Er uh let's see here....one, one, one....errrr...one!
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
According to the Disney "Animation Bible" there are twelve basic principles that define how effective an animation is at seeming lifelike. For the next part of my analysis I'm going to briefly describe the principles and see if the "Meet the Spy" trailer fits with any of them.
1. Squash and Stretch. The human body is malleable and can therefore change its shape in small ways as it moves, an animated character's ability to effectively do this creates the sense that there is truly something there in space. The animation of the trailer really doesn't show that much squash and stretch. While the characters' movements are fluid and realistic, their bodies do not change shape very much. However in the facial expressions of each character it is very apparent. The way the eyebrows condense and the way the mouth moving causes the jawline and chin to change shape and seem very flexible, very malleable.
2. Anticipation. Living creatures have very elegant muscles and movements that openly broadcast what they are doing before they actually do them. Another way to put it is that before someone performs an action, there is almost always some sort of minor action that alludes to the main one. A person's eyes will point in a direction before they tilt their head that way. Their arms will move back before moving up in a stretch. A small but significant example of how this applies to the trailer is around 0:27, the Scout has been knocked over and is reaching up to put is hand on the briefcase, but before he does his hand goes straight up, then moves down onto it. This allows a person to first acknowledge that the Scout is back in the scene (after being knocked out of it) and is about to do something else.
3. Staging. In terms of animation staging refers to placement of characters and objects so that the viewer has a clear idea of what is important and what is going on. Personally I feel that the trailer accomplishes this idea throughout its entirety, the main points of each scene are very well established in spacing and framing. I as a viewer never felt like I was looking at something unimportant.
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose. These are two varying styles of animation, the first is editing an action from its beginning to its end, tweaking the characters frame by frame, while Pose to Pose has the animator setting up key frames where the character is in the most important poses of the action, and letting the computer fill in the rest, making minute changes where they're needed. I did a little research but could not find out whether the trailer was made in SAA or PtP. Because of the intricate actions each character made my assumption would be Straight Ahead Action, but I may be wrong.
5. Follow through and Overlapping action. Follow through can be best described by watching a baseball pitcher, after the ball leaves their hand they still have a large amount of motion in their body. In an animation, even though the ball being pitched is most likely the action the viewer is meant to see, obviously the pitcher can't just stop moving at that point. Follow through gives the viewer an idea of the amount of force a character put into a movement. As the Sniper swings his machete at the Red Spy, notice how his whole body flies into each swing due to the force he puts into them. Overlapping action isn't really seen much in more modern or realistic animations (And is rarely if at all seen in the trailer) But as a character moves their clothing, hair, jewelry etc will move with them. If a character makes an abrupt change in motion these items will tend to continue to move in the original direction. This kind of overlapping action happens a bit in the trailer with shirts, the Soldier's grenades, and the Scout's dogtags. Another version tends to appear in more comical animations where a character will move their legs off camera while their upper half remains in space, still attached to the legs by a constantly stretching torso.
6. Slow in and Slow out. As a character moves in an animation they may have a certain "floaty" attribute, this is the idea of Slow in and Slow out. More realistic movements are "snappy" they have definite beginnings and ends, a character who moves in a more flowing style appears mysterious when compared to others. In the trailer the Spy moved in a very flowy manner, making him very mysterious and clearly separated him from the other characters.
7. Arcs. Simply put, things naturally move in arc shapes, very rarely does anything move in a straight line or make corners. Animations should be gradual, when a character throws a ball, for example, the ball should arc, even if a little bit, as it rises up then slowly comes back down due to gravity. Obviously there are exceptions but this is the general rule. An excellent example of this shows up at 00:50 in the trailer. Notice how when the Spy throws the Sniper's body onto the table he arcs downward instead of just dropping straight down. This is due to the Spy's arms pushing the body up off of him, so naturally the Sniper's body moves up just a bit before falling back down in an arc.
