Epic, 2006

Killzone (Playstation 3) Geurrilla Games, 2004

Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) Team Ninja, 2003

Enchanted Arrows Design Issues Essay Draft

Enchanted Arrows Design Issues Essay Draft

Introduction

In this essay I shall analyse the design issues myself and the other members of the Enchanted Arrows team faced, when creating a game with a KS1 (5-7 years old) target audience. I shall do this by primarily focussing on the ideas of, Marcos Venturelli and xxxx. The authors xx, xx, and xx offer alternative viewpoints when analysing video games but in this review I will mainly discuss Space of Possibility and Pacing (Venturelli), 2009, Page 1) and xx (). (Insert Name), date, page number).

Enchanted Arrows is a 2D educational spelling game, where the player controls the crosshair of an on-screen archer, and tries to shoot at items on the screen. Once an item has been shot, a stream of bubbles containing letters of the alphabet, appear on screen. The player must shoot the correct bubbles to spell the name of the item, thus clearing that item from the screen. They must repeat this process to clear 3 items, whereupon they can move onto the next level. Every item spelt correctly will give the player 100 points. Any items spelt incorrectly will deduct 50 points from their overall score.

I shall begin by using Venturelli's theory of pacing to analyse major design issues in Enchanted Arrows.

Pacing

Marcos Venturelli defines pacing as "...a concept related to the overall rhythm of the game, the relative speed at which the different moving parts of the system are put in motion." (Venturelli, 2009, Page 3). What Venturelli means by this is...

In practise, the main gameplay mechanic of aiming at and shooting bubbles was not as engaging as we hoped. Indeed, the majority of the game consists of waiting for the right letter to fall to correctly spell a word. This problem is compounded by the pattern the bubbles follow when falling onto the screen. Sometimes, bubbles on the left side of the screen, near the archer, will block line of sight to the bubbles on the far right half of the screen. This results in the player having to wait until the bubbles on the left have reached the ground and popped, thus leaving a clear shot to the bubbles on the right.

Space of Possibility

Venturelli defines the space of possibility as "...the collection of all possible actions and outcomes inside the designed space of the game - all actions and outcomes artificially made possible by the system." (Venturelli, 2009, Page 3). By this definition, the space of possibility in Enchanted Arrows is incredibly small, since the player can ultimately only carry out two main actions, spelling a word correctly, or failing to spell that word.

Venturelli links this concept to movement impetus, the "will or desire of a player to move forward through a level". (author, year, Page).

Venturelli says "". (Venturelli, 2009, Page 3). What Venturelli means by this is...

List of Design Issues:

Main gameplay mechanics simply are not engaging in practise. Most of the game involves waiting for the right letter to fall, to correctly spell a word. This gives the game a very slow pace.

Not enough gameplay variety due to time constraints. Both boss levels had to be cut due to time constraints. This is a shame, since they would have spiced up the gameplay, and let the player take a break from the main gameplay mechanic.

Have to Wait for Letters to fall. (Sometimes letters on the left side of the screen, will block off the letter you need to show on the right side, which is frustrating).

Difficult to tell if the game is enjoyable to play, due to the age group we are creating the game for. What bores us to tears, they may love.

Four separate issues, well that' a start I suppose.

 

Bibliography

Venturelli Marcos, "Space of Possibility and Pacing in Casual Game Design - A PopCap Case Study", 2009.

Available online at: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MarkVenturelli/20091107/3497/Space_of_Possibility_and_Pacing_in_Casual_Game_Design__A_PopCap_Case_Study.php

P.S. 

As you can see this is an extremely rough draft. I'm still deciding which sources to use other than Venturelli hence the gaps at the start.

Hopefully my draft is on the right track.