Indie Game: The MovieTrailer Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq5HRdTyKUs

• Opens up with a shot zooming in on the power button for an Xbox 360, the majority of people, even those not interested in games, will recognise it, because it is fairly iconic and nearly everyone in the world know of Microsoft.

• This indicates straight away it may be related to video games, or someone who is.

• When the green light flicks on, the music starts and the next shot is shown.

• Following shot is of someone at a computer scrolling through coding on the monitors.

• Man at the computer, claims “… I am determined to make video games, and I make video games because I can.”

• This suggests that something is stopping him from truly being able to do this but he won’t give up just yet.

• Introduction to the first character of the documentary, Tommy Refenes.

• Shows him with an out of focus Xbox 360 controller next to him as he works on the computer. Links with the power button of the Xbox 360 in the opening shot.

• Shows clips of different indie games, (i.e. Fez, along with clips of Time Fcuk) as they are being played and created by their developers.

• Phil Fish, the developer of Fez, describes video games as “… The sum total of every expressive medium of all times, made interactive.”

• He gets visibly excited about this and expresses amazement that people could not like video games.

• This suggests that they are extremely important to him and, most likely, to the others too.

• This is further reinforced by the dolls/plushes of Fez’s main character (the small white thing with a red fez) seen at the forefront and the back left of the shot.

• Goes on to show the next focus character, Edmund McMillen as he draws some artwork and shows a clip of one of his games, Time Fcuk. His artwork has always been notable for it’s comic book-esque style and usually developed for play on the flash engine.

• Another video game that is explored in this film is Braid by Johnathon Blow. McMillen did some of the original artwork for this game before it was changed to fit better with other aspects of it.

• He goes on to say “My entire career has been me finding new ways to communicate with people. Because I desperately want to communicate with people but I don’t want to have to deal with the messy interaction of having to make friends and talking to people because I probably don’t like them.”

• This reinforces this idea that these video games that they play and create are extremely important to them and for them, they are more than just a hobby or thing they really enjoy doing. This quote shows that his adult life – His career – has been dominated by the idea of wanting to interact with people through his creations and as such, has possibly become the most important thing to him.

• People could say that the quote comes across as rude (since he says he doesn’t want to have to deal with people because he probably won’t like them) but the fact that he says he ‘… desperately wants to communicate with people’ suggests he doesn’t really know how to so he uses his video games to express his emotions or feelings, similar to how musicians communicate through their music.

• Proof of this is in another of his games, Aether, as “McMillen'schildhood experiences and fears were used for the game's themes of loneliness, nervousness, and fear of abandonment or rejection. The boy's journeys through space represent inward-thinking and imagination, planets represent fears and the inhabitants personify McMillen's childhood ‘inner demons’”. Because of this, he debated whether or not to release the game as it made him feel vulnerable.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(video_game))

• Returns to Phil Fish’s game as he says “… And it’s not just a game, like, it’s- I’m so closely attached to it. This is my identity, it’s Fez. I’m ‘Guy making Fez’ you know? That’s about it.”

• This continues this build up of how close these creators really are to their designs and the products of their time and effort.

• This shows how the developers become so immersed in their creations that they begin to lose sight of anything else.

• Shows a brief glimpse of the game Braid before the developer, Johnathon Blow, says that “… You know, making it was about ‘let me take all my deepest flaws and vulnerabilities and put them in the game’”

• All of these developers all have this sense of commitment and dedication to their creations and video games as a whole.

• This whole section of the trailer is based around what exactly these video games mean to the developers.

• First title screen of the trailer (at 0:54) promotes that it was a significant release at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

• Around this there are what look like mind-maps based around different aspects and environments possibly for the video games, i.e. “Over World” linking to “Waterfall” and “Water Cave” and then onto “Cave” or the “Water Works” etc.

• Shows more clips of Fez and what is possibly concept art of Braid i.e. the sketches titled ‘Falling’ to show the different frames of the animation.

• The film wanted to show the different aspects of game development so this would be showing the developmental stages, whereas, the intro to the trailer would be the aftermath of the game’s release (except in the case of Fez).

• “The journey to make a game” is also reminiscent of video games, as those in the Adventure genre usually involve a journey to complete a quest or mission of some kind.

• More gameplay clips and concept art to contrast the difference in the developmental and completed stages (i.e. Above and below are the concept art and the finished products for one of the boss battles in McMillen’s Super Meat Boy).

• Also highlights just how much time and effort it takes to really develop a video game.

• One aspect of the documentary includes the developers watching people play their games (such as in the picture below) and how the player’s react to them.

• The use of YouTube is a link to popular culture and how these games are bleeding through, slightly, to mainstream Media.

• The developers then get to see how much of an impact their game has actually managed to make.

• The title screens, in total, say “The journey to make a game… And release it… To the world.”

• After the “To the world” title it shows Fish sat in what looks like a hotel, alone, drinking as he talks about the risks involved in creating an indie video game i.e. “… I’m on the line. Me. Like, my name” the shots used could be to imply this sense of him being a very tiny part of this whole ‘world’ (i.e. an indie game developer when the media is saturated by large companies such as Activision or EA) that is desperately trying to become a recognised figure.

• To also highlight this contrast between Fish and the other developers, he is shown wearing fairly casual clothes, i.e. t-shirt, jacket etc. whereas nearly everybody else in the background has smart shirts, blouses, suits etc.

