Visual Composition in Video Games - Shadow of the Colossus

If you have played Shadow of the Colossus, you know that there are so many things to praise about this game; the soundtrack, game design, and philosophy they always stood in the spotlight. There is a multitude of analysis in regards to these topics. However, it is very rare to see anyone talking about the camera and cinematography – which I believe was the main reason as to why the game feels as majestic as it is.

If anything – the camera got a lot of hate, and it is also a point most negative reviews will always mention; the camera always gets in the way, or; the camera is an enemy as much as the Colossus is. Of course, they are not wrong for that matter. The camera is at times does not work as intended – it often reset itself aggressively, it always got stuck behind a wall and when you are in a middle of a battle it can get really annoying.

But I firmly believe that a few of these errors did not discount the fact that the game features an amazing feat of cinematography. A camera is pretty much a narrative tool as much as the music and the mechanics are. So in this episode, we will learn as to why the game has the sweeping, epic feel, and discover why it is an epitome of cinematography in video games.

Hi, my name is Eddie and this is Critical Breakdown

I’m sure that some of you might have noticed that I used the term “cinematography” to classify the overall work of capturing visual of the game. To those who were unfamiliar, the cinematography is the art of capturing an image, mainly in filmmaking. The cinematography is also about understanding the rules of composition and it is a rule that has been developed and refined throughout the long generation of filmmaking. So, why do I insist on using the term "cinematography" for a medium that is purely interactive, and young such as video game? I still remember the old argument that games should never try to be movies – and that is very true.

Games has its own way of telling a story, it is unique that no other media can do what games are capable of – but at the end of the day any kind of games do need to resort to utilising cut-scenes as a part of narrative – Sports game uses cut-scene to transition between matches, and real-time-strategy use it to move between chapters. And I believe that we can consider how closely related video-games cut-scenes are to animated features such as Toy Story and Rango – they are all based on a 3D construct of specific scenes, the camera and lighting are manipulated within the 3D environment, and most characters are rigged and animated accordingly. The more you think about it, you will realize how the lines are getting blurry between game cinematic and animated features.

Crash Course - Cinematography

To understand cinematography, we also need to understand the fundamentals of composition, and the rules that come with it. It is time for some crash course in cinematography. Rules of Composition come in many forms, it can be the Rule of Thirds, The Golden Ratio, Center Symmetry, Leading Lines, they are inherently based on both nature and mathematics – hence has become a part of human psyche.

This is the reason why some faces are more pleasing to the eyes than others, great architecture and natural wonders are amazing to look at too. These rules are written and agreed upon based on 100 years of discovery and experimentation. You can always break this rule – but only if you understood why it exists in the first place.

Lighting plays an important part in cinematography as well – to the fact that it can either make or break your scene. An efficient approach to illumination can effectively create certain moods and can be used for dramatic effects. Lighting is fundamentally the first approach by filmmakers to tell the viewers what they are supposed to feel emotional. One of the oldest technique in the book is to simply use the natural sun and weather, and can still be effective today.

Framing is a part of a composition, the overall presentation of visual elements in an image. It affects both what's in the frame, and outside the frame.

Cinematography can be literally translated to “recording motion” – it refers to capturing a sequence of a photograph which gave it the illusion of movement.

Camera movement has evolved from being just a static shot of performers on stage– to a full-blown dolly shot (that are usually used to follow a subject through a unique perspective), and crane up (that is mainly used for establishment and tracking actors), some director even utilize handheld throughout the duration of their films, effectively or otherwise. These can have multiple effects but sometimes, a static shot can also be as effective.

While these are not the only fundamentals of cinematography but is enough of basic knowledge to help us understood the overall visual language. Now that we have the (very) basic understanding of cinematography, let us take a look at Shadow of the Colossus again.

Camera and Composition

This game is often described as epic and majestic, while it is obvious that this is due to the visual style, compliments should also be given to the camera. If there is one word to describe how the camera function in this game, it would be “Dynamic”. While the players always have total control over the camera, even in cut-scenes for that matter, the camera will always orient itself for the best composition.

