Improvisational shots tend to turn out better. Petr Pekarz describes how a cutscene for KCD II is created

We had a unique opportunity to visit the Czech game studio Warhorse, where preparations for the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 are in full swing. We interviewed three developers, gradually covering Kutna Hora, work in the motion capture studio and news in Russia. fight. He accepted the invitation for a second interview leading cinematographic designer Petr Pekarzh.

What in Kingdom Come 2 is animated using motion capture?

Motion capture technology is primarily used to record human movements, so almost all human animation in a game is filmed using motion capture. This is purely for the reason that it is much more accurate, faster and cheaper than doing animation by hand. Whether it’s in-game animation, fight animation, or gameplay for cutscenes, we shoot everything using motion capture. We would also like to film dogs, horses and all possible animals, but unfortunately we do not have large enough areas or experienced animal actors for this. It’s a little more difficult to put them on a suit, and also a little more difficult with some of the biological processes that animals do. In the end we just shot people.

What do you need to prepare before filming a cut scene?

The cut scene is practically the same movie as any other. This means that in addition to the script, we first have to prepare a storyboard, just like for a classic film. We’ll take the script, break it down into frames, give it cinematic speech, cinematic lighting, things like that. We have to think ahead about what will be filmed, how it will be filmed and for how long, and then we move on to the actual motion capture. The second, no less important thing we must prepare in advance is the construction of the scene. Of course, the game takes place in a 3D environment, and we need references of the actors on set. We have a system of structures and props that we need to use to build a castle, a swamp, or a room with a table. So that it doesn’t happen to us that we are filming a person who confidently walks through a wall.

How is motion capture different from creating a live action scene?

There is one big difference from the film. As I already said, films are scenes, like any other, they are divided into frames. But unlike a film, we don’t shoot individual frames, but we shoot the entire scene, knowing that it will be edited and the frames must work. We have a strange mixture of theater and cinema, where on the one hand we go through the entire scene in one piece, but at the same time we have to pay attention to the actors maintaining their positions, moving from point A to point B, stopping when we know that there will be an important detail in one line or another so that they do not sway from frame to frame.

For many actors, this is a new experience because instead of a nice, shiny suit, they suddenly find themselves in a tight leotard.

What does a real shoot look like?

We will describe to the actors what we are filming for the scene, discuss their roles and texts with them. Then we put them in this black outfit, which is a new experience for a lot of them because instead of a nice, shiny suit, they’re suddenly in a tight swimsuit that shows everything they don’t want to show. Then we will take them to the square where we will show them around. this is a castle, this is a table, this is a bathtub and imagine that you are in the center of a battle. We have to engage their imagination and describe to them well what is happening, when it is happening, and then control them so that they behave in the environment as they should. Very quickly a person can forget the context of the scene in which he is moving.

Is there time to change or improvise during filming?

Certainly. Personally, I try not to get too attached to actors because authentic performances are very important to me. Of course, we have text to follow. When something changes somewhere, it is not serious, but the content is given. I try to explain to the actor what the essence of the scene is, what his character should do, and if the actor has his own idea – that he wants to do something a little differently, a little funnier, a little more serious, stop, take a breath – I leave it to his discretion. And when it works, it works. So there’s definitely room for improvisation and often those are the best shots.

How experienced are the actors you work with, be it motion capture or classical acting?

Basically, we have three types of actors that we work with. The first, largest group is our main characters. We record motion capture primarily in English, so we use actors from all over the world who are fluent in English, usually English, Irish, Scottish, Australian and so on. We work with different accents for different characters. They often have experience working in films, TV series and the like. They are experienced, professional actors, and it is a pleasure to work with them. We use them in most cutscenes for speaking roles. But if we have scenes where there is no talking and more related to physical actions, we work with local actors, our touching acquaintances and friends. If Henry walks into the room and doesn’t say anything, we won’t have to drag Tom Mackay out of London to do it, but we can play with a friend who can handle it just as well. And there is a third category of actors – us. When we need something quickly and we know what we want, we dress ourselves up and write it down. And, of course, the fourth, separate category is stuntmen. We have experts who have designed the choreography and we let them work their magic.

Our biggest step is that we implemented performance capture.

How has motion capture changed since the first part?

You could say that during the production of the first part we were something of a garage company. Our motion capture was relatively small and mostly improvised. In the second part we moved to bigger offices, we have more powerful motion capture, much bigger, much better placed cameras. This means that recording is much more accurate. We eliminated most of the technical issues and were able to focus more on honing the acting. Our biggest achievement is the introduction of Performance Capture technology – facial recording. This is what changed the quality of the game, because now we not only have motion recording, but also small nuances of the game that we had to reconstruct before.

Do you have a goal that you would like to achieve in the future? Are you inspired by foreign countries? Ninja Theory’s work comes to mind.

Ninja Theory and developers of games of this type [Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II] are technical wizards who have some of the best cutscenes in the world. It’s definitely something we’re exploring and looking at and trying to get closer to. As for videos, our project is very specific in one way. It combines a very high standard of visual quality, we want the game to be as beautiful and realistic as possible. top of the topwhat we can achieve with our technology, but at the same time the cutscene is too big. We have five hours of video as a duet, and they are monstrous. On the one hand, the meta is GTA or Red Dead with a lot of cutscenes that are perfectly implemented in the story, and on the other hand there are games like Senua or Call of Duty, which have very elaborate and technically advanced cutscenes. Fortunately, we are given enough space and qualified people to help us find the middle so that we do not have to sacrifice quality for quantity and vice versa.

The biggest entertainment is falling from a horse.

What roles have you played?

For the fight scenes, I mostly played the one who died first because I didn’t know how to fence. As for the other scenes, usually when someone falls somewhere, it’s me too. But it depends on the situation; it is often faster to put on the suit yourself and do a quick animation. Perhaps the greatest pleasure is falling off a horse, which in practice means getting up from a chair so that it looks like falling off a horse. Of course, at full speed.