For (what I think is) the last in LIH’s series on “Effective (Hollywood) People Rarely Seen the Spotlight’, this article will focus on “Video Game Adaptors for Feature Film” as a I.O.U. for an article on silver screen driven dehumanization themes.
Other than proving another CGI fueled action-adventure option, who believes the public has seen an example of this genre showing any real promise yet? Most would probably say few have seen this. That doesn’t mean the genre will not get there. On the positive side, character costumes in video games are a far improvement over the one’s supported in the comic book genre. You might hear this around the water cooler:
“Critics are prophesying that game properties will soon replace comic book heroes as the go-to source material for this decade’s new wave of blockbusters.” [1]
Of the comic book genre, it’s at least that6 genre demonstrated some capacity to turn out thoughtful stories. Of course that did not happen overnight. It took time and continuous effort by really committed and brilliant artists to get us there.
Video games on the other hand still have to prove they can overcome obvious challenges in story development to arrive at transcendent story telling. Excellent narrative premises are not enough. Enthralling game playing sessions are not enough. Many might even be willing to say that interactive art is so different that the discussion of sustaining feature film’s cultural primacy may either be passé or presumptuous. Paradigm change is too big a topic to wrestle with here. For the longest time to represent reality, we we’re obsessed with narratives communicated by way of paintings. Then one day we recognized that film based moving photography was a far better use of all of the arts.
This article on dehumanization, will concentrate on how even the machinery of screen writing matched with mind-numbing content can lead us into a zone of not respecting one another. Even if the premise is exciting, it’s likely that we’ll want to observe what we believe is rare, precious, and inspiring also. Even if we can’t come to a consensus on what that is we’ll probably agree the effort will be huge to accomplish all of that in one media.
Even film’s that seem to be video game inspired yet aren’t video game inspired, can be very instructive regarding how to tell a video game based story.
They prove that decent supposedly video game themed entertainment can have persuasive results even when the content isn’t actually video games. Imaginative content aside, as suggested in a previous article video games might actually benefit by endorsing purely dramatic content. Until that future article (I mentioned) appears please consider David Valjalo’s article How Hollywood Should Adapt Videogames regarding what he believes video game inspired films or screen writing actually needs. You may agree his hope, passion, and faith are inspiring.
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Essential references:
[1] http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/18/how-hollywood-should-adapt-videogames/
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Yay, another video game topic! Just finishing off the paragraph thingy and then I’ll catch up. It looks good, can’t wait to read it! 🙂
Hahaha! Ozzie I’m thrilled to learn u are a video game nerd. Now I don’t feel so bad about being a Sci-Fi geek. 🙂 Because of u and your Mom. I rented the entire Resident Evil film series. I’ve watched 2 so far but fell asleep on the second because I’m just tired these days. I did like the first one. Hopefully, I will finish all of them this holiday break. 🙂
Ozzie,
Glad you like them. You make me feel like I’m speaking to the right audience. I enjoyed “Super Meat Boy” a short while ago but other than that I don’t have any current obsessions.
It’s funny how video games are. If your not lost in them, as an addiction, they may not be working.
Ozzie,
Mila really is compelling. I didn’t realize how much she’s a action movie goddess. I heard she was in negotiations to appear in “the Expendables” now I understand how she earned her stripes.
CR-AWESOME! AWESOME JOB! I’m learning alot here. I will say I’m scared by the critic in your article who claimed video game characters will replace comic book characters in the future. I don’t quite know why this scares me other than the idea of loosing an appreciation for humanity and empathy that make up comic books characters. What are your thoughts about the subject?
OB,
Thanks for the compliments. In terms of Daniel, I’m a genre fan but I’m not territorial. I think he is a committed computer video game fan, who is merely expressing his point of view.
If “Resident Evil” does not count, until computer video games turns out it’s own feature film classic. They will still need to prove that avideo games can provide more than action film premises. But with five sequels, “Resident Evil” may actually qualify as a bonifide hit. That’s two more movies than “Tomb Raider, and that sequel was rare also.”
Providing premises alone may be more than enough of a feature film contribution.
Providing premises alone may be more than enough of a feature film contribution.