8. Secondary Action. Think about how you or anyone you know walks, they swing their arms, maybe bob their head a certain way, or fiddle with something while they go. Secondary actions in animation are seemingly unnecessary movements used to give more definition to the main actions. They can be little quirks that allow a character to be better defined and realized. Due to the short cuts in the trailer there weren't really any full motions that I could tell Secondary Actions within.
9. Timing. Due to advances in animation technology, timing is much less an issue nowadays. The framerate multiplied by the time an animation is going to take gives you a good idea of how many frames you're going to need. I was not able to find any information regarding the framerate or the timing of the trailer.
10. Exaggeration. Because many animated characters only resemble humans (or not even that much) their emotions are a bit harder to communicate, to make up for this their actions tend to be overdone a bit, or exaggerated. This way the characters can better express themselves to the viewers. In the trailer each character's subtle actions are exaggerated to further show their personalities. The Spy acts just a little too "calm and cool." The Scout has just a little too much attitude, etc.
11. Solid Drawing. In terms of animation Solid Drawing simply means that the character's actions can be easily determined without much effort. In computer animation a great way to test this is to view only a character's silhouette and see if you can still tell what the character is doing. For the most part I believe that the modeling/drawing in the trailer was very solid. The only part that got a little hectic for me was the scene in which the Red Spy fought the Sniper.
12. Appeal. Simply put, in animation a character has to look nice, something or someone that the viewer will enjoy looking at or at least not be hideously repulsed by (unless that's what the animator is going for) Appeal can make a fairly bad animation look much better. I personally believe that the characters in the trailer, while not winning any beauty pageants, were very appealing in their design and very likable.
All in all I'd say the trailer pertained quite well to the twelve principles. Obviously every animation does not need to follow these ideas but they will definitely help an animation be realized and be truthful to its viewers.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Meeting the Spy: An Analysis, Part 3
INCOMING!!!!! Link to Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
“I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.” --Walt Disney.
This statement, to me, defines the relationship between realism and caricature, as I described in the previous post. It means that somebody couldn't make a table be able to walk like a dog without knowing both how a table is usually built, and how a dog walks. A person must be able to understand the world around them before they can truly make a new world, one that has different rules, different laws, or even the same rules.
The above quote from Disney appears in Chapter 4 of the book "The Illusion of Life." Part of this post will look into whether there is a contradiction between this quote and the ideas presented in Chapter 2, which I discussed in the last post.
I personally don't believe there is a contradiction. To be able to effectively exaggerate something without insulting it an animator would have to know what that something was actually like. To understand "the real" means to understand the world around us, to understand what is real. Once this is accomplished an animator can take any of the real objects or traits in the world and do whatever he wants with them, creating fantastic caricatures or even just effectively mimicking the real. Either way it's very important to comprehend what the world around us is like. This will give us the ability to create things based off that knowledge, and we can use traits from all sorts of parts of the real to create our world. A creature in the created world can have traits like a cat's walk, a bull's temper, a human's facial expressions, and so on. In short without understanding any of those ideas, how could an animator hope to work them into anything they ever made?
In that sense I don't believe there is anything to really reconcile. Disney's quote pretty much summarizes the idea that realism and caricature both work off of each other and that it takes extensive knowledge of how our world works to be able to accomplish either of them effectively.
“I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.” --Walt Disney.
This statement, to me, defines the relationship between realism and caricature, as I described in the previous post. It means that somebody couldn't make a table be able to walk like a dog without knowing both how a table is usually built, and how a dog walks. A person must be able to understand the world around them before they can truly make a new world, one that has different rules, different laws, or even the same rules.
The above quote from Disney appears in Chapter 4 of the book "The Illusion of Life." Part of this post will look into whether there is a contradiction between this quote and the ideas presented in Chapter 2, which I discussed in the last post.
I personally don't believe there is a contradiction. To be able to effectively exaggerate something without insulting it an animator would have to know what that something was actually like. To understand "the real" means to understand the world around us, to understand what is real. Once this is accomplished an animator can take any of the real objects or traits in the world and do whatever he wants with them, creating fantastic caricatures or even just effectively mimicking the real. Either way it's very important to comprehend what the world around us is like. This will give us the ability to create things based off that knowledge, and we can use traits from all sorts of parts of the real to create our world. A creature in the created world can have traits like a cat's walk, a bull's temper, a human's facial expressions, and so on. In short without understanding any of those ideas, how could an animator hope to work them into anything they ever made?
