For my Final Major Project, I decided to revolve my work around the premises of an animation created on Clip Studio, consisting of an intense fight scene on a fantastical battlefield, as stated in my project proposal. Due to the nature of my idea, I decided to do research into different fight scenes in video games that follow the same aesthetic style as what my interpretation mentally represents.
For my research, I decided to delve deeper into the cutscenes of Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations, a Nintendo 3DS game released in mid 2015.
In the one of the early game cutscenes, we are introduced to the main cast and opposing main characters, Crown Prince Xander of Nohr, High Prince Ryoma of Hoshido, and their younger siblings, through an emotional conflict that ends with the main character, Corrin, having to choose the side they want to stick with for the duration of the game.
The cutscene follows the main criteria of a crucial decision the main character has to make. Prince Xander and Prince Ryoma hold out their hands to the character, telling them that their respective royal families are where they truly belong. In this cutscene, the player must decide whether they side with Xander and the kingdom of Nohr or Ryoma and the Hoshidan family.
The scene is shot through first person perspective, where the camera is the point of view of the main character, and through dramatic panning and use of lighting, where the sun sets over the horizons, mixed with the quiet howl of the wind, the scene is painted in an emotional light through pathetic fallacy- the sun going down representing a closed opportunity for the character, where they will have to say goodbye to either side they go against, just like the transition from day to night, where another day is to disappear and never return. This, from both a metaphorical and artistic sense, creates a tense environment and highlights the importance of the decision.
Here are a few screenshots/screen caps that originate from the cutscene that caught my eye visually. The images I chose highlight the emotional tension between the characters in frame and the intensity of the landscape behind.
As this cutscene is my main source of inspiration for the atmosphere I desire to create, I will colour drop the gradient of the sky, along with the glow of the light on the characters, in order to match the feel this cutscene portrays for my own work. I will hug the light gradient to my characters by clipping the layer onto their bodies and warping them with the movement, curving to the shape of their arms, legs, etc. in order to make the shadow work I do consistent throughout my animation.
Simultaneously, I will also be referencing another Fire Emblem battle cutscene, but this time from the Switch game, Three Houses, released mid 2019. The scene I will be taking inspiration from is the start of the time-skip arc, where the Black Eagles Strike Force, led by the Adrestian Emperor, Edelgard Von Hresvelg, goes head-to-head with the army of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and its king, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, and the army of the Leicester Alliance and it’s leader, Claude Von Riegan. This scene is present in-game under the title ’Rematch at Gronder Gield’, just before the turn-based strategy battle. The scene revolves around its usage of light through arson and explosions, being a battlefield of crime and fatality.
The cutscene opens with a bird flying over the sky, transferring the focus on the scene from the sky to the soldiers below, who proceed to fire magic spells with meteor-like form to set the field alight.
In this cutscene, most of the focus is harboured towards the house leaders, stating that they fought a mock battle against each other five years prior during their time at Garreg Mach Monastery. As this battle happens mid-game, it’s a sad throwback to more peaceful times, and really emphasises the change in all of their characters from before the timeskip, an example being King Dimitri, who went from being a quiet polite young boy to a murder frenzied war-seeking ruler, feeding his need for revenge.
The cutscene ends with a pan-out and an overhead view of Gronder Field, alight and in ruins, fading to black and opening back into gameplay.
Something that especially catches my eye is usage of light in this cutscene. In contrast to the Fates cutscene, where the sky is the source of vibrancy, the Three Houses cutscene is a less vibrant landscape- a field- illuminated by fire. The red tinge on the skin and luminosity, mixed with the blur of the background when focusing on Dimitri and Claude and the angling of the camera, which pans off to the side to reveal the light of the fire around them, offer a very appealing visual effect.
This cutscene is graphic by nature due to the war environment. In the scene, I will be able to take inspiration through the physical violence that is displayed, acting as a reference for my battle scene. I will be able to analyse the backdrop and take inspiration from the technique Fire Emblem uses to make the scene feel alive, yet not taking any importance or focus away from the main scene (the characters), which will lay me down a basic foundation to work on the animation and postures of my characters. As I will not be including side characters, and focusing on a specific duo of original creations in contrast to the large crowd of soldiers in this scene, I will be able to harbour and practise the skills that are present in the work of these cutscenes.
Fire Emblem Three Houses, published by Nintendo, developed by Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo for the Nintendo Switch, released July 26, 2019
Fire Emblem Fates, published by Nintendo, developed by Intelligent Systems for the Nintendo 3DS, released June 2015 (Japan) and 2016 (internationally)
Games Design Y2 