Cutscene Animation Research

https://mike-skelcher-specialism.blogspot.com/

Shadow of Mordor this game is an open world role playing game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. This game was released for the PS4, Xbox One and PC in September 2014 there was also a later release for the earlier consoles the PS3 and Xbox 360 this was released in November 2014 The game takes place within The Lord of the Rings universe although this is non-canon this game takes place within the time gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The player will take control of Talion a Ranger who horrifically loses his family by the Black Hand of Sauron and his minions, from this as they go to take out Talion himself he gets possessed and ultimately saved by the wraith of an elven lord known as Celebrimbor. The two then set out on their path of vengeance for the death of Talions loved ones and Celebrimbor wants to find his memories to seek who he really is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8HMLc9K1iA

The player will have access to an assortment of abilities both from Talion using your sword to slice and dice your way through combat and they will also be able to control Celebrimbor where the player will enter the world of the wraith to gain intel on the target, use a mystical bow and other assortments of power that no mortal man can possess. Each of these skills will be improving as the game progresses to better aid the player in taking down hordes of orcs. The interesting thing about this game is the Nemesis system, the Nemesis system will allow A.I to remember previous actions against them if you kill them during the gameplay they may show back up at a later point with an injury you caused with the aim to take vengeance fighting harder than they did prior to this event. If they should kill you in this process and you meet them again they will berate you for losing the battle to them this process will continue through their fight to become a war-chief the only definitive way to kill these orcs is to cut off their heads. This system is great because not only have you got the written antagonist's in the story but you can create your own rivalry with other characters in the game and they can last till after you have defeated the main villain of the game, this will also add to the replay value of the game having an option to create your own enemy through fighting an endless battle with an orc.

inFamous Second Son is an action adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions it’s a PlayStation exclusive and used to be in competition with the prototype games for the Xbox this was due to the similarities in gameplay, this inFamous game is the 3^rd instalment in the franchise and was released for the PS4 21^st march 2014 it was among the first games for the new generation of consoles.

The game begins with the introduction of the main protagonist for this game Delsin Rowe who is a member of the Akomish tribe a fictional native American tribe in the small town of Salmon Bay. The game takes place in Washington a few miles out from Seattle, through the introduction to the start of the game we are also introduced to an old lady known as Betty and a police officer named Reggie, Delsin's older brother. We start off with Delsin doing graffiti art on the wall and to do this the game has the player turn the controller sideways and shake it, while the player is shaking the controller the sound of a rattling spray-can is heard through the speaker on the controller this is a really great effect to give the player more immersion in the goings on within the game world. Delsin then begins his run as his brother is chasing him down for a celebration at the long house which Delsin has failed to attend, upon reaching the long house Reggie greats him at the door and they have a little argument when suddenly an out of control security truck slides down the road, the player then takes control of Delsin as the burning wreckage of the trucks destruction happens all around him. We then hear a voice of a man yelling out for help so the player finds the source and it's a man named Frank he is a convict who was being escorted to prison and got himself pinned under the truck, Frank thanks Delsin for the help when suddenly Reggie returns Frank being afraid that Reggie is going to take him back to prison grabs Delsin and absorbs the embers of the flames this is when the first power is introduced to the game, Delsin then tries to stop Hank from shooting anything at Reggie by grabbing his arm at which point Delsin absorbs the power. Later through this opening segment Delsin is chasing down Hank for answers until they run through several buildings and Hank leaves, when Delsin follows him he is greeted at the other side by the leader of the Militia group known as the D.U.P her name is Augustine she is trapping Hank in concrete. Augustine is the main antagonist of the story her aim is to capture all the magic users known as conduit's and take them to her custom built military base for intense training.

The ability to use super powers in this game is what makes it so fun to play unlocking more of them as the story progresses, to help the fun aspect of the game the animations for these moves are great making you feel like you are in control of this superhero or super villain depending on how you choose to play using the karma system which will adapt the world to your play-style. However there have been reports that the animations for pretty much everything have remained the same as previous instalments of the game for example the running, climbing and combat are the exact same to the previous instalments with the exception of the dash through vent teleportation ability which was newly added to this game. I personally didn't play the other inFamous games so this worked great for me and I had a great time playing the game. The facial animations in this game and the cutscenes are still some of the best in games today the fine details in the characters faces as they talk is brilliant, for example the laugh lines on characters move as they speak which works really well to add to the realisation of these characters.

