Tune-Up

Role: Narrative Designer & Game Writer

Composed of: Conceptualization, character and location selection, script writing, and script editing.

Role: Director & Post-Production Team

Composed of: Providing actors performance notes, guiding the cinematography of the piece, adding sound effects and sourcing background music, and colour correcting.

Iterations Overview

Goal

My goal for Tune-Up was to create a heartfelt, immersive mid-game cinematic to draws viewers in without requiring prior knowledge of the game in which it occurs. At the same time, I wanted to write and shoot a feasible cinematic given the limited resources I had with which to create it.

Clear, Powerful Story: I intended to write an emotional cutscene that would require little onboarding for viewers unfamiliar with its story.
Motion-Capture Cutscene: I wanted to create and direct my first motion-capture cinematic in Unreal Engine 5 and using Beyond Capture Studios.
Limited Time Frame: I had not only just two months to create this project, but also a limited page count with which to convey my scene.

Throughout this process, I sought regular feedback from Eduardo Basile (The Biannual Meeting of the Owners of the World) and John Meadows (Dead Rising 2), who helped me make the cinematic as emotionally impactful as it possibly could be.

Overview & Technique Highlights

Game Premise: NITECK is a POV-swapping adventure RPG where you switch between playing as F34ther, the robot leader of the rebellion against her pro-magic technophobic ex-kingdom, and Poppy, the (freshly cyborg) exiled Princess-turned-mechanic-for-the-rebellion.

Cinematic Premise: After a brutal stealth mission against the kingdom, F34ther’s in desperate need of repairs. Unfortunately, the only person she can trust to fix her up right is her ex.

Technique Highlight 1: Easily Grasped Context

Goal: I wanted to ensure viewers would understand the context of the game Tune-Up is from without having to read a blurb prior to watching it.

Result: I used easily distinguishable tropes in my dialogue and sound to quickly indicate what’s going on.

Techniques

Identified my characters through sound, such as adding metal clanking noises to the footsteps of F34ther (a robot) and one of Poppy’s legs (a cyborg).
Refrained from lore-dumping using phrases such as “As you know.”

Technique Highlight 2: Strong Relationship Dynamics

Goal: I needed viewers to understand a complicated relationship in a short span of screentime.

Result: I added recognizable dialogue indicators in how the characters address one another.

Techniques

Had Poppy call F34ther “my dear” in spite of F34ther’s hostility towards her to indicate they used to be close.
Ensured F34ther’s distrust in Poppy came out through natural-sounding means like an argument.

Technique Highlight 3: Visual Power Imbalances

Goal: I had as a goal to quickly convey who’s in power in which parts of the scene.

Result: I framed the two characters in the shot to best indicate who had the power in the scene at any given moment.

Techniques

Let each character take up more of the screen when they have more power.
Placed Poppy above F34ther in the final shot to emphasize the trust and vulnerability F34ther is showing.

Process Breakdown

1. Research, Theme, & Initial Ideas

I knew I wanted to create a motion captured cinematic from the middle of an original game that required little to no prior explanation to watch and understand.

Analyzing Media: I looked to science fantasy media for inspiration for my worldbuilding.
Plausibility: I needed to keep the cutscene possible to make within the limitations I had in its creation.
Compelling Editing: I wanted to enhance the tone and mood of the scene via its audio editing.

2. The Initial Parameters

General Objectives: I was assigned to write a cutscene for midway through an original video game including some scripted gameplay before and after said cutscene.

Specific Instructions: In this script, I was told I needed to…

Write the cutscene so it’s able to be entirely filmed in one shot
Have no more than four moving bodies in the scene at one time
Keep the cutscene to three pages maximum

3. Writing & Editing The Script

Draft #1

Result: Wrote a working first draft for my script that adhered to the requisite instructions.

Future Edits:

Allow the argument to build more tension before reaching its peak.
Let the escalation come from F34ther pointing out hard truths and Poppy bringing the same old excuses.

Draft #2

Result: Edited my first draft into a more compelling second draft.

Future Edits:

Change the final line to a stronger ending note.
Turn the textual kingdom’s secret into subtext so that it isn’t stated outright.

Draft #3

Result: Fixed up the last tweaks in the script, finalize the draft into a shooting script, and create the blocking for the final scene.

Blocking Notes:

Keep the camera steady in its movement and move as little as possible when able.
Have the actors move around the camera and one another in order to simulate motion.

4. The Motion Capture Shoot

Result: Shot Tune-Up on Beyond Capture Studios’ motion capture set.

Implementation:

Directing Notes: Explained context and backstory of the characters to the actors in order to enhance their performances.
Blocking Notes: Took my instructors’ advice regarding the camera movement near the start to create a cool illusion of the camera going “through” the cabin wall.

5. Editing & Post-Production

Choosing The Take

Goal: I needed to choose the best take out of the five that were recorded in-studio on the day.

Methodology: I went through every take one by one, jotting down each take’s respective pros and cons.

Result: I ended up choosing the final take, as it had the fewest cons and the best emotion overall.

The Sound Design

Goal: I wanted to add in sound effects so the cutscene felt lived-in and real.

Methodology: I noted every possible place where a sound effect could go, then used websites like Freesound to source royalty-free versions of what I was looking for. I also adjusted and mix-and-matched certain sound effects for a better audio experience.

Result: I ended up with a decent soundscape that doesn’t distract from the dialogue.

The Underscoring

Goal: I decided to add in underscoring, as background music has always been taught to me as a way to augment the emotion in a scene.

Methodology: I looked through Scott Buckley’s royalty-free music catalogue until I found a song of a reasonable length that I felt fit the tone of the scene. After that, I added the track underneath the scene itself and adjusted for volume levels.

Result: I ended up selecting the track Penumbra for my underscoring, as its tense but heartfelt strings and longing atmosphere fit Tune-Up‘s tone to a T.

6. Polished Portfolio Piece

Final Cinematic Title Screen

Results: Wrote, directed, and post-produced a motion capture cutscene.

Goal: Created a cutscene for the midpoint of a video game that a first-time viewer who hasn’t played the game will understand.

Execution:

Visual Power Dynamics: It’s obvious at a glance who holds the power at any given point in the cutscene.
Easily Grasped Relationships: Poppy and F34ther have a long, storied relationship that’s told through text, subtext, and visual and audio cues.
Implied Context: From the dialogue and audio, viewers will understand what’s going on in this scene.