• He even goes so far to state “… If this fails, I don’t think I’ll ever work in games again”which again just goes to show the audience how much these video games mean to these developers.

• Returns to McMillen and his room, among the various things littered around the room, there are things people who know of him are likely to recognise, i.e. The poster of Time Fcuk on the far left, the multiple Super Meat Boy stickers and the yellow angry faces (centre right) that are featured in many of Tom Fulp’s Newgrounds.com – A website that features artwork, music, flash games, short films etc. that is for all ages. Newgroundshas hosted several of McMillen’s games, such as Super Meat Boy and Spewer.

• The fact that the shot is in his room also reinforces his earlier statements of wanting to interact with people and the idea of him using his work to communicate since the bedroom is quite an intimate/private place that he has allowed the film makers into.

• He says that if you don’t get the work done then the time you’ve spent on it are worth nothing and sarcastically says, “… No pressure”.

• The whole trailer continually repeats this idea of needing to finish and distribute these video games, no matter what.

• Fish describes how when you’ve done nothing but construct the game from the bottom upwards for years all you can see is the game and “... You don’t even see the mistakes anymore”

• This line is said almost like a parent about a misbehaving child, i.e. Even though they misbehave, they were made by them so they are perfect to the parent, even if they aren’t perfect to others.

• As soon as that line finishes the music picks up pace and volume as it shows more clips of his game, Fez.

• Shows a clip of Fez’s main character jumping into some water, straight after it shows Fish sinking into the water in the same kind of way.

• This links in with his earlier statements of this game being his identity and the link between his in-game identity and himself being submerged.

• Could also be a reference to how he feels like the game is his world now so he is creating that animation of Fez in the water based off of his own experiences/perception of it.

• Clips start to pick up pace as it shows Fish travelling and shows the different emotions creating these games can lead to.

• Shows Refenes looking at something on his TV and angrily saying “What the f*ck is that?” before showing him looking like he is crying, shortly after.

• Contrasts this to McMillen looking at something and laughing at it.

• This could be used to indicate the highs and lows involved.

• Is also contrasted in the way that Refenes is sat a computer in a dark, fairly nondescript room whilst McMIllen is in a room full of colourful things and light behind him.

• This scene is quite opposite to McMillen’s work as some of it has been quite dark i.e. The Binding of Isaac/The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a game loosely based on the bible story in which Abraham is ordered by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. However, in this game, you play as Isaac, a young child, while Abraham is replaced by “Mom”. The game revolves around shooting your tears at enemies while traversing different floors, each floor has an item room, shop, boss room, etc. These items include upgrades that range from pieces of Isaac’s dead pets (His cat, Guppy, or dogs, Cricket/Max) to followers such as Headless Baby, Rotten Baby or Mongo Baby. In addition to this, Guppy was the name of a cat owned by McMillen in real life (Source: ‘Lost’ uploaded by Edmund McMillen, July 2nd, 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DFBb77hnzM)

• This ‘dark’ aspect of McMillen’s creative side is shown in ‘Growing Up Edmund’ on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQhZlbRzC8s), This was taken from the documentary and McMillen talks about how when he was younger he only ever drew monsters and “… Weird sh*t” which eventually led to his teacher recommending his mother to take him for a psychiatric evaluation because his art was a “Cry for help”. This links to the idea of McMillen wanting to use his creations as a way to communicate with people, even if he didn’t see it in the same way.

• Shows clips of Braid alongside McMillen lying down. Suggests again that there is an extremely strong link between these developers and the creations they have made.

• The shot of Johnathon Blow’s profile in shadow with the light behind him (shown twice now) links with an earlier shot of his game, Braid (below), with the main character in a similar shot. This is another of the many examples of links between the developers and their creations/video games.

• Is also slightly reminiscent of the introduction to “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” which could be an implied reference as Braid was considered to be a ‘masterpiece’ and completely steer away from conventional video games, (Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_%28video_game%29) such as how Hitchcock may have been considered with films.

• Begins to show shots of many people lining up in the streets, mixed in with clips of Fez, before showing somebody (presumably) playing something with Phil Fish watching in the background.

• Musically, there is another build-up. Music is slightly faster.

• Music finishes it’s build up, slows back down again. Switches focus so the player is now blurry and it shows Fish as he shouts “Damn it!”

• Indicates that even through all this hard work something has gone wrong, doesn’t show what though so we would have to watch the full film to find out.

• Finishes by showing the title – “Indie Game: The Movie”.

• Interesting to note that they have the controller for a North American Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) hanging next to this.

• Although we are in the fourth generation of video games consoles it is strange that they would choose a console from the 90s.

• Possibly a link to what console the developers started on.

• Could also suggest that these games have a ‘retro’ or nostalgic feel to them, most likely because these developers would have grown up playing on a SNES.

• The SNES itself is apparently “… Popular among fans, collectors, retro gamers and emulation enthusiasts, some of which make homebrew ROM images.” (Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System) Which may be why it’s image is used.

• Repeats that it was the ‘Official selection 2012’ out of all the films revealed at the Sundance Film Festival.

• Has a quick flow of credits: i.e. “A Film By: James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot”, “Music by: Jim Guthrie” and then a quick link to a website.

• This website links to the film makers advertising through the internet and modern media.