Digital technology has not only improved everyday aspects of our lives like communication and entertainment, but it has also created bridges between different fields and genres that were thought impossible just a few years ago. Those bridges manifest through projects like Hellblade, the upcoming game from Ninja Theory based on Unreal Engine 4, whose development shows an actress inserting her voice, movements, and expressions in real time directly onto the graphics engine.
From Cinema to Video Games
In the world of cinema, it is said that James Cameron had to wait a decade to make 'Avatar', simply because the necessary technology wasn't there. After all, the film presents a complex combination of computer graphics, animation, motion capture, and real actors entering and leaving scenes alongside virtual characters. Now... Avatar will turn seven this December, and although it still amazes its fans, from a technological point of view it is a museum piece. Today, both actors and developers can do much more with much less (apologies for the emphasis), but the best part is that the benefits are not limited to cinema. What brings us together here today is the case of video games. That an actor or actress 'lends' their image to a high-profile title is nothing new, to say the least (Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe in Beyond, or Kevin Spacey in CoD: Advanced Warfare, are the first examples that come to mind). However, the detail that all their work is recorded and processed in real time on the graphics engine... that is indeed different. First, I want you to see this:
What you just played is the latest official trailer for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, a title from Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword, DmC), which will be available on PlayStation 4 and Windows before the end of the year. Its story is inspired by Celtic mythology, and also explores several elements of the psychosis that affects Senua's character. Actress Melina Juergens is the one who gives face and voice to Senua, but the most impressive thing appears in the first 40 seconds of the next video, which serves as a 'behind the scenes' for both the trailer and a good part of the project. The point is that Melina acts in real time, just as she would on a traditional film set, and everything she delivers in that performance appears represented inside Unreal Engine 4, without alterations or post-processing. Observe:
This 'virtual performance' required a total of seven weeks to go from concept to test, combining the efforts of Epic Games, 3Lateral (which developed the virtual version of Melina), Cubic Motion (in charge of facial recognition), and Ninja Theory.
Those who wish to learn more about the techniques applied definitely should visit Ninja Theory's YouTube channel, with more 'conventional' sessions if you will, but no less impressive.
