Impulse Gamer Plastic Wax Interview (Dane and Matt)
Welcome to Impulse Gamer (Matt and Dane) and what a powerful trailer for Homefront: The Revolution. The music, voice of the child and the images of society falling is quite captivating and emotional. So first things first, how did you place this all together?
Thanks, we’re glad people identify with the more emotional side of the trailer. It was a collaborative effort between the talented folks at One+K (a creative agency in Los Angeles), Deep Silver (the Game Publishers) and of course ourselves at Plastic Wax here in Sydney. One+K came up with the very strong concept of the young boy being forced to regurgitate the pre-fabricated and corporate speech as a public ‘thank you’ to the very people who wrote it whilst we intercut scenes of the violent oppression and eventual resistance the people take to reclaim their city. We knew very early on that the trailer had to deliver on an emotional front so particular attention was taken into choosing the appropriate person to deliver the speech how we wanted to hear it and accompany that with music that would emphasise that cause and draw you in further.
Dane Maddams from Plastic Wax
As a developer, what do you look for when developing such a trailer?
A strong concept and a good story. We were very lucky that the script we received had both. We then worked tirelessly to ensure that we designed each shot to effectively illustrate what the narrative was saying whilst building up to the final conflict and explosive conclusion.
Can you walk us through some of the development process of producing this trailer?
Depending on the project we will generally get involved at a very early stage of the trailer’s inception. In this instance the script and loose thumbnail storyboards were provided so our first step was to to create new, more detailed storyboards with a more focused attention to shot design and production needs. We dive into the headspace of the game and its story by talking to the team, reviewing artwork, game builds, videos you name it.
From there we started to receive game assets from the developers – Dambuster Studios. They were extremely helpful in providing what we needed to get started. We take those assets and rebuild new versions with greater detail designed for our needs. Most importantly, they remain very true to the originally supplied assets as will be seen in the final game.
Plastic Wax has its own motion capture stage so the next step becomes animation. Once we’ve blocked out how each shot is going to work in 3d, we work with actors to recreate each scene on our motion capture stage. The motion is then applied to character rigs that drive the final characters you see in the trailer and our team of animators get to work polishing and refining each movement to a finished level.
We then add any visual effects, and scene lighting before rendering out each shot into images (or frames) that then get composited together into what you see in the final result.
Matt Dignam from Plastic Wax
Was the music for this trailer put together in Australia as well?
Yes. Initially we struggled to identify the kind of music we wanted to hear in the trailer. We tried many different styles, overlaying them into our edit as we progressed through animation. Never wanting to settle for something, we continued to experiment until we eventually found inspiration from Brian Eno. We worked with a local composer here in Sydney to craft the score just the way we wanted. I think he nailed it and we are very happy with the end result.
What is your favourite part of the trailer and why?
That’s a good question and very hard to isolate an individual moment. You become quite close to each shot so its like picking a favourite from your children, haha. If you forced me to select one or two moments I’d have to say the line where the boy says:
“Thank you for your kindness, your generosity of spirit” – This is contrasted with the first violent act against the citizens which really hits home. You hear the thud as a soldier hits a citizen in the face. When we cut back to the boy, you can see the sadness and insincerity in his expressions as he is forced to say words that go against all that he has witnessed first hand. It exemplifies the first half of the trailer perfectly.
My other favourite spot encapsulates the second half of the trailer just as well. The boy more confidently states “We have rediscovered who we are…” as he begins to realise the double meaning of what he is reading and how it relates to the people’s revolution. This happens at one of the more climactic moments where a resistance fighter throws a molotov cocktail onto three unsuspecting KPA soldiers before further members of the resistance appear from behind cover to ambush the survivors.
Besides the trailer for Homefront: The Revolution, will you be adding other cinematics together for the game?
We’d definitely welcome the opportunity but nothing is planned at this stage. We love the story and the Homefront world so who knows what may happen in the near future.
Lastly, what are some of the Easter Eggs that is in trailer or where should we look?
Ahh … if I told you then they wouldn’t be Easter Eggs now would they, haha.
Okay I’ll reveal a few details that may not be apparent upon the first or second viewing.
The auditorium screen features a corporate logo sting right at the beginning of the trailer for a company named APEX. They play a significant role in the backstory of the game and how the KPA military have gained control over the United States.
Symbolically, in the recessed corner of the stage you might notice two KPA banners towering over a smaller flag of the USA.
If you look carefully at the paper the boy is holding you might make out that it does in fact have a printed copy of the speech he is reading.
The trailer features several shots of these hovering ‘seeker drones’ that watch over the citizens. In the factory assembly line shot, the item on the conveyor belt is the main body of those drones. A man in that shot swipes a circuit board with antenna from the drone which is then seen in the following two shots being passed off to an elderly lady before finally being attached to an IED bomb. In the final shot of the trailer, that very bomb is activated via an encoded phone message, all made possible by using technology found in the seeker drones designed to oppress them.
Lastly, as the man on the rooftop receives the message that it’s time activate the bomb, the hacked network code on the cell phone features a few frames of the American flag in ASCII art right before we cut away from the shot.
Thanks again guys!
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