In that sense I don't believe there is anything to really reconcile. Disney's quote pretty much summarizes the idea that realism and caricature both work off of each other and that it takes extensive knowledge of how our world works to be able to accomplish either of them effectively.
Meeting the Spy: An Analysis, Part 2
We need to protect the briefcase! Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
Continuing my Animation analysis of the "Meet the Spy" trailer, this post will focus on caricature and its use (or lack thereof) in the video.
Caricature in terms of animation is defined as exaggerating movement or character designs to a point that they are not realistic. An example of this would be an exaggerated walk, one that the movements are far more complex and extravagant than they really need to be. Caricature is often used in animation to give characters more unique traits, such as unique walks, gestures, facial expressions, and similar facets. The argument against caricature is often that if a character is too far exaggerated they become less believable and the audience will not relate or even like them. Arguments in support of caricature often state that the exaggeration is what makes the characters more endearing. The subtle mockery of small things the individual does in life allows the character to be more "lifelike" in their own way.
An argument of what is more true, caricature or realism is a hard one to take a side on. Both sides have their own merit to relate to the audience and allow them to become immersed in the created world. I believe that neither are really "more true" than the other. Having seen both realistic animation and heavily caricatured works I can see the truth that both can convey.
On the one hand realism creates a world much like our own, with all of the "rules" and "laws" that come with it. Because of this many of the characters, objects, even backgrounds will fit with how our minds perceive reality and we'll become immersed in the idea that what's happening in the created world could happen in ours as well. Characters will resemble people we've actually met, or aspects of our personality that we experience in every day life. A person's walk, the way a box falls out of a window, the way a car makes a jump. Even if exaggerated a tiny bit, they still feel real to the viewer, and that's what ultimately makes the experience true to them.
On the other hand, caricature taps into another section of the audience's minds to create an experience. While often used for comedic effect, caricature's exaggerating style can also be used to really bring out parts of a serious character's personality. For example, it might be used to give a villainous character a much more twisted demeanor than would be "normal" making the audience uncomfortable or uneasy when that character is around. Caricature can give fantastic qualities to even mundane objects, like stove equipment or cutlery. It can help to reinforce a theme or a feeling that realism would need far more dialogue or environment working to convey. Caricature's strengths also lie in it giving a new life to characters. In realist works characters may have slight differences in how they walk but in the end all people really have a similar walk. With caricature each character's movements can completely represent their personality, from simple things like how they move their hands to how they exclaim in joy or fear. In this way each character can become absolutely unique and the audience will usually have a clear cut idea of whether they like a them or not. By creating an environment that extends past the idea of what is "real" caricature brings audiences into an entirely new world with its own physics, characters, and movements. In this way it creates a sense of wonder and awe that can define truth in its own way.
The "Meet the Spy" trailer is interesting in that it uses caricature in the designs and general movements of each character, but at the same time many designs are also realistic, as well as the physics of the world the animation takes place in. As explained before in the last entry, each character (The Spy, Soldier, Scout, and Heavy) moves in a way that is completely their own. The Spy moves slowly, deliberately, reflecting his entire way of thinking. The Soldier muscles through clumsily but efficiently. The Scout is fast-talking, fast-moving. His movements carry his attitude and his penchant for being a bit of a loud-mouth. The Heavy's lumbering movements even when not excited show his power, and when he moves with purpose (as when he charges through the door at the beginning) he seems unstoppable. In this way the characters are exaggerated to truly portray their personalities. Their designs also rely on caricature, from the small frame of the Scout to the monstrous form of the Heavy (His hand is easily larger than the Scout's head). Each character's design from voice to movement to their general appearance was created to convey that small set of ideas they are built around, Power and Efficiency for the Soldier, Speed and Attitude for the Scout, Power and More Power for the Heavy, and Tactics and Slyness for the Spy.
