The Gamer's Quarter

[helicopterp]

To fully appreciate this thread, you should probably make an effort to see Alphonso Cuaron's excellent new film, Children of Men. (Actually, even if you have no interest in this discussion, you still ought to go see it.)

As I was watching Children of Men, I couldn't help but be struck by the similarities between its aesthetic style and that of Gears of War. The 15-ish minute single-take camera shot towards the end of the film--a lot of combat through a ruined city block and inside one of the buildings--particulary reminded me of the bleached-gray nearly-abandoned cities in Gears of War. Frequent close shots of characters (Clive Owen and the young girl, mostly) conjured images of Gears' ultra-limited third-person view. And Cuaron's penchant for handheld camerawork mirrors the jostling, almost documentarian style that suffices in Gears of War for any of the times when Marcus Phoenix does his crouch-run thing. Even the way that both these works present peripheral actions (such as the battle between the Fish and the British tanks in Children of Men or whenever Emergence Holes crop up in Gear of War) is the same: not with a cut, but with a quick pan, or with action farther away from the camera but put into a deep focus.

What accounts for these aesthetic simliarities in the two works? Can we trace an origin for them? Can we assign an umbrella name to the style? Can anyone think of other works that share that kind of tone, perspective, pallette, and structure?


Note: This is not a games-should-be-more-like-movies or a movies-should-be-more-like-games or a why-are-we-evaluating-the-two-media-with-the-same-standards-? thread. It is just a focused discussion.

So discuss!
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[Dracko]

In both instances, I'm detecting cinéma vérité style techniques, and in Gears' case, a very focused, genius use of the camera (Y to see important element and all that).

Now, Children of Men's style, in cinema, isn't new, but is certainly under-utilised, especially in sci-fi films. I get the impression Gears was more influenced by watching the news, though, and 90s comics.

I'm not certain what else to add, though, because I'm not certain what you're expecting to see here. I mean, most people compare Children of Men to Half-Life 2, mainly because both are simple chase stories, boiled down to it.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[helicopterp]

[Dracko]

Well, most people seem to compare Children of Men and Half-Life 2 because they're dystopias, at first. Then, yes, there's the story-telling mechanic (details spread around the sets if you want to get a better idea of what exactly happened before the particular moment in time you're in), but mostly the chase story aspect seems to be the thing that hits notes.

Didn't Cliff Bleszinski say the roadie-cam was CNN inspired at some point? And the comics thing, well, I was thinking early Image, back when they published nothing but Spawn derivatives, and were generally worthless.

In an unrelated note, I was impressed that Theo never once picked up a gun.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Nana Komatsu]

You know, because of this thread if/when I do see Children of Men, I'm just going to have the damn Tears for Fears song stuck in my head the whole time.


Thanks a lot guys.

[dhex]

having never seen nor read children of men nor played gears of war, all i'll say is that i keep running into people who are hella pissed that the movie seems to eschew the main point of the book for its own ends. it's a really cool premise, though, having fertility somehow end.
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[helicopterp]

I think that people who complain about that miss the point entirely. There is a reason that a book exists and that a film exists, as well. I haven't read the book, but I am sure that what the author attempts to do is very different from what Cuaron tries to do. And some people need to realize that in many cases, movie versions of books are not translations at all, but merely use the same base material as a point of engagement for a different issue.


Nana: Forgive me. I would not wish that on any soul.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[Dracko]

[antitype]

Hey, so this is pretty cool. Dracko directed me here after I posted this at the SB forums:

[antitype]

Also worth mentioning is HL2's suppression field, which prevents human reproduction.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[dhex]

[antitype]

dhex, where could I read this HL2 article of yours?
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[dhex]

it was issue 3 i think? it was!

"we shall meet in the place where there is no darkness"
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[Dracko]

God, I am sick of hearing the whole Abu Ghraib thing. BAGS ON PEOPLE'S HEADS ARE NOT FUCKING NEW!

