To say that there are similarities between films and video games would be, to most, an obvious statement. Just how similar though, and how important the link is, may surprise you.
I recently stumbled across an online video essay titled ‘Transmedia Synergies: Remediating Films and Video Games’ (catchy, I know). Written and created my Matthias Stork (an MA student at UCLA) the essay delves into how the video game and film industries are not just linked, but rather co-dependant.
Stork begins by saying that films and video games continuously borrow from each other. This creates what he terms an ‘aesthetic interdependency’ – basically, the look of one depends on the other, and vice versa. This is called ‘remediation’, a term defined by David Bolter and Richard Grusin as the process of one media translating, refashioning and reforming another. Films remediate elements of video games, and video games incorporate and twist film conventions. The result is a ‘network of transmedia synergies’, which essentially means a network of shared ideas coming together and creating new ideas. The look, structure and feel of both mediums is informed by the other in a continuous exchange of information.
This happens in multiple ways; video game technology being adopted by the film industry; technical and creative crews working on a film tie-in video game; actors lending their voices across mediums, the list goes on. Stork mentions that one of the main ways in which films have influenced video games is by dictating how they’re presented. The standard gameplay and cutscene technique used by almost every single game, is a cinematic device adapted from film.
Stork goes further however, and defines ‘cinematic’ as ‘the cultural interface, a toolbox for all cultural communication’. Big words. What Stork is saying here is that films are such a large part of our culture, of our everyday lives, that the visual style they employ actually effects the ways in which visual communication works. It may sound like a lofty proposal, but everything from TV shows and advertisements right down to books and poster design can be shown to be influenced by cinematic language.
Bringing the topic back to video games, Stork talks about how the video game camera is taken from films. What appears obvious (allowing the player to see through a ‘virtual camera’) is in fact a more complex, and film-influenced technique.
Check out the use of bullet time in both The Matrix and Max Payne and see how filmic language effects the style of the game:
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| Similarities between 'The Matrix' and 'Max Payne' |
How about the infamous boulder scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark compared to an escape sequence in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception?
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| 'Raiders of the Lost Ark's' famous boulder scene still influences action scenes to this day |
Still not convinced? Take a look at the visual style of the Resident Evil game series compared to your average horror film, any similarities?
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| The 'Resident Evil' series is known for employing horror film tropes in its visual style |
As Stork mentions, the visual language of games is, right down to its core, a cinematic technique adapted from the film industry. However, it isn’t just games that borrow from films, this ‘aesthetic interdependency’ is a two way street.
Stork notes how shots from the finale of Star Wars echo early arcade shooters, and also looks at Tron as a video game on the big screen, one that influenced visual effects for years to come.
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| 'Star Wars' shares a common visual style that dates back to the first arcade shooters |
It isn’t just the visual effects side either. Take a look at this sequence from Fantastic Mr. Fox compared to the classic platformer, Super Mario Bros.:
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| Classic platforming games provide a visual influence for Wes Anderson's playful animation |
It may seem surprising, but even a visually distinctive director like Wes Anderson takes inspiration from video game heritage.
Moving on from visual language, Stork also analyses Run Lola Run, noting how the films structure (showing the same sequence three times with a varying outcome in each) is based upon video game level design.
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| The repetitive structure in 'Run Lola Run' is reminiscent of video game level structure |
The visuals and structure of both video games and films show an historical, mutual remediation that shows no signs of slowing down. Claiming one medium is more important than the other over-simplifies the matter. As Stork puts it, the mediums are a ‘creative alliance’. The younger of the two mediums, video games, takes techniques from the older film industry. Whilst films in turn rediscover these conventions and produce new creations. What this creates is an ever-evolving media landscape in which one cannot fully live without the other.
It’s funny to think that these mediums are entwined to the point that the failure of one would dramatically change the other, but then, it’s also a natural process in an ever-increasing visually-centric culture. The next time you casually watch a film or sit down to play your favourite game, think about how it came to be and how, if the other medium didn’t exist, it might be unrecognisable.
