A semiotic critique of videogames for kids. Ideas are welcome!

I struggled a lot selecting a digital interaction for my final paper. I’ve been perusing all the blog postings and comments every other day to get some ideas based on what others are doing. I had originally started doing a phenomenological analysis of the innovative interactive technology used by the restaurant in London I talked about in my latest posting. However, I felt that I didn’t have a strong claim. Then, after realizing that everybody else is going for semiotics I recognized the importance of putting into practice these new concepts and decided to use a semiotics approach as well.

Then, as I was doing Xmas shopping I came across with something which I considered quite interesting: videogames for toddlers. Probably they have been around for many years; I’m not an expert on this particular market segment. However, what it immediately caught my attention was all the semiotic texts used in the product boxes for parents to buy the product (I guess that the reality is that after taking Jeff’s class we will see any product in a very different way). In general, it seems to me that videogames for kids are establishing a discourse: they seem to be using features from “real” videogames; they seem to claim having an educational focus; they seem to claim that kids will be actively engaged with them; and that kids will have lots of fun playing with them. 

semiotics approach for web browsers

I finally narrowed down my topics to the web browsers. We all have different using experiences with different web browsers and there are difference cultures with each one. I want to use semiotic approach to help me tease out what those differences are and what constitute those differences. One activity I am going to do is to use sequence analysis to deconstruct a task flow of different browsers and find out the unit of meaning. Any expertise, resources or comments you have with web browsers or on my paper will be appreciated .

Dexter

Dexter is one of my favorite shows and I believe there are a few Dexter junkies in our class too. I wanted to talk about the title sequence of this show from a semiotic perspective. I was wondering if we could do a small experiment.

• For those of you who have NEVER watched this show before or does not know anything about what the show is, I request you to just watch the title sequence without reading anything about it. Please post what you think about the title sequence and what you guess the show may be about!
• For those of you who know what the show is about – I think the title sequence is nothing short of brilliance. It conveys so perfectly what the show is about. It was done by Digital Kitchen and won an Emmy for “Outstanding Main Title Design.” My take is that Design Kitchen use a heavily semiotic approach to convey the spirit of the show. They do the same thing with the title sequence of TrueBlood as well.

While we are in the topic of Dexter, I came across this limited edition T-shirt released by ShowTime which costs a whopping $475. Apart from the obvious word play, I really liked the way ShowTime used the street art aesthetic for the graphic style. Needless to point out the t-shirt was released early January this year when Obama’s campaign was in full swing. Talk about being immersed in culture! I think that the use of street art as a visual style communicates the feeling of “one among the people” – a message relevant for both the personalities. What do you guys think?

Jalou

Full disclosure: I ♥ Dolce & Gabbana and I am going to be unabashedly biased towards anything that has a D&G tag on it.

Here are a few facts:

• For those of you who have not heard about Dolce & Gabbana, it is one of the biggest (and one of the best IMO) luxury fashion houses of the world and is based in Milan.
• Sony Ericsson has collaborated with D&G and released a limited edition of their phone called Jalou. The name of the phone is derived from a french word jaloux which means jealousy!
• The D&G edition is plated with 24 carat gold and is faded-rose in color. There are other colors but they are do not carry the D&G tag on them.
• The retail price of the phone is $800 and the price of the D&G edition is undisclosed. D&G is known for it’s notriously high pricing especially since it’s a luxury brand.

Since we have been reading some fashion texts and trying to apply that to interaction design, I thought this was a particularly interesting artifact to talk about. We have talked so much about a phone like the iPhone where owning the latest tehcnology is fashion. So I was wondering how does it work when it comes to something like the Jalou. Clearly it cannot be discarded as “advertising” and “branding”. It gets even more interesting when you compare the advertisements of the same phone – one made by Sony Ericsson and the other by D&G.

Thoughts/comments?

Dolce & Gabbana

Sony Ericsson

For $230 Million, It’s Worth A Second Of My Attention

I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the trailer for the upcoming Avatar movie lately, one because I’m a sucker for epic sci-fi films, and two because I’m a total sucker for sci-fi art direction. The first teaser trailer was so horribly bad, I was initially curious if it was a function of poor editing on the teaser’s part, or a function of the movie, which could be described as Fern Gully III: Our Work Here Is Done, Let’s Go Destroy Some Other Planet. Fortunately, this trailer is better, far, far better, than the first one they threw out to us.