Alternatively realism is used within the world in subtle ways to keep it from seeming to ridiculous. Each character has two legs, two hands, five fingers per hand and so on. The items on each character move realistically in relation to them. When the Soldier stumbles down the stairs the grenades on his chest and his helmet hop around accurately, when the Spy slaps the files on the Scout's mother on the table the pictures slip out like we think they should. These subtle movements give the audience the feeling that while this world is very different from ours, many parts of it work the same. This makes it easier to relate to their world and allows the viewer to concentrate more on the situation at hand. While the animation relies more on caricature than realism, it uses both in a mixture that works well for creating a world that is entertaining but also believable.
What is more true? Caricature creates exaggerated worlds that are amusing and still believable. Realism creates worlds that mirror our own in many ways, allowing us to know how things will happen without needing much explanation. Both styles create a path to a true experience, they're just paved differently. In the end it really comes down to taste. Some people prefer characters and worlds that closely resemble our own, while other people want to be lost in a new and fantastic world. Its an argument that will most likely never be settled, and that's fine. Both styles provide an exciting and entertaining look into the world of animation and ultimately that is what is more true.
Continuing my Animation analysis of the "Meet the Spy" trailer, this post will focus on caricature and its use (or lack thereof) in the video.
Caricature in terms of animation is defined as exaggerating movement or character designs to a point that they are not realistic. An example of this would be an exaggerated walk, one that the movements are far more complex and extravagant than they really need to be. Caricature is often used in animation to give characters more unique traits, such as unique walks, gestures, facial expressions, and similar facets. The argument against caricature is often that if a character is too far exaggerated they become less believable and the audience will not relate or even like them. Arguments in support of caricature often state that the exaggeration is what makes the characters more endearing. The subtle mockery of small things the individual does in life allows the character to be more "lifelike" in their own way.
An argument of what is more true, caricature or realism is a hard one to take a side on. Both sides have their own merit to relate to the audience and allow them to become immersed in the created world. I believe that neither are really "more true" than the other. Having seen both realistic animation and heavily caricatured works I can see the truth that both can convey.
On the one hand realism creates a world much like our own, with all of the "rules" and "laws" that come with it. Because of this many of the characters, objects, even backgrounds will fit with how our minds perceive reality and we'll become immersed in the idea that what's happening in the created world could happen in ours as well. Characters will resemble people we've actually met, or aspects of our personality that we experience in every day life. A person's walk, the way a box falls out of a window, the way a car makes a jump. Even if exaggerated a tiny bit, they still feel real to the viewer, and that's what ultimately makes the experience true to them.
On the other hand, caricature taps into another section of the audience's minds to create an experience. While often used for comedic effect, caricature's exaggerating style can also be used to really bring out parts of a serious character's personality. For example, it might be used to give a villainous character a much more twisted demeanor than would be "normal" making the audience uncomfortable or uneasy when that character is around. Caricature can give fantastic qualities to even mundane objects, like stove equipment or cutlery. It can help to reinforce a theme or a feeling that realism would need far more dialogue or environment working to convey. Caricature's strengths also lie in it giving a new life to characters. In realist works characters may have slight differences in how they walk but in the end all people really have a similar walk. With caricature each character's movements can completely represent their personality, from simple things like how they move their hands to how they exclaim in joy or fear. In this way each character can become absolutely unique and the audience will usually have a clear cut idea of whether they like a them or not. By creating an environment that extends past the idea of what is "real" caricature brings audiences into an entirely new world with its own physics, characters, and movements. In this way it creates a sense of wonder and awe that can define truth in its own way.
