Imagining ZORK : A Transmedia Entertainment Design Case Study

By Kevin Pontuti and Dave Beck

University of Wisconsin-Stout

Background:

This past semester we (Kevin Pontuti and Dave Beck) continued a teaching and research experiment which commenced last fall, bringing our two classes (Digital Cinema Studio and Advanced 3D Animation) together to work on cross-course interdisciplinary projects. Our goal was to set up our curriculum, course structure and projects to more closely mimic the entertainment industry’s convergence within and around Cinema, Animation and Games. With our combined interest in transmedia storytelling and complementary research agendas, this decision to team teach our courses emerged. Building upon our initial success last year when we created shorter cross-course projects, this year we decided to devote the whole semester to larger research and production projects. Since we didn’t have the budget for traditional team teaching (two instructors in one class) we decided to schedule our two courses to meet at the same time. This parallel scheduling meant that both courses could meet as one large group, separately and/or in small cross-course teams, depending on instructional and project needs.

Project Documentary



The Project:

As we discussed project ideas, one of the general parameters that we immediately agreed upon was the need to provide the students with a specific topic or story idea to get the project moving. Rather than let the students come up with their own stories completely from scratch (which many of our students like to do), our experience told us that to complete a complex project like this in a semester, we’d need to move from development into pre-production and production pretty quickly. Students often think that “having a whole semester” (three months) to work on a project is long enough to write a story and execute the production, however, we knew from previous semesters that students often need substantially more time to craft a decent story (that can be a course or a semester of work in itself!). So with that in mind, and knowing that we were embarking on something pretty complex, we wanted to create an assignment for the students that challenged them both creatively and technically, but was feasible.

Since we were framing the semester around the idea of Cinema and Game convergence, we decided to craft a project where the teams would create film trailers or hook scenes for a game that was being adapted into a film, or basically a game-inspired short. After kicking around a number of story adaption ideas we came upon the idea to use ZORK as a point of departure.

ZORK is one of the earliest interactive fiction computer games, written in 1977-1979 by Tim Anderson, Marc Blanc, Bruce Daniels and David Lebling at MIT. The game was later divided into three sections and distributed by Infocom, and still has a cult classic following today. The “engine” understands basic text commands such as “Look Up”, “Go East”, or “Open Mailbox”. Each of these commands solicits a response from the game that describes the outcome of the command. 2015 marks the 35th anniversary of ZORK so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to celebrate the game.

We immediately started to see exciting educational opportunities for multiple reasons. 1. Many of the students in the class are game design students and many had never heard of or played the game, so it was a great way to introduce them to this classic game that Dave and I both loved. 2. The game is entirely text based, meaning there are no visuals, so it’s very different from contemporary video games in that the viewer/player has to imagine the world as it’s explored and experienced. It functions basically as an interactive script.

One of the most famous lines of text in game history reads, “You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded door. There is a small mailbox here.”

When we first announced the ZORK-themed project, some of the students were initially bewildered as to why anyone would (ever) want to play a game with no visuals, especially one from 1979, and some were at first resistant to even trying the game. In fact, we remember one student who became so frustrated with the interface that she was practically pounding her keyboard as she tried to communicate with the simple yet elegant text based system. After a brief introduction though, all the students became intrigued and really got into it. In fact, over the following weeks we started to see all kinds of ZORK related posts on Facebook and Twitter…. “I’m West of the House, be there soon”… or “Ack! Killed by a Grue!”, so from that standpoint we felt like we’d made a good connection and it was really a lot of fun to watch them take to something that we’d enjoyed years ago.

The previsualization team reviewing an animatic.

