mitchell greg evolution of the

8/12/2019 Mitchell Greg Evolution of The

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Evolution of the Cinematic Proc

TRILOGY


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Greg Mitchell - Cinematic Dire

15 Years experience inProduction

7 Years making Game C 5 Years at Epic Gam

Worked on Gears of WTournament 3, Gears oGears of War 2, InfinityBulletstorm, Gears of WInfinity Blade 2


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GEARS OF WAR TRILOGY

All 3 are 90s rated titles on

Metacritic Sold 18.8 million copies to date Franchise has received more

than 370 award nominations

and wins Spawned novels, comics,

collectables, & more A billion-dollar franchise


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Cinematic Process Evolution for

Production Challenges Style and Presentation

Performance & Animation

Tools used and updates New Processes for future games

Overall theme to keep in mind Baby Ste


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Challenges of Cinematics with this

Relatively small company Art Director doing the cinematics

No cinematic team

90% of Cinematic animation was outsour Hired first full-time cinematics person (m


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Big push for Next-Gen Cinematics

Focus was to creating real-time next generacinematics in engine (UE3).

Use game content to make cinematics

Apply real-world filmmaking techniques to cproduction

Find creative ways of getting the scenes don


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Gears of War Cinematic Scope

30 minutes of Cinematics

22 Narrative scenes

Several short undefined in-game sequence

Level Designer Cinematics (LD Cines)

Birth to the Frankencine

Averaged 2-4 characters per scene

Short time to finish when I arrived (3 mo


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Director adopted an organic productiostyle No storyboards or pre-visualization

The script was the only blueprint

Director had freedom to change in moca

Worked to coordinate camera and charablocking

Presentation and Style Gea


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i d l


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Presentation and Style Gea

Keep characters moving instead of standing an

Didnt want any talking heads in the scenesHandheld feel of the game was extend to the cinematicDocumentary style / In the trenches

Minhs death scene used a more traditional apMove the cameras, the actors, and make edits

Some scenes re-cut to be more traditionalHandheld motion didnt always work as well as intende

h k i


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The Frankencine

Cines created with motion from other scenes No time to mocap new data had to make these

Ch P f


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Character PerformanceOne characters performance is the combination of thr

The Voice Actor

The Motion Capture Actor

The A

This defined character performance for the trilo

M ti C t G f W


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The actors were co-workers

Lines read from offstage Sometimes dictated by the director Set the emotional beats

Multiple takes done to bring it together Finesse the blocking and camera motion

Captured single camera POV

Motion Capture Gears of W

M ti C t G f W


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M i C RESULTS G


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Final result looked good when put in editor Actor motions looked good and the characters inte

Camera motion felt organic and definitely hand-held

Motion Capture RESULTS Gears

O T l Ch t UE3M ti


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Our Tool Chest UE3 Mati

Unreal Matinee A sequencer that controls scene objects like an NLE or

Wh t ld h d b


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Needed a manager for Cinematic Produc Track the status of scenes

Push back on scope changes

Create a pipeline

No defined naming conventions Hard to understand what goes where

Keep us on target for milestones

What could we have done be

Wh t ld h d b


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Could have used Pre-visualization Had to reference the director a lot to get scene Sometimes shot from the hip during layout


What could we havedone be


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No way to tracking animation or assets

VO dialogue didnt always line up with the m Affected gesture and head placement for facial

More animation corrections to fix timing

Facial could easily me moved out of sync with motion

Motion timing adjusted in the editor looked Handheld Camera pans and scene timing wasnt alw

Couldnt always easily fix

Entire scene was in front of the camera


What could we havedone be


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Weaponsandprops lackedweight



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Production Challe

Production challenges Gea


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Scope for Gears 2 was bigger, better, and m

badass 60 minutes of story Cines (double of the first

44 Narrative scenes

Scenes consisted of 2-4 characters Some scenes with a greater scope more charact

8 10 month window to get everything done




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Problems to solve based on Gears of War Create Pre-visualizations

Needed scripts sooner to make happen

Define a Cinematics Pipeline

Organization of scenes and all production Build a small floating team

Continue with animation outsourcing (has to b



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Added a producer to manage the project-Tanya Jessen