Now, I loves me some eye candy, and at $230 million this movie may have some of the most expensive eye candy to date. And so, based solely on that, I have deemed this movie worthy of my attention. Thus, having watched this trailer numerous times, it would be a shame for me not to interpret it, now, wouldn’t it?

(apologies for the video controls and obvious screen grabs from QuickTime… this was by far the easiest way to do it)

Jeff mentioned in class how actors are unavoidably situated in the history of their own work, and Jim Carrey’s career is one example of how difficult it can be to shake those first impressions. The main character of Avatar, Jake Sully, is played by Sam Worthington, a relatively unknown Australian actor. As a result we are able to enter the theater without any preconceived notions of what type of character he is going to play.

If Sully were played by Vin Diesel, Will Smith or Nathan Fillion, we would have very different expectations for his character. If it were Tom Cruise, for example, we can expect that he would demand the film feature a passionate make-out scene with a beautiful women (to settle any questions about his sexuality), and that his wheelchair would need to be over eight feet tall (so he could tower over any other actors, and perhaps crush them).

The first time we meet Sully in the trailer, he’s cruising around a sports bar in a wheelchair. A projection screen in the background shows a game of soccer, juxtaposing the able-bodied nature of these players with Sully’s disability. His Harley Davidson shirt could be interpreted as indicating he’s a rebel, an ex-motorcycle rider (something that he could no longer do if he lost the use of his legs) or old and rich (as the Harley in American culture is increasingly situating itself as a luxury item of rich retired men).

What’s really amazing is that, in 2154, we still play pool, ride motorcycles and go to bars. American football, however, has been surpassed by real football as the spectator sport of choice. Sorry, CJ.

How do we know it’s 2154? Because a computer interface in the trailer tells us so, duh!

To that end, the appearance of Sigourney Weaver in this film, who played Ellen Ripley in the Alien Quadrilogy, is certainly no coincidence, and is filled with cultural significance. James Cameron directed Aliens and he directed Avatar, so what we have here more than twenty years later is a sci-fi reunion between Cameron and Weaver.

From what I’ve seen so far of Michelle Rodriguez’ character, there are no surprises here. She’s a bristly tough-talkin’ marine who’s seen it all, just as in LOST she was a bristly tough-talkin’ cop.

The art direction of the attack helicopters, I believe, is clearly inspired by the design of the Orca Assault Craft from the original Command & Conquer PC strategy game. What’s more, even four years ago someone named X-Warrior had created a 3D rendering of a similar craft.

Think the video game comparison is a stretch? Think I’m grossly over-estimating the influence that video game art can exercise over multi-hundred-million-dollar cinema productions? Check this one out:

The Na’vi of planet Pandora are mystical blue-skinned, long-eared beings that live in the forest.

The Night Elves of World of Warcraft are magical purple-skinned, long-eared beings that live in the forest.

Ashenvale is the ancestral homeland of the Night Elves (where yours truly would always get his corpse camped by twinked-out level 50s with nothing better to do than pick on a level 30 hunter), and it is decked out in rich tones of blue, green and purple.

Likewise, nighttime in the forest on Pandora is decked out in rich tones of blue, green and purple.

There are numerous symbols used to indicate that the Na’vi are a people of nature. Their hair is braided and bedecked with beads, reminiscent of the 60s movement, hippies, and the cultures that they had originally appropriated these styles from. Their clothing and jewelry are largely comprised of leather, feathers, wood, vines, fibers, seeds… items that a foraging culture in the jungle would likely come across.

Similar to some native cultures, the Na’vi adorn themselves in paint when they go to war, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate the opposing side. How did these indigenous people, a million lightyears away, happen to cultivate many of the same cultural codings that are present here on Earth? It’s a mystery!

Fortunately, tribal cultures aren’t the only victim of stereotyping in Avatar. Here we see Mr. Douche Bag Business Man, who was sent by corporate to make sure the mining project continues operating smoothly, no matter the cost. How do we know he’s a douche bag? Because he’s wearing a striped douche bag tie, of course!

Finally, I casually drink coffee in the morning while reading email, a boring and mundane task. The fact that Colonel Miles Quaritch drinks coffee while flying in an attack helicopter and commanding the annihilation of an entire alien race shows just how casually he approaches such an activity.