The "Meet the Spy" trailer is interesting in that it uses caricature in the designs and general movements of each character, but at the same time many designs are also realistic, as well as the physics of the world the animation takes place in. As explained before in the last entry, each character (The Spy, Soldier, Scout, and Heavy) moves in a way that is completely their own. The Spy moves slowly, deliberately, reflecting his entire way of thinking. The Soldier muscles through clumsily but efficiently. The Scout is fast-talking, fast-moving. His movements carry his attitude and his penchant for being a bit of a loud-mouth. The Heavy's lumbering movements even when not excited show his power, and when he moves with purpose (as when he charges through the door at the beginning) he seems unstoppable. In this way the characters are exaggerated to truly portray their personalities. Their designs also rely on caricature, from the small frame of the Scout to the monstrous form of the Heavy (His hand is easily larger than the Scout's head). Each character's design from voice to movement to their general appearance was created to convey that small set of ideas they are built around, Power and Efficiency for the Soldier, Speed and Attitude for the Scout, Power and More Power for the Heavy, and Tactics and Slyness for the Spy.
Alternatively realism is used within the world in subtle ways to keep it from seeming to ridiculous. Each character has two legs, two hands, five fingers per hand and so on. The items on each character move realistically in relation to them. When the Soldier stumbles down the stairs the grenades on his chest and his helmet hop around accurately, when the Spy slaps the files on the Scout's mother on the table the pictures slip out like we think they should. These subtle movements give the audience the feeling that while this world is very different from ours, many parts of it work the same. This makes it easier to relate to their world and allows the viewer to concentrate more on the situation at hand. While the animation relies more on caricature than realism, it uses both in a mixture that works well for creating a world that is entertaining but also believable.
What is more true? Caricature creates exaggerated worlds that are amusing and still believable. Realism creates worlds that mirror our own in many ways, allowing us to know how things will happen without needing much explanation. Both styles create a path to a true experience, they're just paved differently. In the end it really comes down to taste. Some people prefer characters and worlds that closely resemble our own, while other people want to be lost in a new and fantastic world. Its an argument that will most likely never be settled, and that's fine. Both styles provide an exciting and entertaining look into the world of animation and ultimately that is what is more true.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Meeting the Spy: An analysis, Part 1
A Red Spy is in the Base! Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
As part of an ongoing animation analysis project, I will be using the "Meet the Spy" trailer for the Team Fortress 2 computer game to explain or demonstrate various ideas presented in the book "The Illusion of Life." This first post will cover how chapter one in the book relates to the video.
First a brief description of the video.
The actual video starts at 0:04. An alarm in a base is going off, panels on a wall display what is wrong as a voice over the intercom also shout them, saying "Intruder Alert! A Red Spy is in the Base!" A man at the controls for the panels (who is simply referred to as the Soldier in the game itself) repeats the alert in a question then grabs a shotgun and clumsily but quickly makes his way down the stairs. The voice yells "Protect the briefcase!" to which the Soldier replies "We need to protect the briefcase!" As he stops he sees another person (who is referred to as the Scout) trying to get past a locked door. The Scout asks for help and the Soldier pushes him out of the way, trying to use the keypad lock on the door he enters the key "1, 1, 1, 1," As the lock doesn't open the Scout gets impatient. Behind them running towards them is a huge man (known as the Heavy) who yells "INCOMING!" The other two scream as he plows through them and the door. As the Heavy charges in while the other two stumble and ultimately fall to the floor the briefcase is revealed as being safe. The Scout mentions the briefcase is safe and the Heavy calms down. Somebody clears their throat and the two on camera look behind them to see a new character (Named the Spy) carrying a dead body. He cooly says "Gentlemen." The camera then cuts to a title screen for the animation. When it cuts back the Spy shifts the load on his shoulder and walks slowly towards the briefcase, mentioning that it is safe. The three others agree, to which the Spy asks if anyone "killed a Red Spy on the way down here?" The three gesture in their own ways that they didn't. The Spy replies "Then we still have a problem" and drops the dead body on the table, shown now with a butterfly knife sticking out of its back. The Soldier points out the knife, and the Scout pulls it out mocking the Spy, bringing up that he's killed plenty of them and that they are "A dime a dozen back stabbing scumbags, like you (To their Spy)." As he talks he spins the butterfly knife clumsily and knicks himself, dropping the knife and saying "No offense." The Spy picks up the knife, expertly flips it shut and hands it back to the Scout saying that if he managed to kill any spies they were not like him, and nothing like the one loose in their base. The Scout asks if the Spy is "President of his fan club." The Spy turns around and says, "No, that would be your mother." As he talks he holds up a file and slaps it onto the table, causing the photos within to fall out. The photos are of a man wearing a red version of the spies mask (but nothing else) holding a petite looking woman with done up hair. As the pictures are shown the Scout can be heard stuttering in shock. The Spy then says "And now he's here to fu-(bleeped out) us! So listen up boy or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing that happens to you today." As he says this the music begins to get much more ominous. The spy pulls a cigarette pack from his suit jacket and gets a cigarette out, meanwhile the Scout starts grabbing all of the pictures, snatching some from the Soldier and the Heavy. The Spy takes a drag then says that the Red Spy has already breached their defenses. The camera fades to a Red Spy moving through the shadows and coming up on an automated turret and a man watching it (He is called the Engineer) The Spy moves towards them, sliding a device across the floor that fries the turret and destroys it, the Engineer yells "Sentry Down!" as he tries to get his gun ready the Spy aims with his revolver and fires, blasting the Engineer in the head and causing him to tumble through the door behind him, the Spy aims and takes another shot at a target off camera, which causes the transition back to the Blue Spy to occur. The Blue Spy motions to the dead body and says "You see what he's done to our colleagues!" As he does the camera fades to another flashback in which the man who is now dead is peering out of a very cramped space with a sniper rifle (he is called the Sniper). The Red Spy is slowly creeping up on him with his knife in hand. The Sniper turns around and sees the Spy. He tries to attack him with his rifle but the Spy kicks him back. The Sniper grabs a nearby machete and swings at the Spy but the Spy dodges around him, slices him a few times then jams the knife into his back and adjusts his tie as the Sniper falls over a rafter. The camera fades back to the Blue Spy looks around the room saying that the Red Spy could be any one of them. The camera again fades to a flashback of a man in a doctor's labcoat (Called the Medic) attacking the Red Spy with a bonesaw. The Spy grabs his arm and locks him to himself, when he does a closeup of the Red Spy shows him turning into the Medic. When the transformation is finished the Medic rears back in shock and fear and the Spy slams his head with his forearm, causing the Medic's glasses to fly into the air. The Spy grabs them and puts them on, completing his disguise. The camera cuts back to the Blue Spy saying that he (the red spy) could be in the room with them, it could be you (as he points to one of the three off camera) it could be him. As he goes to finish his line with "It could even be---" he is cut off by his head exploding. As the body slumps to the ground the camera cuts to the Soldier holding his shotgun and the Scout and the Heavy exclaiming their shock at what just happened. The Soldier asks what they're bothered about and says "It was obvious, he was the Red Spy." He kneels down with the Heavy to inspect the body and says "Watch, he'll turn Red any second now........any second now....." The camera cuts to show the Soldier and the Heavy and behind them the Scout. The Scout looks to the side then starts cooly walking towards the other two, the camera cuts to his hand, expertly flipping out the butterfly knife as the Heavy says "So, we still got problem." As the knife locks into place the Soldier says "Big problem." The final shot shows the Soldier and the Heavy standing over the camera, the Scout shimmers and turns into the Red Spy as the Soldier asks who wants to start looking for the spy. The Red Spy raises his knife and says "Right behind you." The next shot pulls back from focusing on the spy in a group shot of all the different characters in the game also showing the logo for it. As the theme music for the game plays the sounds of a stabbing noise can be heard in time with the music as the Soldier and Heavy cry out in pain. Finally the Red Spy sweeps away some of the pictures and picks up one with him and the woman walking holding hands (and clothed) and says something along the lines of "Ah, my petite flower" In french before walking away.