The trailer opens with the sound of spray cans and several different colours spraying across the screen, the main protagonist Delsin is then revealed looking at his work it’s all peaceful Reggie and Delsin having a conversation about Delsin's power, there is then a quick montage of the abilities that Delsin has as he is taking down some soldiers, then the camera cuts back to Reggie and Delsin talking about what the aim of their mission is, we are then shown more power montages this works really well to set up the story and the path that Delsin should take to fix the wrong doings in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNfJvFnzc8

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an RPG developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published By Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games, the game was released for PC, Xbox 360 in March 2006 and a later release came for the PlayStation March 2007 there was also a mobile release for the game 2^nd May 2006.

The game takes place 6 years after the events of Morrowind in 3E 433 the Emperor Uriel Septim VII (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is fleeing through the prisons trying to escape an assassination after learning that his sons had met the same fate, this is when our created player will meet Uriel Septim and travel with him to escape prison ourselves. During the escape of the prison Uriel Septim becomes cornered by 2 assassins the player is stuck and can’t do anything to help him and so finally he meets the end of his days, as he dies he passes the player the Amulet of Kings of which we must get this to Martin Septim (voiced by Sean Bean) the Emperor's illegitimate son and the future Emperor, the player will then emerge from prison into the fictional place known as Cyrodill on the continent of Tamriel and is then free to do whatever they choose you’re not restricted by the main quest-line.

 

As this is game created by Bethesda when the player finally escapes the prison and the shackles are off they are free to go and do whatever they want, the world space for exploration in this game is massive taking the player well over 172 hours to complete everything the game has to offer, the world space here is great looking especially for a game that was released in 2006 its filled with colourful surroundings, large woodland areas, built up city's and dark creepy dungeons. There are several different guilds the player can align with in this game such as the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood a group of assassins that take out people once someone has prayed to the Night Mother who is the matriarch of the family, finally the Arena where the player can fight for Honour and become the Grand Champion. The games general animation are not the best that games have to offer they are the clunky and repetitive, so from this the modding community on the PC versions of the game have completely overhauled them. However if you were to play this game on the console the animations will not be the best you have ever seen they become very repetitive very quickly striking the sword it swings left and right, and casting spells by throwing your left arm up in the air or out in front of the player. But this game series has never been known for being the pinnacle of animation it’s about the exploration and having repetitive animations in a game as big as oblivion doesn't matter, the game is about exploring the great world that has been crafted, the world space does enough to keep the player intrigued and it’s still one of the best games that I have ever played.

The trailer for Oblivion opens with a monologue of Uriel Septim telling the audience that he has reigned over the region for 65 years, but in that time he has never been in control of his own dreams and he has seen the gates of Oblivion that no waking eye can see. This beginning part of the trailer seems to get a lot of inspiration from the Lord of the Rings films, the Oblivion gates resemble the eye of Sauron and the music has the similar tone to the films this is a great choice to hook in fans of the films into a new fantasy RPG game. The camera then cuts away from the Oblivion gate with a nice change in the music as the beat go's from a heavy evil tone to a subtle calming sound, as this change happens we then see the camera fly over the land of Cyrodill the grand scale of the land we will be able to explore. Uriel Septim then introduces the year and the happenings in the land and we get a wide panning shot of the city landscape. This trailer works great to set up the world space and introduce the player to the early stages of the game and the era of which this game takes place, the use of the daylight lighting when we set out into the land of Cyrodill makes the land look beautiful making the colours of the grass bright green and the snowy mountains in the distance pop out at the viewer, the change between this blissful environment and the darkened part of the Oblivion gate opening works really well to get the viewer excited for the game to explore the land as well as within the Oblivion gates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWLZ07U85h0

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action RPG and much the same as Oblivion this game was also developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, it's the 5^th game in the series after Oblivion was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC 11^th November 2011. There was a later Special Edition for the game which included the 3 DLC's Hearthfire, Dragonborn and Dawnguard this was released on the PS4, Xbox One on the 28^th October and for those players on the PC that had all the DLC's in the base game they were able to get a free upgrade given on the 28^th October. Finally there was also a release for the game on the switch 17^th November 2017 this was also one of the big selling points on the switch used in all advertisements and Skyrim Alexa this is called Skyrim Very Special Edition.