A modern film set in 2027 happens to have aspects of its story which consider the outcome of Western influence in the Middle East. This makes perfect fucking sense to me. And the fascism portrayed is perfectly appropriate, because it's a very British form of fascism, which takes into account a lot of political and cultural things currently going on in Britain (As opposed to, say, V for Vendetta, which was just exploitative and incapable of understanding Britain even if it had bothered trying). That's it. This movie is not LIEberal propaganda. It's fairly reasonable, actually. That's why I love it.

Christ on a crutch.

dhex, speaking of Half-Life 2 and dystopias, yes, it's certainly very ideologically fantastical in how it destroys an invading and established force. I think that gives the episodes, as they are now, that is, number one, more strength, because we see the aftermath of that victory, and it isn't pretty. For one, you realise you only took down one stronghold, and to great costs, and the citizens around you are still just as disillusioned, even towards their own cause. Not to mention Gordon still being in the dark as to who he's constrained to work for (And has been since the very start, since Half-Life).

In a sense, I think Half-Life 2 being such an uproarious, over-powering experience, a man fighting against all odds to succeed, is necessary to rack in attention, and the following episodes may take us into more interesting directions, where it's shown just how difficult (and uncertain, thanks to the G-Man's influence) a struggle rebellion is. How much is rebellion worth after all if you're still tied down?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[helicopterp]

This thread has moved beyond my scope and into exciting, new, incomprehensible territory for me!

But since I have your attention, I thought you'd both be interested to know that I'm taking a class devoted entirely to Ulysses this semester. I'm pretty pumped!
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[dhex]

[boojiboy7]

Have fun with Ulysses.

Are you an obsessive compulsive reader that has to know everything, or are you cool just plowing through and figuring it all out later? Either way works for Ulysses.

[helicopterp]

It's the Vintage International edition that claims "as Corrected and Reset in 1961" on the cover. My professor explained his reasons for this preference in class today, but I didn't pay him much mind. I tend to prefer Vintage editions of any book because they just feel so comfy in my hands.

I am a slow, deliberate reader, but I am not obsessed with understanding everything--I like to work and re-work what interests me. To better answer your question, though, the structure of the class prevents me from plowing through it, were I to go about it like that. We will spend the better part of two months just going through the novel episode by episode, preceded by two brief weeks on Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and succeeded by two or three weeks of Nabokov's Lolita (which I have already read twice) and Beckett's Molloy (very much for the first time), I can only assume because they must owe a great deal to Ulysses.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[boojiboy7]

well, you could plow through it if you wanted to. In the ten week course i took on ulysses and the waste land, we spent about 6 or 7 weeks on ulysses, which allowed us a pretty lax pace, but then capped it off with a 36 hour read out loud of the book, highlights of which included my prof playing touch football in the street at 5 in the morning while someone stood on the front porch of a house yelling out the book, as well as assigned actors for Circe. It was a good time.

If youa re looking for decent info on details, Ulysses Annotated (I believe it is called) gives most of the relevant historical details and such, so that can be helpful.

[antitype]

http://antitype.livejournal.com/463460.html
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[dhex]

well, they did that in hl2 to skirt the issue of killing children.

and well-played at that.

does valve have the balls to introduce pregnant survivors? is this even part of what hl2 should address?

i'd have to say no.
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[antitype]

That makes sense. And yeah, it's a prudent decision.

Still, the ramifications of it make for an interesting parallel.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[helicopterp]

If the film was influenced by Half-Life 2, as you suggest, it can only have been in how to use the mise-en-scène to reflect that kind of atmosphere. Cuaron's earlier work (especially the incredible Y Tu Mama Tambien) is rife with that kind of organic camerawork and unassuming but important details (a slow pan through the Charolastras' car reveals a tiny anarchist decal on the back window, indicative of the political themes that permeate this ostensibly coming-of-age film). Even his Harry Potter movie uses that kind of technique at times. An argument that I find more compelling (though equally unlikely) is that Valve (or Epic) and Cuaron acted one-hundred percent independently of one another, yet created strikingly simliar works.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[antitype]

[dhex]

is it really that unlikely?
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[Nana Komatsu]

You guys know that Children of Men the movie is based on Children of Men the book that was written in 1992, right?

[Dracko]

Yes. However, the book is very heavy on detail, background and so forth.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[antitype]