Keep cines on schedule

Keep production organized

Keep an eye on outsourcing

Helped create a pipeline


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Art/Level Asset Creation

MocapRecording Mocap Cleanup/

TargetingSecondary &

Custom AnimationFacial Animation

AudioPlaysand

Animatics

Layout 1stPass Layout Polish

Lighting/Mesh Stub

Audio Stub

EffectsStub

Music & Audio Pas

Music Recording

Layout 2ndPass

Lighting/Mesh Polish

EffectsPolish

Audio Polish

Music Planning

Gears 2Cinematic Pipeline



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Scripts came in hot

Pre-vis for 3 pre-rendered scenes

Still relied on the organic process Shot from the hip in layout

LD Cine overload around 80!The Frankencine lives


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Styleand Presentation Gea


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Style and Presentation Gea

Story scope showed large crowds and epic events

Decided to go with a more traditional style of cinema Cameras should mimic real-world cinematography support

Need close ups to convey emotion and importan Cant be afraid of using these to tell the story

Still experiment at times when needed We dont want cameras and cuts to distract the viewer



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Improve acting on the stage and lock scene

Audition and Hire Actors Our artists werent hired to act

Cast actors to play specific roles keep motion

Actors will learn the dialogue

Use radio plays on the stage with VO soun Actors learned the lines and had samples of the

Able to adjust and lock the timing on the stage




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Work on getting a good performance on the Concerned with the motion and not defining ca

angles Could experiment with blocking on the stage Spend more time rehearsing than trying to get t

performance on camera

Animation Chose to bake in facial animation with the body




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Added weight to our Nerf gun props


MotionCapture RESULTSGears o


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Motion Capture RESULTS Gears o

Radio plays helped us lock timing on the

MotionCapture RESULTSGears o


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Scenes dropped in easily when it came to Made things easier for the layout artists

Timing was tight accurate for most of theThis made facial match up better with the bo

motion

Still had the freedom to make edits and ccameras around in layout

Motion looked normal (timed at 100%)

Motion Capture RESULTS Gears o

OurTool Chest andUpdat


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Our Tool Chest and Updat

OurTool Chest andUpdat


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Our Tool Chest and Updat

Added more features to our Matinee Too

Output of Matinee Data for Animation Support for particle toggling and playback

More robust timeline features for tracking tframes

Better organizational features

Shortcuts for scene setup

Gears2 -What couldwe imp


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Mocap was rushed Schedule was tight Need time to fine tune in mocap

Improve weapon props andweighting

Get better reference for facial We have multiple cameras Get cameras on the actors faces

Gears 2 What could we imp

Gears2 -What couldwe imp


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Maintain our quality bar in outsourcing

Great motion on the stage Outsourced data came back not looking too good

Facial animation wasnt up to par

In the future do more facial animation in-house

Organic production style still requires hand h Its good / its bad weighing the options

Worked well for a small company, but weve gro

Gears 2 What could we imp


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Production Chal


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Scope of Gears 3 Bigger again!

90 Minutes of story cines (1/3 more than Ge

129 Narrative scenes

Fewer LD cines than before (around 36)

4 Player Co-op game average of at least 4 per scene


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Art/Level Asset Creation

MocapR

ecording Mocap Cleanup/

TargetingSecondary &

Custom AnimationFacial Animation

Aud

ioPlaysand

A

nimatics

Layout 1stPass Layout Polish

Lighting/Mesh Stub

Audio Stub

EffectsStub

Music & Audio Pas

Music Recording

Layout 2ndPass

Lighting/Mesh Polish

EffectsPolish

Audio Polish

Music Planning

Gears 3Cinematic Pipeline



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Gears 3 Pipeline Defined in Gears 2 adapted to Gears 3

Small defined cine team of 3 full-time people Now naming and organizing animations per

each scene Outsourced motion clean-up and some facia Chris Mielke joined the team as a producer




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Tracking animations per shot was a full ti

Assigned one person just to do this task

Scripts still hot / some churn on story

Affected scope but we didnt act on it

Should have allotted more time for pre-vis

Story changes threw out some pre-vis work


Style and Presentation


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Built upon what we did in Gears 2 More action got creative with camera movement Brought the handheld look back

Explored new ways of storytelling Did this through visuals and editing Cole flashback cine

4 Player Co-op was a challenge for us in the cin Usually minimum of 4 people in a scene Had to get creative with blocking and framing shots

Style and Presentation



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Still using radio plays for timing Audition and Hire more actors

We had a larger cast of characters As many as 9 people on stage at once

Work out a regular schedule for mocap More animation work done in-house

Better Facial




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Weighted props Modified collectable lancers with weights glued in.