The point of the preview was to give an entertaining look into how the Spy acts in the game and of his various abilities. His ability to disable automated turrets was shown in the first flashback, and his ability to disguise himself as the other characters was mentioned by the Blue Spy then demonstrated in the third flashback and then again at the end of the preview. His personality is shown as a clam calculating demeanor, and one who respects the skill of his adversaries. The way he moves in contrast to the other characters is much more floaty and deliberate, and his enunciation makes his point clear at all times. The video communicates these aspects of the Spy well based off of the principles presented in chapter one of the book. Each character in the game has a unique personality that is accurately portrayed in every way that they move and act. From the clumsy but powerful movements of the Soldier to the overpowering lumbering movement (and even the voice) of the Heavy to the quick and full of attitude movements of the Scout. Each character's motions are completely their own and allow them to be seen as completely different people.
The Spy's movements accomplish the same goal, giving his personality and everything about him a certain uniqueness that none of the other characters can imitate. It allows the animators to really explore the thought processes of the different characters and come up with even small gestures that they would naturally do.
It is in this way that the Meet the Spy trailer successfully communicated its ideas. The Spy is a cool and suave character who is also deadly to just about anyone he can fool, and he can fool just about anyone.
As part of an ongoing animation analysis project, I will be using the "Meet the Spy" trailer for the Team Fortress 2 computer game to explain or demonstrate various ideas presented in the book "The Illusion of Life." This first post will cover how chapter one in the book relates to the video.
First a brief description of the video.
The actual video starts at 0:04. An alarm in a base is going off, panels on a wall display what is wrong as a voice over the intercom also shout them, saying "Intruder Alert! A Red Spy is in the Base!" A man at the controls for the panels (who is simply referred to as the Soldier in the game itself) repeats the alert in a question then grabs a shotgun and clumsily but quickly makes his way down the stairs. The voice yells "Protect the briefcase!" to which the Soldier replies "We need to protect the briefcase!" As he stops he sees another person (who is referred to as the Scout) trying to get past a locked door. The Scout asks for help and the Soldier pushes him out of the way, trying to use the keypad lock on the door he enters the key "1, 1, 1, 1," As the lock doesn't open the Scout gets impatient. Behind them running towards them is a huge man (known as the Heavy) who yells "INCOMING!" The other two scream as he plows through them and the door. As the Heavy charges in while the other two stumble and ultimately fall to the floor the briefcase is revealed as being safe. The Scout mentions the briefcase is safe and the Heavy calms down. Somebody clears their throat and the two on camera look behind them to see a new character (Named the Spy) carrying a dead body. He cooly says "Gentlemen." The camera then cuts to a title screen for the animation. When it cuts back the Spy shifts the load on his shoulder and walks slowly towards the briefcase, mentioning that it is safe. The three others agree, to which the Spy asks if anyone "killed a Red Spy on the way down here?" The three gesture in their own ways that they didn't. The Spy replies "Then we still have a problem" and drops the dead body on the table, shown now with a butterfly knife sticking out of its back. The Soldier points out the knife, and the Scout pulls it out mocking the Spy, bringing up that he's killed plenty of them and that they are "A dime a dozen back stabbing scumbags, like you (To their Spy)." As he talks he spins the butterfly knife clumsily and knicks himself, dropping the knife and saying "No offense." The Spy picks up the knife, expertly flips it shut and hands it back to the Scout saying that if he managed to kill any spies they were not like him, and nothing like the one loose in their base. The Scout asks if the Spy is "President of his fan club." The Spy turns around and says, "No, that would be your mother." As he talks he holds up a file and slaps it onto the table, causing the photos within to fall out. The photos are of a man wearing a red version of the spies mask (but nothing else) holding a petite looking woman with done up hair. As the pictures are shown the Scout can be heard stuttering in shock. The Spy then says "And now he's here to fu-(bleeped out) us! So listen up boy or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing that happens to you today." As he says this the music begins to get much more ominous. The spy pulls a cigarette pack from his suit jacket and gets a cigarette out, meanwhile the Scout starts grabbing all of the pictures, snatching some from the Soldier and the Heavy. The Spy takes a drag then says that the Red Spy has already breached their defenses. The