Pour Me Another

(please note that the thoughts contained herein do not reflect my own opinion of Alcoholic Anonymous, but rather those I believe are being communicated by the album art under consideration)

I’ve been kickin’ back with some truly awesome Minneapolis hip-hop lately, and I was admiring the album art of Atmosphere’s “You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having.” It depicts the artist sitting alone, bored and fuming, in what appears to be an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

But then, I realized upon closer inspection that there’s nothing in the imagery that says AA. How in the heck did I reach this conclusion? What clues were contained within this text that allowed me to interpret it so?

• The heavy metal doors symbolize a cold and impersonal public space, perhaps a gymnasium in an old school. The tell-tale green color of the doors and wall harken back to 1950s construction, represent a space that is purely utilitarian, and has not been remodeled for human aesthetic needs.
• The concrete floor furthers the cold, impersonal, depressive nature of the space.
• The windows are covered with grocery bags held up with masking tape, suggesting that whatever happens in this room is intended to be private and hidden from the outside world. However, the grocery bags are on the other side of the glass, so anyone on the outside could easily pull them down. I believe this is actually a flaw in the artistic rendering of this scene.
• The circular lock and deadbolt indicates that the door is locked, further communicating that this is a private affair.
• The rug shows that someone, probably with the best of intentions, had tried to superficially brighten up the space. The fact that it’s ugly, brown and outdated represents the futility of this effort. Rather than improving the warmth and humanity of the space, the rug instead becomes a symbol itself for the depressive nature of the meeting.
• The folding chairs indicate that this meeting is a temporary repurposing of this space. The fact that they’re covered in cheap fabric and padding further indicates a futile attempt to bring comfort to this negative experience.
• The blue folding chair on the right is at a slight angle, following the angle of the circular rug. Both of these act as incredibly subtle signals that people for this event will be seated in a circular arrangement. This implies that this is not a hierarchal meeting between, say, a panel and attendees, but a flat arrangement between so-called equals.
• The fact that the artist is smoking, in flagrant disregard of the posted “No Smoking” sign, symbolizes his rejection of this event. That there is a “No Smoking” sign posted in the first place shows that this is likely a meeting between people who may stereotypically be smokers, and that the subjects covered may be stressful to the point where people would find themselves needing to partake in a comforting, familiar habit.
• The artist’s body language further communicates his boredom and rejection of this event. It is as though the depressive superficiality of his surroundings are symbolic of his own belief of the superficiality of this event; that discussing his alcoholism with others isn’t going to do anything to change him or his behaviors.

Hang Em’ High…

So the other night I decided to watch a Clint Eastwood western. I watched Hang Em’ High for the first time; since it was one of those movies I had wanted to watch and always eluded me (available on Hulu).

I really enjoyed it, but in particular, there was one scene that got me thinking about ready-to-hand, and present-to hand. I know Ben brought up this point earlier when he wrote about his experience with Casey playing DDR. Though my point is really that in the scene I watched, the director used some interesting techniques to really capture the visual action, and make Clint Eastwood’s handling of a gun look very ready-to-hand.
Here’s the scene, where Clint Eastwood’s character (who is an expert gunman) guns down a criminal that had tried to kill him earlier:

I know this film is a work of fiction, but it is kind of scary to fathom that there are people that are so well trained to use firearms that their guns become ready-to-hand. Then their intention to kill becomes reality, almost as if their mind kills another person instead of their hands and a gun. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people; well, while I don’t completely agree with that saying, in the case of this scene, I’d say the ready-to-hand-ness of the gunman is pretty well portrayed.

Now that I’ve said that, since we’ve been talking about sequences lately, I thought I’d do a sequence analysis so the director’s design is out there, in front of us, and we can think about how he used camera/film techniques to portray Clint Eastwood’s character as a tough, pissed off, expert gunman who can shoot so well with a revolver that it’s ready-to-hand to him.