Skyrim is also known as the old kingdom, throat of the world or the fatherland is set in a huge region in the north of Tamriel it is home to the Nords strong folk who due to the climate have developed a resistance to the cold both magical and natural. The player starts off at the execution of Ulfric Stormcloak and was caught up in the capture and wrongly accused, Ulfric is the leader of the rebellion who is fighting to regain control of Skyrim. His aim is to take it from the imperials who are inhabitants of Cyrodill and servants of the Aldmeri Dominion a faction of Elves based in the Summerset Isles located in south-west Tamriel. The player creates their character after leaving the cart that's taken them to the execution, just as there head is on the headsman's block a dragon known as Alduin the world eater fly's down destroying everything in his path allowing our player to escape. After the player has escaped they can go anywhere they want much the same as Oblivion the player can join the Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, Mages Guild and the Arena is not in this region however the player can join the Companions a group of warriors who can also become werewolf's. Later on in the game the player will have to help some local folk fight a dragon that is terrorizing there town, upon defeating the dragon the player will absorb the dragons soul which is later revealed that you are the Dragonborn capable of using the dragons might against them to save the world from the main trouble plaguing the land.

The animations in Skyrim have slightly improved since Oblivion but it’s not a game with a big combat system, however there is the added bonus of kill cams in Skyrim which are used for many different variations of magic and weapons, my personal favourite is the bow landing a critical and watching the arrow fly towards the target in slow motion. The animations have added a few things to make it differ from Oblivion but they are still very simplistic, the player is able to cast a spell in both hands in this game and the animations for the master spells is great to give a feel of the power generating through the body. But much the same as the Oblivion game there not known for the intricate animations it’s about the exploration and Skyrim will take over 225 hours to complete but the game includes radiant quests which will never be completed they keep generating more so there will always be something to do in Skyrim, in June 2013 Bethesda announced that Skyrim had sold 20 million copies and now the game has gone on to sell 30 million copies as of 2018.

The trailer for Skyrim starts with a monologue from Esbern a lore master of the blades who specialises in ancient prophecies of Tamriel, he also predicted the return of the dragons under Alduin's ruling whose return would lead to the destruction of the world. As this monologue is happening there's a first person shot of someone running with a roar following the player, the camera then shows us a third person view as the character approaches a cliff edge and we see a shadow of a dragon fly overhead, the character draws his weapon and engages in combat with the dragon the dragon breaths fire upon the character. As this happens Esbern talks about the prophecy of the “Dragonborn”. Then the Dragonborn shouts “Fus Ro Dah” at the dragon which knocks him backwards. The amazing music for Skyrim is played as we see shots of the land the player will be able to inhabit and several scenes of combat, the music slows as we see the Dragonborn absorb the soul of the dragon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpvM9uwOcUc

Red Dead Redemption is a action adventure game set in the wild west developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar games, this game is the successor of the 2004 Red Dead Revolver, it was released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in may 2010.

The game takes place on the decline of the American Frontier in 1911 and follows the story of a former outlaw John Marston, John spent his younger years learning and travelling from place to place with his former gang known as the van der Linde gang which was led by Dutch Van Der Linde. He met his future wife whilst in the gang and they had a son who was raised by Abigail and his fellow brothers in arms.

