Pixels was tested live during a ten-hour Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2), the blockbuster Rockstar released on October 26 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Alexis Blanchet, a lecturer in film studies and author of The pixels in Hollywood answers questions about this game inspired by the theme of westerns.
Jean-Pear : If it were not for this skin cowboy, one would have the idea to compare this game to a western ? In the grammar, in intensity, in the missions, one has the impression that it was ultimately not large-thing with a film experience of its kind…
Alexis Blanchet : Probably that the dimension of diluted the experience of RDR2 (it comes and goes, we get lost, we digresse…) does not allow him such that we are here to reach the density to the narrative of a western or, more generally, of a genre film action. I hear around me here in Pixels, of the references to Skyrim, Breath of the Wild, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but little Call of Juarez, Outlaws, Mad Dog McCree. The genre of the video game (sandbox, open-world ” GTA-like “…) takes very widely on the referent of the thematic, genre, film western, which RDR2 draws its substance semantics (the cowboys, the great outdoors, the saloon, the attack of a train or diligence, etc.).
Joe : What do you think of the camera known as kinematics, and in general the place of the camera in the phases of the game (interactive) and video (non-interactive, here, with the black bands that intersect the frame of 16:9 in fake cinemascope) ?
I’ve been seeing since the beginning of the session and she gives me a funny feeling. What I observe is that it produces a lateral view very “aplatissante” who at 90° from the view to the 3rd person of the interactive sequence left, which would give almost the game the aesthetic of these productions D 2.5 2000s (Lost Windsur Wii that I returned there in the head). The cinematic camera appears to need to negotiate between a form of “cinematic” scene setting and understanding enough of the game space to lead the avatar in relative mode camera. Obviously, this limits the possibilities and excludes the scales of the plan are not present in the video game like the close-up, close up, and the very big plan.
al : What can be the influence of a video game like this one on the realization of future films western ?
Some noted the influence that would have had the first installment on the series WestWorld. It will in my opinion be attentive to the use of a visual motif is very present in the game : the third person view in a medium shot of a half-together [with heroes in the foreground and vast landscapes in the background] camera movements that the dolly combine the effects of adjustment of the camera by the right stick. This would then, without question, a quote from the game and the response of the player on the visual matter. Of course, this would be a choice box, which would run counter to a framing film neat and mastered. Therefore of particular meaning.