Shot # & description	Shot Type	Dialogue
#1 Eastwood tipping his hat, leaving jail	medium	N/A
#2 Worried look of local Sheriff, looks back at grinning prisoner	Close up	N/A
#3 Eastwood strolling calmly across the street, lighting up a cigar (striking a match on his boot), then noticing something important he sees	Continuous medium, zoom in to close up upon realization of something	N/A
#4 a brown horse that Eastwood recognizes	medium	N/A
#5 Eastwood starts walking towards the horse for closer inspection	Close up, zooms out to long shot and follows Eastwood	N/A
#6 The saddle reads the word “JED”. It is Eastwood’s previously owned saddle that was stolen from him	Close up	N/A
#7 Eastwood then turns towards the saloon, and goes in to find one of the criminals he’s looking for	Continuous long shot follows Eastwood into Saloon	N/A
#8 Eastwood’s reflection in the bar mirror as he bursts through the doors	Long Shot, pans following bartender till Eastwood comes into view, follows Eastwood as he walks left, and closer towards the camera, stopping once he reaches the criminal he’s looking for	JED (Eastwood): You’re under arrest Reno.
#9 Reno responds to the Marshall (Eastwood) while he’s drinking liquor	Close up	RENO: You talkin’ to me Marshall?
#10 Eastwood looks pissed	Close up	JED: You’re name’s Reno, isn’t it?
#11 Reno responds to the Marshall (Eastwood) while he’s pouring liquor	Close up	RENO: Look Marshall, I dunno what kind of town you’re runnin’ here….
#12 Reno is pouring liquor, ignoring Eastwood, and Eastwood is getting angrier	Medium shot	JED: This isn’t my town.RENO: Well I wouldn’t know…see, I just rode in….gonna wash down some trail dust..
#13 Shot Reno, with Eastwood extinguishing his cigar into Reno’s glass of liquor	Close up	RENO:…and
#14 Full shot of Eastwood still with his cigar in Reno’s liquor. Eastwood looks pissed	Medium shot	N/A (stare down)
#15 Reno stands up	Close up	RENO: All right Marshall, whaduya say I done?
#16 Eastwood looks pissed	Close up	JED: You don’t remember me, do you?
#17 Reno	Close up	RENO: No.
#18 Eastwood looks pissed, pulls down his scarf to reveal his hangin’ scar	Close up	JED: When you hang a man, you better look at him!
#19 Reno looks scared as hell	Close up, zooms in to Extreme close up of Reno’s scared face	N/A
#20 Eastwood’s scar is visible to the audience	Extreme Close up, pans up from scar to Eastwood’s eyes. He looks pissed.	N/A
#21 Reno looks scared, starts to back away from Eastwood as camera follows	Close up	N/A
#22 Reno continues to back away from Eastwood. Angle makes Eastwood look tall and towering, and Reno looks small like a scared little kid.	Medium shot	N/A
#23 Eastwood continues his stare down, and covers his neck again	Close up	N/A
#24 Shot of Reno backing away, with Eastwood in the foreground	Long shot of Reno, Eastwood in front of camera, over his shoulder	JED: Don’t go for that gun Reno…
#25 Shot of Eastwood with a low camera angle, makes him look tall and in control	Close up, low angle	JED: ..I need you alive.
#26 Reno pulls his gun to kill Eastwood	Long shot of Reno, Eastwood in front of camera, over his shoulder	N/A
#27 Quick, clear shot of Reno pulling his gun on the Marshall	Medium shot	N/A
#28 Quick shot of Eastwood pulling his gun fast, in reaction to Reno	Long shot of Reno, Eastwood in front of camera, over his shoulder	N/A
#29 View of Reno’s eyes widening as he is shot and killed	Extreme Close up	N/A
#30 Eastwood looks pissed as he shoots and kills Reno, pulling the trigger again and again	Medium shot, low angle	N/A
#31 Eastwood continues to gun down Reno as Reno falls down over the barrels of whiskey	Long shot of Reno, Eastwood in front of camera, over his shoulder	N/A
#32 Reno collapses and falls from his feet, dead, whiskey pouring on his face.	Medium shot, pans to follow Reno’s corpse falling to the floor	N/A
#33 Eastwood looks satisfied as smoke clears from his gun	Medium shot, low angle	N/A
#34 Shot of Eastwood walking towards the corpse, saloon patrons can be seen in the background. The local Sherriff runs into the saloon.	Medium shot, pans left following Eastwood, zooms out as he checks Reno on the floor	N/A
#35 Shot of local Sherriff checking the corpse	Long shot, changes to medium as Sheriff stands up to address Eastwood	JED: You know em’?SHERRIFF: No…JED: Anybody here know em?
#36 Shot of Eastwood and the saloon patrons	Long shot, holds steady for a while, then zooms into a medium shot.	JED: Goes by the name of Reno. Come up here and take a look at him. SHERRIFF: He musta just rode in.JED: That’s what he said, how much to bury him? SHERRIFF: Elwood?ELWOOD: Well…15 dollars oughta do a fair job Marshall.   JED: All right, there seven dollars there, I’ll give you 8 more. Mark it down there. Don’t anybody leave! I want everybody to write down in this book exactly what they saw… PATRON #1: I didn’t see nothing marshall…
#37 Shot of Eastwood responding to patron.	Close up	JED: Fine, then you say that in writing.
#38 Shot of patrons talking to Eastwood	Close up	PATRON #2: Nobody’s gonna fault ya Marshall…you gave him every chance.JED: Then say it in writing.PATRON #1: Marshall, I can’t write!
#39 Shot of patrons talking to Eastwood	Close up	JED: Well the Sherriff here can write it down, and you can put your mark on it.
#40 Shot of everyone in the saloon.	Long shot of patrons, Eastwood in foreground at medium distance	JED: Sherriff, there’s a saddle out there that belongs to me, I’ll be takin’ that.
#41 Shot of Eastwood	Close up	JED: Any of his friends or relatives show up, want his horse or his belongings, you let me know, heh…
#42	Long shot of patrons, Eastwood in foreground at medium distance, holds steady as Eastwood walks away from camera towards doors, and out of the saloon.	JED: …you can wire me in Ft. Grant.SHERRIFF: You gonna pick up the Swede now?JED: No….I’m gonna have that steak now.