The Teams:

Once the project and theme was introduced, it was time to divide the students into teams. Given that some of the students are more interested in CG, VFX or Animation projects, while others are more interested in traditional live action or experimental art films, we decided to divide the teams up based on these interests, and in a way that would give the students some creative flexibility and a variety of production options that would demonstrate a range of outcomes. We ended up with 4 teams that ranged in size from 3-9 students that would each create a trailer, hook scene or adapted short:

In-game-engine previsualization team (director/cinematographer, editor, character artist, environment artists, animators and lighting designer) to create a 4-6 minute previsualization film with tools provided by industry partner Cinema Suite, Inc., makers of motion capture and cinematic plugins for the Unity game engine.

(director/cinematographer, editor, character artist, environment artists, animators and lighting designer) to create a 4-6 minute previsualization film with tools provided by industry partner Cinema Suite, Inc., makers of motion capture and cinematic plugins for the Unity game engine. Visual effects project team – hybrid live action CG and greenscreen team (director, cinematographer, editor, compositor, matte painter, character artists, environment artist, animators and lighting designer) to create a trailer using Maya, ZBrush, Nuke, Adobe Creative Suite.

Traditional live-action team (director, cinematographer, editor) using contemporary live-action film techniques to create a 4-6 minute short.

(director, cinematographer, editor) using contemporary live-action film techniques to create a 4-6 minute short. Experimental live-action team (director, cinematographer, editor) using contemporary live-action film techniques to create a 4-6 minute short.

Concept Art by Zach Chapman

Pre-production

With teams decided, we set the students to working in their groups to begin brainstorming and concepting. The students were assigned to create short scripts, storyboards, concept art and animatics that would be presented during the 4th week in class. These presentations served three main purposes: First to allow the students the opportunity to see the various directions that all the teams are taking. Secondly, to allow for feedback on story coherence. Finally, to force the students to hone their communication skills by presenting a “pitch”.

During the pre-production and planning process a number of challenges became apparent both creatively and technically.

We needed to get our Previs director and cinematographer up to speed working with within a digital 3D environment. Due to a long Wisconsin winter, our live action teams were going to need to postpone filming their exterior scenes until the snow melted (nowhere in the game does it mention “you are standing in a icy tundra” or “you have just died from exposure”.) Since most of the ZORK world takes place underground, we’d have to find some suitable locations, or possibly create some. Based on the storyboards, we realized we needed some specialized camera equipment to execute some of the ideas, especially the low light and slow motion shots that were planned.

Previsualization Team

Since our previsualization team was made up primarily of Game Design students, we knew they’d be pretty comfortable working in the Unity game engine. After some initial research, we originally discussed using Autodesk Motion Builder, but since our beginning and intermediate level students weren’t as familiar with it (and we knew the clock was ticking), we decided to stick with Unity. Fortunately we’d already been in contact with the Canadian company, Cinema Suite, Inc., and after a few calls to Dan Gamsby, we convinced them to allow our students to beta test their new Cinema Director plugin, as well as their Kinect-driven motion capture plugin, Cinema Mo Cap. Dan’s team provided the students with full versions of Cinema Mo Cap and beta versions of Cinema Director along with training materials, videos and a support hot-line. For many of the students it was their first time working with motion capture, so the very straightforward toolset in Cinema Mo Cap was a perfect introduction to the process and potentially a value to a previs and virtual filming pipeline. It was also the first beta testing opportunity for most of the students, which provided the opportunity for the students to be part of an R&D process and to communicate with a technical development team.

Gus Hinton and Zach Chapman testing the Cinema Mo Cap plugin.

Locations

While brainstorming possible location ideas we worked through a variety of options including the basement of a campus dorm that is scheduled to be torn down, as well as the idea of building miniature and full scale sets with the help of the theater department (who were very supportive). When we were told that the dorm was ruled out due to electrical safety concerns, panic started to set in and we decided to make a “long shot” call to a regional natural resource, the Crystal Caves, and see if there was a remote possibility of using the actual caves as a film location. Fortunately, we were able to connect with owner Eric McMaster and told him about our project. He agreed to allow us to scout the location and see whether it would be a good fit for what we needed. Needless to say we were extremely excited just to have the opportunity to take a group of students on a scouting trip into the caves, and half expected that this was all we’d be able to afford. Thinking that at least the students would have first hand experience of what it’s like to be in a cave and have some good reference photos and textures for the CG team. Though after our initial scouting visit, we called Eric back and asked him what the cost would be to rent the caves for some shooting time and were extremely pleased when he told us that he’d donate the cave rental time as long as we agreed to cover the cost of his tour guide to supervise the students while they were filming. It was a great opportunity! The one catch was that we had to wait until the bats started to stir out of their hibernation in late April or early May. “No problem!