camera fades to a Red Spy moving through the shadows and coming up on an automated turret and a man watching it (He is called the Engineer) The Spy moves towards them, sliding a device across the floor that fries the turret and destroys it, the Engineer yells "Sentry Down!" as he tries to get his gun ready the Spy aims with his revolver and fires, blasting the Engineer in the head and causing him to tumble through the door behind him, the Spy aims and takes another shot at a target off camera, which causes the transition back to the Blue Spy to occur. The Blue Spy motions to the dead body and says "You see what he's done to our colleagues!" As he does the camera fades to another flashback in which the man who is now dead is peering out of a very cramped space with a sniper rifle (he is called the Sniper). The Red Spy is slowly creeping up on him with his knife in hand. The Sniper turns around and sees the Spy. He tries to attack him with his rifle but the Spy kicks him back. The Sniper grabs a nearby machete and swings at the Spy but the Spy dodges around him, slices him a few times then jams the knife into his back and adjusts his tie as the Sniper falls over a rafter. The camera fades back to the Blue Spy looks around the room saying that the Red Spy could be any one of them. The camera again fades to a flashback of a man in a doctor's labcoat (Called the Medic) attacking the Red Spy with a bonesaw. The Spy grabs his arm and locks him to himself, when he does a closeup of the Red Spy shows him turning into the Medic. When the transformation is finished the Medic rears back in shock and fear and the Spy slams his head with his forearm, causing the Medic's glasses to fly into the air. The Spy grabs them and puts them on, completing his disguise. The camera cuts back to the Blue Spy saying that he (the red spy) could be in the room with them, it could be you (as he points to one of the three off camera) it could be him. As he goes to finish his line with "It could even be---" he is cut off by his head exploding. As the body slumps to the ground the camera cuts to the Soldier holding his shotgun and the Scout and the Heavy exclaiming their shock at what just happened. The Soldier asks what they're bothered about and says "It was obvious, he was the Red Spy." He kneels down with the Heavy to inspect the body and says "Watch, he'll turn Red any second now........any second now....." The camera cuts to show the Soldier and the Heavy and behind them the Scout. The Scout looks to the side then starts cooly walking towards the other two, the camera cuts to his hand, expertly flipping out the butterfly knife as the Heavy says "So, we still got problem." As the knife locks into place the Soldier says "Big problem." The final shot shows the Soldier and the Heavy standing over the camera, the Scout shimmers and turns into the Red Spy as the Soldier asks who wants to start looking for the spy. The Red Spy raises his knife and says "Right behind you." The next shot pulls back from focusing on the spy in a group shot of all the different characters in the game also showing the logo for it. As the theme music for the game plays the sounds of a stabbing noise can be heard in time with the music as the Soldier and Heavy cry out in pain. Finally the Red Spy sweeps away some of the pictures and picks up one with him and the woman walking holding hands (and clothed) and says something along the lines of "Ah, my petite flower" In french before walking away.
The point of the preview was to give an entertaining look into how the Spy acts in the game and of his various abilities. His ability to disable automated turrets was shown in the first flashback, and his ability to disguise himself as the other characters was mentioned by the Blue Spy then demonstrated in the third flashback and then again at the end of the preview. His personality is shown as a clam calculating demeanor, and one who respects the skill of his adversaries. The way he moves in contrast to the other characters is much more floaty and deliberate, and his enunciation makes his point clear at all times. The video communicates these aspects of the Spy well based off of the principles presented in chapter one of the book. Each character in the game has a unique personality that is accurately portrayed in every way that they move and act. From the clumsy but powerful movements of the Soldier to the overpowering lumbering movement (and even the voice) of the Heavy to the quick and full of attitude movements of the Scout. Each character's motions are completely their own and allow them to be seen as completely different people.
The Spy's movements accomplish the same goal, giving his personality and everything about him a certain uniqueness that none of the other characters can imitate. It allows the animators to really explore the thought processes of the different characters and come up with even small gestures that they would naturally do.
It is in this way that the Meet the Spy trailer successfully communicated its ideas. The Spy is a cool and suave character who is also deadly to just about anyone he can fool, and he can fool just about anyone.
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