Well, after looking back, it’s interesting how rapidly the shots begin to change and cuts happen as tension builds before Eastwood guns down the criminal, and then the shots get longer again after the shootout and calmness returns. I’d say that this is a classic example of rhythmic montage: the cutting of the shots is based on the visual narrative, and the feeling that is being communicated to the audience, (of calmness or high intensity), is communicated through the contrast of a rapid succession of shots, or rather, long slow shots.

Ok, that’s all for now,

-Joe

Semiotics of The Walker

I’ve been following One in 8 Million, a NYTimes.com section, for a while. Each week there will be a different story. I choose a recent one, a story about a walker in New York City, as an exercise for semiotics. (Click on the image to watch the story in the website. Sorry, flash player is needed.)

I am not sure what genre it is, but it is different from a movie. There is no movement, but continuous static photographs.

MONTAGE

Due to the pictures are chosen to match what the character says, so I think they use montage as one of the editing techniques to make the sequence of this story.

MISEN-EN-SCENE

I am sure every picture is deliberatively selected, including the composition of each photograph, how that photograph match the voice over, etc.

Production Design

They shoot on location, and the props are from the real settings in the city and costumes are all from the character her own.

Actor

Although the “actor” is not a professional actress, I think there is still a sense of performing in this story-telling, photo pose as a performance.

Sound

They use voice-over as parallel sound, and I think it is non-diegetic sound, since in this case, only us as watchers could hear it, not the people in the photographs.

Color

Black and white, so that people could only focus on the content of the photograph and the story itself.

Framing

There are some photographs use close-up camera position, and the one above is a deep depth of field but with the character blur. My connotation is that this photo reveals the inner voice of the character that she doesn’t like to walk in the city, as her voice over in this part is “I don’t feel like in the city.”

There is one look-down camera angle. My connotation is that it reveals the loneliness of the character.

ICON, INDEX & SYMBOL

The walking man sign on the road is at the same time iconic, indexical and symbolic sign. It is iconic because it is the resemblance of human being; it is indexical because it is caused to exist by the existence of human being; it is symbolic because the sign is not exactly like human, but by convention, a sign with a shape like this would make people think it is human. [I am still not confident when trying to distinguish these three concepts. These arguments are copied from Barnard's book, page 148-149. Please help me.]

At when there is 1:13 left, the photo of the character’s sketchbook is seen as an index to her thinking, for her voice over is “if I don’t walk, I can’t think”.

I think the graffiti picture when there is 1:28 left is an icon. It is like a portrait for a lady.

The photograph when there is 1:20 left with a picture on the ground with two women in cheongsam on it, (I think they are from old Shanghai time), it is iconic, but I am not sure whether it is symbolic. Can you find any conventions?

QUESTION

When there is 00:38 left, I don’t understand why when she said”I noticed buildings”, but the photograph shown is having a shallow depth of field and making the building out of focus, instead focusing on an old man. Maybe they don’t have a better photograph? Probably not so.