Students Paul Ormsby, James Wells, Stephen Nicksic, Gus Hinton and Andrew Steidtmann with Crystal Cave owner Eric McMaster (far right).

Equipment

With the caves and software lined up, we started looking for some of the specialized equipment that we needed for the slow motion and miniature shoots the students wanted to include, as well as lights and a good low-light camera for shooting in the caves.

We contacted our colleague Matthew Kuchta, the director of our physics “Image Lab,” to see if we could utilize their ultra high speed camera that they use for studying movement and physics based collisions. Once we explained the project, Professor Kuchta, who did his undergraduate studies in Art, became very excited about the project and offered both the 10,000 plus frames per second camera as well as his services as a collaborator. We decided the best place to start would be a demo of the camera for the students so that they could see some of the possibilities.

Based on our initial conversations, we decided to build a small miniature set where we could demonstrate some examples including topics of how scale relates to movement and physics. Using a toy Transformer robot and some model train components we quickly mocked up a shot where the robot would slowly start to teeter and eventually fall into a dusty cloud of baby powder. After a few takes and some help from some canned air, we had a pretty decent effect that demonstrated the potential.

Professor Matthew Kuchta prepares miniature set for high speed camera demonstration.

Having identified a camera for the slow motion shots, Kevin headed to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show (http://www.nabshow.com/) an international tradeshow and convention held each spring in Las Vegas. At the convention, Kevin was able to present the idea to our Canon representative, Lisa Gualtieri. With the idea pitched, we told her that we were looking for a camera for the project, something small and portable, yet very good in low light (what can be darker than shooting in a cave, right?!). She was wonderful in helping us with a Canon C100 Cinema camera package that the students were able to use for three weeks of testing and filming. The opportunity to get the students some hands-on experience with the high end camera gear was just fantastic. Many of our students are familiar with the Canon DSL cameras, so it seemed logical that progressing to the higher-end Canon Cinema Cameras such as the C100 or C300 would be logical next steps as they enter the professional field.

Students Sarah Moua, Jake Popek and Tyler Anderson testing the Canon C100 and other DSLR cameras.

Production Design

As the toolset and locations were being finalized, and once the concept art was approved, the CG teams started modeling the characters, props and environments for both the VFX film and the previs project. Although we had discussions about possibly sharing assets across both projects, for the most part, the artists designed and built separate models for each film. Some of the students did wear multiple hats, covering a variety of duties and even sometimes working for both teams as additional props and characters were added. As the design of the films came together, the students from both classes collaborated in decision making and mapped out production schedules that would allow them to get as much done in a semester as possible.

While the CG teams were finalizing their production designs and building assets, the live action teams started building practical props for their films, as well as scouting locations, casting actors, deciding wardrobe, and figuring out all the things they would need for the mise en scene. The teams took advantage of the university’s studio and fabrication facilities to create physical props, such as the ornate egg sculpture described in the game text. There were also some practical creatures developed and some elaborate costumes that were specially made using a variety of media. All of the art and design programs at UW-Stout require a strong studio art foundation, including a course called 3D design that teaches a wide variety of fabrication methods. The students are well prepared to design, build and paint sets and props. Many of them have also completed a special competition we hold each year called “Fashion-without-Fabric,” where students are assigned to create a fashion costume using anything but fabric. It’s a huge event for us and we get close to 80 competitors and draw over 500 hundred spectators. It’s held over parent’s weekend so it’s quite a hit with the community. Since it also gets the students thinking about alternative materials for costuming, it’s a perfect compliment to our cinema and theater curriculum.

