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Status: Completed September 2004
Info:
I decided I wanted to make a short using Rockstar's "GTA: Vice City" as the source of footage. So I got myself some software to capture footage of my actions in the game. I then edited this into a video game promo style music video detailing what central character Tommy Vercetti might get up to in a typical day.
I suppose this short came about because of a similar project I had planned, but which failed. I had planned to make a kind of video game promo video for Dreamcatcher�s �Painkiller� � which was my gaming obsession at the time � however, it seemed my computer couldn�t handle playing the game as well as capturing video from it. At that stage my computer could only just play �Painkiller� (although I�ve now upgraded my graphics card). So that idea was put on hold � this was around Easter 2004. Then during the summer of 2004, in between doing all sorts for �my NIGHTMARE�, I re-indulged in playing Rockstar�s �GTA: Vice City� and decided I could make a little stunt video out of it � and that then reminded me of my idea for that abandoned �Painkiller� short. So I got the capture process working for �Vice City� and set about gathering a whole bunch of footage covering various aspects of what I make Tommy Vercetti do over the course of a day in Vice City.
By the end of the capturing process I had a good 25 gigs of footage. I then selected a track from the Vice City soundtrack and then edited along to the beat of the music, making a sort of music video/video game promo short showing off a few of my snazzy driving moves and penchant for on-street uber-chaos resulting in lots of explosions and death! No, I�m not a psycho in real life � despite what the disconnected and out-of-touch politicians and old-folk alike don�t understand is that videos games (or movies, music etc) DON�T make violent people � but that�s a whole other rant.
So basically, this project allowed me to have a go at putting together a little video game promo. Using video game footage, you can (in a way), have a big budget movie at your disposal. Another fun thing for me to do, but then again, getting into the video game industry to direct (I guess that�s the right word) video game movies � either/or video game trailers, but more along the lines of in-game sequences. Personally, the video sequences in computer games are one of the things I really look forward to, and often I feel some games don�t have enough videos � it�s always annoying to fight your way through an entire game to be �rewarded� with a movie lasting a mere 90 seconds. In-game movies need to be longer, and making those for the games industry is something I�d be very interested in.