CONFESSION

This exercise really helps me to think deeper of the terms, instead of just memorizing.

This is by no means a complete analysis. I would like to hear your voice.

Clerks II Signs

So most people know that I love the Clerks movies, so I wanted to try and see what types of signs I could find in there, to exercise the reading for Thursday’s class. This is from the sequel to the movie, and, of course, has some epic R-rated language, but it makes me laugh, and we’re adults, so I hope this is OK for posting. So here we go…

The first thing that struck me was a sign of the title of this video. I thought this was where Jay rapped his signature rap, as it was referenced in the his own movie (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), but this version of the rap is different, and is indicative of the time he has spent in jail and cleaning his life around. It’s also not as loaded with as many epithets as his usual mouth, but it’s a sign that the rehab program he was in has started to change his thinking. It’s even more interesting to see Silent Bob’s expression as Jay is rapping, as he sort of shies away – it’s not Jay’s best, and it doesn’t sound really good. This might be a sign of how he really feels for Jay – either concerned for him, or embarrassed that he still hangs out with Jay.

Where Jay and Silent Bob are standing is also very interesting – they are standing in front of a Mooby’s fast food restaurant in Leonardo, New Jersey (a place that has been established to be a “waste pit” in other movies). The Mooby’s is also a reference to McDonald’s, because it’s everywhere in the View Askew universe (the set of movies Kevin Smith has directed with these characters), a sign of its omnipresence and hold over the lives of people who can’t get a “real job” (aka Dante and Randal, and Jay and Silent Bob usually end up wherever Dante and Randal go, maybe a sign of fate?). The bricks behind them are quite apparent, even though the Mooby’s logo is perfectly written on there and the paint looks really good. It’s an interesting sign because the stereotype of New Jersey is that it is a dump and that large buildings like this usually receive a lot of graffiti (which ends up happening later). It’s an interesting sign at the possibility of hope of life for Dante, Randal, Jay, and Silent Bob. Now that’s something I didn’t see when I saw the movie the first time around.

I also appreciated the fact that not only did this scene point to and reference other movies (the Buddy Christ shirt is from Dogma), but it also pointed to what our commonsense notion of what a drug dealer and a reborn Christian talks and acts like. Even though Jay and Silent Bob have gone through jail, they both still have the same posture and the same types of conversations of when they were drug dealers (could be signifying that rehab doesn’t work fully?), but that the experience was worthwhile for them, as they now found the Bible, and Jay wants to do something with his life now. It’s even more of a sign of how the experience of jail worked on them, because their language is still roughly the same as when they were standing in front of the Quick Stop. Another “cue”/sign here is that Silent Bob is in the scene, as he’s the director and the character, but he holds up the Bible to the camera when Jay references it, potentially showing us a view they may/may not have in terms of faith and religion in modern day society (could be parodying this type of people, which I could see).

I couldn’t really find too many more signs of the change of Jay and Silent Bob (other than than the lack of music going on – since it is silent – Jay usually raps with non-diegetic music – it seems to signify something has changed about his lifeworld), but their costumes are a little bit cleaner and worn on them as well, signifying their use in jail, along with the hard lives they have been leading until this point. The costumes of the people who want to buy drugs from them also were done well enough (including their posture), to signal that they were also down on their luck and they think that weed will help them, but the audience ends up being surprised that the main reason they choose this dealer is that he makes them laugh – a sign for the audience to laugh, as it is unexpected.

Please feel free to add on – I would like to see what other signs I take for granted in this scene, as I know these characters pretty well (or at least I would like to think so).

(^^)V

Mise-en-Scene Breakdown

So I would like to do a breakdown of the mise-en-scene of one of my favorite video games: Skies of Arcadia: Legends (GCN). I will try and use the definitions on pp6 of the Lacey reading.

Temporal Aspects to Keep in Mind

There are a couple of things to keep in mind while trying to do an accurate job at looking at the scene here: this battle is usually taken on later in the game, and has happened three times before, each of varying difficulty. This is the end of a sidequest and story that makes the party especially powerful when completed – the boss is worth a level of experience when defeated (most enemies aren’t – a lot of grinding has to go on to be able to complete this battle!)

