Ba1b media industires roles and practices: Games

after the Easter break it was back to work on creating the presentation, during the break I had slim communication with my group although everyone knew what there roles were and took it into there own hands, I managed to get into contact with John Nguyen a lead animator for the game SMITE which I'm focusing my developer slide one, as team we decided to go after different studios to gain a more diverse on how they operate on different aspect of game design. I have looked into a multitude of websites, articles and interviews for information although just like the previous presentation information felt slim, I was very thankful John replied to me and gave me a personal insight on the topic.

this weeks session was more of an introduction to the next phase of our project, we looked into all the different roles of the media industry and how they operate in different areas as well as looking at time lapses for animation work in the UK. we were then told to pick our top 3 industry choices to base our final presentation on and help us separate into groups. my top 3 picks consisted of Game animation mostly focusing on the character animation, 2d key animator and Stop motion rigger.

after a small brief where we had almost a test run of presentations, Me and Daniel chose to direct our attention on the DOP (director of photography) focusing on DOPs who work more exclusively for animated works. we looked into Tristan Oliver a DOP who has had a lot of work in the stop motion genre this also applies to our chosen media for the mystery box project. We didn't have long to work on this and it was only two of us so we were given a little more lenience, I was actually surprised at how hard it was to research into a pretty broad roles especially to find different information.

although not game related it gives a good insight on the development of Mocap in the film industry, I consider it viable research as at this current time mocap has become a device used for cutscenes and cinematics rather than gameplay.

not directly focusing on the animation aspect, this look into the concept phase for SMITEs new Celtic event, the devs discuss what went into creating a new pantheon goddess the morrigan, who John Nguyen told me was an enjoyable character to work with.  

Hi-rez studios- ( Hi-rez studios is an independent, privately held video game developer with multiple studios, one of which is in the Brighton. Focusing on their most popular title of this time, SMITE a 3rd person moba that takes characters from mythology. John Nguyen, the lead animator for the game discussed his process when it comes down to animating any the many characters, after the character is decided upon he goes through a step process to try and capture its essence. Observing people's movements and mannerisms and applying these quirks to the character can make them have a sense of relatability. When it comes down to animating the character do simple things like the walk or idle animation, he questions the characters personality and motives then acts out the actions for reference and feedback.)

Mocap is another type of animation that's become pretty frequent in the game industry, being implemented in most current titles although mostly being reserved for cinematics and cut scenes or more subtle actions like the face, this behind the scenes of one of my most anticipated games of 2017 Friday the 13th as they use mocap to perform the gory kills for that authentic look.

- Any advice for anyone who wants to pursue a career in video game animation?

a group of SMITE animations that were mostly used for promotions for upcoming, these let him animate with more freedom as hes not restricted to the gameplay. 

John Nguyen, SMITE lead animators website featuring a demo reel for most of his work, although not the longest animator at the studio I decide to contact him in the hopes of gaining questions as his work portrays the focus of my section regarding character animation, SMITE is a game that has many different characters of varying shapes and forms so I would like to know how the process he goes through when animating a character. 

a good article picking points out on the differences between animation in games compared to other media, ill take notes from this for use in the presentation.

Although not directly in the territory I am discussing for the presentation, this insight helps me gather more of a fresh perspective on the industry as a whole. As Matthew discuss the struggle he felt working in the high end of the game industry for companies such as valve and Bethesda but advises to start from the bottom. 

A good overview as to what people can generally expect when working as an animator for the game industry. It details the qualifications that are generally needed, ways to potentially get into the business and links to other articles that focus on the job. Also featuring a video link to a level designer talking about his process and his work.

After finishing a practise presentation with Daniel where we discussed a random job in the animation industry, me and Daniel doing DOP (director of photography), We now have to pick a role we are actually interested in. my 3 main choices were between game animator, 2D key animator and puppet design. I was put in the game group as we all have different topics we want to pursue easily sharing the work.  

an interview with Tristan, he converses with the host about the role of DOP in his stop motion works and discussed the difficulties they would meet while filming that specific medium.

a blog dedicated to the DOP, contains all references to his current and past work and highlights his preferred scenes in most of his projects 

In the field of commercials, he likes to work across the media and has filmed a number of significant live action/animation mix campaigns most notably for Sony, Becks, Tesco and Tennants. A member of AMPAS & BAFTA, Tristan has sat on the BAFTA Film and Children’s committees with responsibility for children’s and family film. He has chaired the animation category awards’ jury on a number of occasions.Tristan is a graduate of the University of Bristol and Bristol Film School. His early success in winning the BP Kodak and Fuji Student Cinematography prizes led to a short period at the Moscow film school before moving into the world of pop promos and commercials which launched his career.