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Anything is a prop


Motion Capture Results Gears o


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Scenes dropped in easily when it came

layoutTiming was tight accurate

Still could edit in layout

Motion looked normal Facial and body motion got extra love

New outsourcers gave us better results

p

Virtual Camera Support in Ma


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Virtual Camera Support in Ma

Virtual camera in postof Gears 3 scenes

GameCaster GCS 3 Physical device with w

balance of a film came Able to record motion

Got some cool hand-hwe wouldnt have beenachieve otherwise

Mocap floor tools


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ocap oo oos

Script pages on set have always been the norm Can make corrections on paper with actors Can scribble notes and draw blocking diagrams Great to have the physical script in your hand

Mocap floor tools


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p

Decided to go electronic with Able to open and view scrip Use drawing apps for blocki Convenient and saves on pa

Mocap floor tools


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p

New Vehicle Prop Betty Custom built to mimic vehicle movement

How can we improve?


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p

Over 90 minutes of story! A lot of animation data to handle Need better tools for exporting scene from

Animation would benefit from this Look to making it an automated process

How can we improve?


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Lack of pre-vis is starting to take its to

Actors are a slave to the radio plays Pipeline felt too segmented at times

Should have been more linear

Frankencine was still alive (but barely Game development is also organic at tim

p


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Organic workflow is starting to cause problemsProcessing a lot of animation that isnt going to be seeCosting a lot of time and moneyStuff is not getting locked down soon enoughArtists need a visual guide for what theyre working o

We need to make Pre-visualizations part of our pre-product


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Improvements and ChangeContinue

Processes in DLC and the Fut


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DLC Production We scheduled in time for pre-visualization Made changes and locked scenes before mocap Artists and animators had a better idea of the s

direction Shot just what we needed based on animatics



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Decided to let the actors act to their own tim Moved away from radio plays on set

More natural motion from the actors vs. using prerecorded VO

ADR done to the cines during VO session



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More Tool Updates

New Matinee tools for exporting scenes int Automated process

Save a lot of man hours from a tedious process

Automation of shot numbers for individual Movie maker to render out scenes easier



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Continue looking to the future with our

Concentrate more on script and storytellin Performance capture (voice and body) on s

Capture camera angles based on pre-vis

Plan and try handheld cameras on the moca Continue to refine our current cinematic pi

STREAMLINED PIPELINE


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Production

Post Production / Visual Support

Pre Production / Planning

Assembly and Delivery



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Story Ideas / Feedback Loop / Script

Pre Production / Planning

Pre-visualization

Casting Actors forVoice Over and Motion Capture

Scope / Assets needed



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First VO session / scratch tracksMotion Capture Rehearsals

Production

Raw Motion Targeting and Cleanup

Scene LayoutMotion, Cameras, Editing, and Timing lock

Motion Capture



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Animation

Post Production / Visual Support

Visual

VisuCusto

L

Audio

Music / Custom ScoreOrchestra recording

VO PickupADR Session

Secondary AnimationFacial Animation

Custom Animations



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Foley pass for audio

Assembly and Delivery

Visual polish pass

Final Picture / RenderingScene Complete and Delivered

Final Audio Mix

Gears Trilogy Cinematics - Conclusi


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Its been a great challenge taking a new IP from scripscreen. Weve learned through necessity, trial, and error as to w

best for us. Organized production is the foundation to getting cont

efficiently and on time Actor performances have a lot of room to grow and w

to make them better Our cinematic style will continue to support the game

part of And we will always build and improve upon the tools th

make better cinematics

E l ti f th Ci ti P


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TRILOGY

Evolution of the Cinematic Proc

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