Summary

In this section I take a look at some secondary motion and other subtleties that just add to the realism.

Secondary Actions and Subtleties

Often secondary actions are not given much attention and for a good reason. The audience can only pay attention to so many things in a scene. Naturally, the faster the scene, the less need there is for secondary action and vice versa. This is especially apparent in video games where the scene is as static or as dynamic as you want it to be (dependant on your movement). When you have other characters in the scene to interact with and many subtle animations going on at the same time, it makes the environment more immersive (and it also gives you something to do). The same applies here where the camera is controlled by the director.

For example, in screenshot on the right (12:18) there are a few subtleties going on. First, when the button is pressed, the thumb animation looks excellent. It almost looks like motion capture. But then again, the thumb is not that complex especially if wrapped in a glove. The actual trigger motion looks realistic because it doesn't just go into the joystick but rather pivots around its top part. Another detail is when the button is pressed, it doesn't just stay pushed all the way but it actually goes up a tiny bit, just how buttons in real life work. Very simple to accomplish but its nice to see so much attention being put towards little details. Another effect in this scene is the whole joystick moving slightly while the button is being pressed. Which makes sense since in a real fighter plane the pilot is constantly making minor adjustments with the joystick.

Another example of secondary motion is in the shot on the left (13:36) depicting a scene when the news from the angles comes in that Captain Scarlet has managed to get away. Captain Blue was leaning onto the desk at the time but changes his position when the news comes in over the speakerphone. A more interesting detail here is actually Green working in the background when the news is heard. That grabs her attention and causes her to turn towards the speakerphone and listen carefully to the news. The camera and the characters are also placed in such a way to allow for this. In the movies when it appears that there is something or somebody purposefully exposed to the camera, you expect something to happen there. Well, this is exactly what's happening here.

The following effect has already been described in the section on characters but it's worth mentioning here as well. The shot tries to illustrate the effect the explosion has on the vehicle. But, instead of showing this from the outside where it might not be as apparent, it's shown from the inside with the sudden body jerk. The camera shake is just a bonus and all together it depicts the result of the explosion in a much more exaggerated way.

Similarly, this shot shown on the left has been described in the camera section but it is also relevant here. The primary action on this shot are the decoy flares however, the fast moving wheels and the suspension travel is there as secondary motion. As mentioned earlier, this is probably for keeping the user aware of the speed that this is all happening at and therefore keeping the tension up.

 

 

Bloopers

 

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