Here you can see that the camera make a good use of Rule of Thirds, positioning the character at the intersecting point. Rule of Third is the most common method used to achieve a well-balanced composition, is used in photography, paintings and design in general. The intersecting points are used to place objects of interests, their position in the frame easily draw our human eyes to attention and giving an ample amount of space for the rest of the objects within the frame.

Most classic games usually place the character in the middle of the screen, it has always been that way for so many years. That is why the day Resident Evil 4 introduce over the shoulder shooting mechanic it changed the whole gaming landscape. While both Shadow and Resident Evil released the same year, Resident Evil 4 earlier release by 9 months and its popularity sets its mark for the over-the-shoulder mechanic. The first release got dibs.

When you are on foot, the camera will always take the effort to orient the horizon to the horizontal lines. The horizontal lines are used to align the edge of a scene to represent a balanced proportion so that the viewer's eyes are not distracted by elements that are out of place –in a nutshell, it is all about giving priority to certain space, which area received more space, which one receives less.

By observing this camera behaviour, you can summarize that the game is not trying to showcase the main character, but it is showcasing the whole landscape.

Even on horseback, the camera maintains this rule as it will place the character and the horse to either side of the camera, never in the middle. Notice how the camera hanging low, racing so close to the ground – this is to give you the illusion of speed.

Most filmmakers use this technique to enhance their chase sequences, you can see this in effect with the classic Mad Max and the Fast and Furious movies. Occasionally when you entered certain areas such as open plains or natural bridges, the camera automatically “crane” itself giving you a larger perspective of the whole landscape, and it resets closer when you entered ravines and restricted areas.

In certain location, the camera will also automatically rise up and give a hint to the path that you should take.

During the battle with a colossus, you can press a dedicated button to lock on the colossus, notice how it frames the whole scene into a fine composition. Both the character and the colossus existed within their own space and both occupy their own intersecting points. As the colossus getting closer, the camera drop lower and the colossus enveloped three-quarters of the whole frame – emphasizing the massive scale of the Colossus.

And take a closer look, once you have climbed onto the colossus, the camera immediately abandon the intersecting points, and instead it chose to place the character right in the middle of the frame. This is actually working on your favour as there is a lot of detail on the Colossus, and a lot of things happening here – so placing the character right there in the middle ensures that your eyes can easily track him.

In films, placing the subjects right in the middle during an action scene will make sure that the audience has an easy time looking at what’s happening, as your eyes are allowed to relax– it allows your brain to easily register all the events on the screen. Before you stab a colossus to their weak point, you need to charge your attack, wait for a few second and execute the stab. The charge is amplified with the camera zooming in and the depth of field getting shallower – effectively use anticipation to make a stab look powerful.

By now you might also have noticed that the camera feels like it always has a "weight" to it. When you try turning the camera it will not respond immediately, but instead, it'll ease out and slowly increase the velocity until it reaches an immediate stop. Compare that to some third person games, and ESPECIALLY first-person shooters – in these games you are required to constantly be on your toes, look out for enemies and quick response to danger, hence the camera is quick and will not have any build up or anticipation, when players decide to move the camera it’ll move up to speed.

You can observe the simplified graph of pixel velocity-over-time and see the difference. Shadow of the Colossus adapted the principle of motion to the camera– slow in and slow out. When a camera takes its time to the response it effectively becomes tool to control "pacing".

Just like in editing there are transitions, fade in, fade-outs and crossfades are used to control the pacing of an edit, so no changes are abrupt. The camera never ever have any jerky movements, it is often soft and eases into static, and it transitions itself. Take a look at how the cinematic for the game transitions to gameplay. The camera never snaps immediately into position, but instead is slowly ease into the gameplay.

Final Verdict

It is very obvious that there are a lot of consideration given to the camera during the development of this whole game. For a team that are small, and developing a game that pretty much unknown for the time – I find it very amazing that they take it very seriously to develop such an amazing feature. That is why it is almost a crime that the camera didn’t receive much attention that it deserve. But of course, I believe that the intention is that it should never be obvious in the first place – the camera should work in hiding, the player should never see the tricks, only what matters is that the player feel grand and majestic as they wander the forbidden land.