Egg created by one of the live action teams.

Production

Once production began in earnest, the teams worked both in the classroom and often out on location filming the scenes that were needed. The cinema students often used class time for filming since it was a guaranteed time that they all had scheduled together. One of the biggest challenges with the film projects typically is the scheduling. Students are typically taking 5 classes as semester (3 of which are pretty intensive art and design studios), so it can be challenging to get everyone’s schedules to align outside of class. Once you bring actors into the mix and the variables in the weather (especially spring in Wisconsin), that complexity becomes even greater.

With the CG teams, most of the production happens in the studio which can be more consistent, however there are plenty of challenges to be overcome there as well. This semester we piloted a new render farm solution where the university outsourced the 3D rendering to service provider Render Rocket. Since our rendering needs have more than quadrupled over the past 4 years, we’ve been looking for models to serve the courses needs. Students were able to test render the animations locally in our existing lab to check the artistic and technical details. Once the tests were done and the files were double checked, the students could submit the renders through the Render Rocket web interface.

Students also created matte paintings and utilized our green screen studio for augmenting some of their location needs. A number of slow motion shots were filmed in the Physics Department’s Image Lab.

Green screen shoot in one of the UW-Stout studios.

Post-Production and Finishing

As the films began coming together and deadlines were rapidly approaching, team members began compositing, editing and working on sound design for the films. A couple of the teams took advantage of the cave visits and recorded extra audio and sound effects right in the cave. Others worked with foley and sound libraries and digital music creation tools to put together the sonic components of the project. Fortunately, our green screen is actually a part of a full function television studio so we have a great setup for recording audio and foley. Ed Jakober, who runs the studio, prepared demonstrations on voice over recording and foley creation for the students.

As the edit started taking shape, students started to see their visions come together. As in all first-time projects of this sort, we had parts that were successful and, in some cases, students realized that their plans and executions didn’t come together quite as well as they had hoped. We encouraged them to make revisions where they could and to look for ways to be smart with editing, sound and color to both strengthen the stronger parts and to minimize the weaker sections, but most importantly to think of the whole film and the viewer’s experience.

The semester ended with a final critique where all the students were able to get together and screen the projects for one another. Given the massive amount of work for this project, as well as the work they put into their other classes, most of the students were both exhausted and relieved to present the projects at the end of the semester. During the presentations, faculty and staff from a number of courses were invited to join the students and provide feedback. Even though this is our final presentation, we still allow the students another 24-48 hours to make final corrections and changes based on the feedback from the critique. Having this option allows the students one last push to the finish. We feel this final step is actually one of the most important moments in the educational process, especially since many of the students already believe they are at their limit and want to call it “done.” By encouraging (and requiring) them to follow through with these last changes, it helps remind them of their responsibility to their teammates and to themselves to finish as strongly as possible, and that they will often need to dig deep one more time. We also try to drive home the idea that part of the job of any production artist or designer is to push the project as far as absolutely possible and to not give up.

“it’s not over until it’s over”…. or at least until the assignment or adventure is reset.

“You are standing in an open field to the west of a white house”

Happy 35th anniversary to the creators of ZORK!

Special Thanks:

Eric McMaster, Crystal Caves

Dan Gamsby, Cinema Suite

Lisa Gualtieri, Canon USA

Steve Vasko, Autodesk

Roland Carter, UW-Stout Foundation

Professors Beth Janetski and Paul Calenberg, UW-Stout Theater Department

Professor Matt Kuchta, UW-Stout Image Lab

Professors Peter Galante, Steve Schlough and Keif Oss

Ed Jakober, UW-Stout Video Studio

Andrew McIntosh, UW-Stout

http://www.uwstout.edu/programs/bfaed/index.cfm