Within the game however this takes place years after leaving the gang and John is trying to live a normal honest life, this however isn't to be the case for the moment as the government have taking Johns wife and son hostage with the intention of getting John to become there hired gun, he is then set the task to take out his former brothers who the government have been persuing for years, to there thinking who better to take down outlaws than a former outlaw that used to ride with them and so having no other choice Marston has to take down his brothers to get his family back. The game is played in third person and takes place in a huge open world which contains many side missions and fun little games within the taverns such as poker and blackjack. The player will be able to live in the life of a cowboy in the wild west stealing horses or breaking wild ones to be able to traverse the land at there leisure. The gunfights use a system called “dead eye” to capture the feeling of a gunslinger this system allows the player to slow time why they mark up there opponent with red “x” to mark the point of the shot with superb shots. As John is moving through the game the player will be able to play a bad outlaw playthrough like his younger days within the gang or maintain his changed man manner with the honour system which will change from red to white depending on the players doings within the game, this will change how other NPC's interact with John.

The game was in development for a course of 5 years and is 1 of the most expensive games ever made, the game was praised for its visuals, dynamically generated music, voice acting and fantastic story. The game shipped 15 million copies by 2017 and won several awards including game of the year from several different gaming publications and is considered by many as one of the best games ever made.

 

The trailer for Red Dead Redemption starts with a monologue talking about the harsh realities of the wild west. As this monologue is happening we see John getting off a train and saddle up to ride around the scenery giving us a glimpse into the world space we will inhabit during the gameplay as this scene progresses the we see some combat between John and several different bandits, the trailer ends with John saying to one of his former brothers in arms Bill Williamson “no one needs to kill anyone Bill”. This short trailer is a good look into the goings on within the world and gives the player a rough idea of the theme of the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOpKJ6hjPIM

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the prequel to the before mentioned Red Dead Redemption the game was released on 26^th October 2018 for the PS4 and Xbox One.

The story focuses on the gang and how the gang went from there rise to there destruction leading to why John had to go after his brothers. This stories main protagonist Arthur Morgan who was one of Dutch Van De Linde main lieutenants in the gang, through this game we get to see a younger version of John Marston during the early rebellious stages of his life and we see him develop into the man that he is within the first game.

The story within this game however tells us how the people within the land of the wild west were trying to take control of the outlaw situation, through this they were hunting all gangs down to make room for a more law based society with the Marshall's to rule the land with an implementation of laws. As the player progresses through the story they will be fleeing the law with the intention to make enough money that they can all disappear from the law.

The game can be played in either first person or third and the player much the same as the previous can take part in many side activities with the open world such as poker and bounty hunts. There are several more activities such as heists, shootouts, hunting and horse back riding with the added addition of being able to interact with every single NPC even if its something simple like saying good morning/ evening. The game has a huge amount of varied animations which all aids in bringing both the world and Arthur Morgan alive, the player can also expect to see people living a scheduled life and as the player traverses through the land you may come across people who need help and these people should you choose to aid them can be sometimes see again within towns and villages and they may offer you things in stores or give you money to spend how you please. Other different variations of activities that the player can take part in and finally you can see the wildlife of the world living there lives, a couple of examples of this are a bear hunting for fish at the river side, 2 deer's battling for territory, cougars hunting animals and you if your not careful within there territory.

The honour system makes it return in this game too through the players choices within the game, if you play as an outlaw the player can expect to see countless bounty hunters on the hunt for them this was taken from the other Rockstar game GTA which would send the law after you dependant on the severity of the crime, but along with this the player will also unlock certain outfits unique to the outlaw path, if the player chooses to play as the nice guy however they can expect discount in the stores and some other custom outfits suited to that playstyle.

Red Dead Redemption 2 broke several records and had the second biggest launch in the history of entertainment it sold $725 million in sales from the opening weekend and it also shipped over 17 million copies in 2 weeks. Once again much the same as the previous game it got praised from the critics for the story, character's, visuals, soundtrack and the open world.

The trailer begins with the Van Der Linde gang standing beside a stationary train and Dutch threatening the people inside the carriage we then see a close up of Dutch's gun this then fades to black as the Rockstar logo fades onto the screen, we then hear the first thing from Arthur the main protagonist of the game and he says “this whole thing is pretty much done, were more ghosts than people”. The screen then fades to black again as we see chalk writings on the screen telling us about the downfall of the outlaws in the west, this is followed by the gang riding across the land and different shots of the gangs members this is all happening as Dutch and other main characters of the world are talking. This trailer works really well to give the player a quick run down of the story and gives us an insight into what we will be doing through our playthrough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VVhPqGMDAg