Some Visual Aspects

The player is treated to a typical RPG menu overlay on top of the camera work. The spirit points, the gauge as to what types of special moves or magic can be used, is displayed at the top of the screen, and the main menu of commands are also displayed in the lower left corner, accompanied by a set of icons to make it easier to see what the possible choices are for the player. Also, whenever a move, magic, or attack is done, it is shown on the top of the screen as the actor plays this part of the scene, which allows the player to not only confirm what has been selected, but to help prepare for what should be done next round.

The battle takes place on an imperial battleship, complete with a bridge and “quad”-laser that’ll take out demigods with ease. The battleship is huge, has multiple floors, and is made out of metal (I believe). The battle takes place on the front deck of the ship, only after this imperial battleship docks with a very small boat that the antagonist pilots. The battle also allows the player to be in a small amount of control of the camera, as he/she can move the camera during the “turn preparation” (before the scene, aka turn, has happened) – this isn’t shown as well. Also, the camera pretty much is satisfied to circle over the action for most of the battle, until it zooms in on a player or computer, when their turn is taken. Then the camera programmatically repeats this until the battle is over.

Aural Components

This is the best part of the scene, as this is the part of the experience I cue into the most while playing an RPG (besides focusing in on the action). The sounds used for all menu operations are very small, quick, and pretty much to-the-point. They become musically and a cue for one to get to the actions one wants to take, and are very helpful in this way. What’s missing is the sounds of the control stick and the button presses on the GameCube controller.

The main reason why the experience of playing this game is so epic is due to the boss music. The first whoosh that occurs is a sign of an upcoming boss fight, cued by the signature boss music itself. The music is also reactive to the context of the boss fight as well: when the main character dies, the music segues to an uphappy and distressing tune, to let the player know that the fight is not going in their favor, and must do something to turn the battle around. There’s also the segue to the epic happy music when the player is winning, and happens later in the video, as this cues the player that he/she is winning and needs to keep pouring it on to achieve victory. It is also possibly to get the most epic segue, from getting it to go from the bad music all the way up to the win music in one blow – it’ll blow your mind, and make the hair stand up on the back of your neck (that’s why I keep playing this game! – I even prolong the boss fights to hear the music more, too). The music also has more cues as well, as one can hear the death knell from the bell in the beginning of the cutscene, showing the player that this is going to be tough (and it is a tough fight, believe me). There’s also the happy post-battle music too, along with the posing and victory chants as well too, and I hum this as well along with the video.

The Performance of the Actors

There are 6 character actors here in this battle (unless one wants to count the ship, as it is pretty vital to this battle). They are: (protagonists) Vyse (main character in blue), Aika (girl with orange ponytails), Fina (girl dressed in all white and veil), and Enrique (the other guy, who’s pretty epic); (antagonists) Piastol (a secret boss – this is the 4th encounter), and her puppy. Each character has their own set of moves, namely attacking, adding spirit points (the thing on the top of the screen used to determine special moves) or using a special move. Most of the acting in this battle is determined by the player (except for the cutscene beforehand), and can be changed to do whatever he/she wants – this was just one way of acting this battle out. Each of these sets of actions has their own way of being acted out (namely, each animation is different, the way the battle is being acted). The player also gets to see the costumes each character has: Vyse is a sky pirate, so he wears blue denim, sky goggles, and has a double set of cutlasses; Aika is the girl next door type of character, so she wears a yellow skirt, tall boots, and uses a boomerang (she tries to get Vyse’s attention a lot, but not in this battle); Fina is a mage, so she gets to wear a white dress and veil, uses a very subdued and demure posture, and utilizes her magical pet Cupil as her weapon; Enrique is a prince, so he wears very formal and imperial clothing, stands tall and proud, and utilizes a rapier (a very fancy and refined sword). What’s super interesting here is that the acting is very repetitious (the typical RPG battle), even though it is a boss fight (the player utilizes each character’s “role” in order to achieve the “good” ending of this scene), even though the player of this movie could have done a different script to achieve the same ending, although not recommended by other players (I would have done this at a much later experience level, personally, and focused on speed of attack and the team’s special attack, not shown here, but causes the moon to come out of the sky and destroy the battlefield). The items also play a critical role here, as they not only help the team to victory, but they have their own animation (which can be bypassed if desired – but all enemy animations cannot be bypassed), which reinforces their role in the script of victory here.

I could go deeper, but I would like to start a conversation about this, so please jump on in!