The inclusion of live action in games has been a technique which Remedy has been testing in many forms since Max Payne, back in 2001. They're not alone, with different studios incorporating recorded scenes to convey what technology couldn't at the time. Though things have changed quite a bit in the past two and a half decades, experimentation with the medium in the games industry has continued and flourished.
In a recent New York Times article, Diego Argüello spoke to Andrés Borghi (filmmaker and developer on Tenebris Somnia), Sam Lake (Creative Director at Remedy) and Will Doyle (Creative Director at Supermassive) about the evolution of live action in games, and the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing it for a project.
In the piece, Sam reflects on the lessons learnt from scheduling live action shoots, "we realized in a very painful way that the production models of creating live-action linear content and game content — where the process is very iterative and we keep on coming back and tweaking things — are very different."
The piece is an interesting glimpse into the complexities of bringing in live-action, particularly when set in a location which needs to match its digital double.
You can read the full article on the New York Times, HERE!
