Stefan Kempas - the interview-

"Black like milk" nominated for an Europrix in the category: Online & digital video/TV

-Germany-

Brief description:

Brilliant short film based on personal identity and its relationship with media involving political, economical and social matters in people's lives. How relevant is milk?

How did you come up with the story?

I was just thinking of the power of advertising and the orientation this is taking in our generation. I thought of taking all that back to the advertising and fight advertising with more advertising.

What are the techniques you applied in your short film?

I used Photoshop to get rid of the unwanted objects from the picture frames, then used After Effects to dramatize some parts of the scenes as rain or breaking glass and I also used 3D MAX to do the picture rotation because it would have been more difficult with After Effects or to do tracking with the camera from those angles.

What was the most challenging part of the production process?

The beginning of the production was difficult because I had to plan everything on my own. In the pre-production I had to develop the idea, write the script, do the storyboard, animatics, etc, all that may have been the hardest part of the whole project, then everything else was easier. Of course I had to read many books about techniques and also about advertising and media for this project. I basically produced the whole project on my own.

How long did it take to produce the final result?

Actually it wasn't as long as I thought it would take. I only used 3 weeks for shooting, editing and working on the picture manipulation. After that I just had to put it on the platform. In general it all took about one semester.

What is the message you want to give to people with "Black like milk"?

Originally I wanted to turn TV boradcasting from "cold to hot". I mean that when you watch TV you are just receiving information and being passive, so this is like a call about people becoming active through media. It is represented by fighting advertising and media with more advertising and media.

Why did you choose on-line platform for releasing your short film?

As I said in the presentation, I could have put it on YouTube and I could have got some comments and it would have been considered as a social thing. I put in the website because it would attract people who are more interested in the topic and really want to know the meaning of the short film.

What kind of feeback have you got so far about this project?

In the presentation I got comments pointing that I should target the film to educational areas such as highschools and institutions to cause awareness on people (young people especially) about the power of media and its consequences.

Did you have a big budget for this project?

Hmm, not really. I used mainly equipment from the school and also my computer. The actor in the short film was some guy who studies acting and he did it for free! It was a very low budget I must say.

Do you think you can win the Europrix in your category?

I think there are many good projects in my category and it would be very difficult to win. Hopefully I could win.

Interview with Remode

For those who do not remember, the Mole Control representatives were Ella Romanos, Martin Darby and Matthew Beakes. I interviewed them (all three) during the ORF evening, so the answers the mix of all of their answers (and my extremely hurried and messy notes).

Mole Control, the cute puzzle game about exploding moles that brought the Minesweeper into the 21st century. How did it come about and what did the team learn during the process?

Converse to what I'd thought, the idea of the game remained largely unscathed from its conception to final product. The only major change was the main character and his mode of transportation. Originally the character was meant to move about with a jetpack strapped to its pack, but this upright character caused gameplay issues as the player could not see the square behind the character. The times were desperate, but Martin came up with the idea of a hovercraft, which you now see in the game.

But why choose Minesweeper? As this was their first game, they needed to produce something quick and easy with their limited time and budget, so updating an old game mechanic seemed the best way to go. However, no matter how simple the idea, it does not mean the process was a walk in the park (especially if you have exploding moles). The biggest challenges they faced was learning the production process (something I can relate to having done the 5D2 project). Other cited problems were risk analysis, testing (and the importance of it) and team communication.

Another hard part of the production were things beyond the team's control. Some of the digital distributors didn't release the game until nine months later - and that's gonna hurt your advertisement plans. Also another unfortunate setback was that during the year that it took for Mole Control to be finished, the focus of the casual games had move into the social gaming platforms. But no matter, the team is currently finishing up special edition version, which will go to US and Canadian markets, so it's not all bad.

Having briefly scoured their website beforehand, I knew that Remode doesn't work just on their own games; they also do contract work to keep a steady flow of income. They specialize in simulations and serious games, but they won't let them distract from the real goal which is to make the other type of games (as Ella described it, high-risk & high-profit projects). They see this risk diversification crucial to their survival. According to them, the lack of risk diversification is the biggest reason why game companies, even big ones, go bust.

When asked why they wanted to start their own company instead of going to work for someone else, they listed their previous project, Rotoblast, as a source of confidence to make that scary leap. Rotoblast was a prototype VR game they developed as a part of their final year work, and it received a lot of positive attention from game industry professionals . Mole Control was the company's first own game project, and as such it was meant as a learning experience and to establish a track record for the company - very important to any start-up game company. Getting a game out (and being nominated for Europrix) will certainly improve their chances in the future.

Talking about inspiration, I also had to ask them about their favourite games and game icons. The unanimous favourite within the team are World of Goo and Portal (and apparently this was weird, because all the team members play completely different type of games). However, they all cite Tim Schafer as their game industry icon, and his humour has definitely influenced their games as well. PopCap Games and Jagex (the makers of Runescape) were mentioned as their most admired game companies.

Talking about future, they revealed that they are also working on a new game project, which I couldn't find out too much about as it is still very much under wraps. I did find out that they are going to aim for the downloadable markets with a game aimed at more hardcore gamers.

Finally, their advice for students wanting to start their own game company:

"It's not about the product, it's about the people."
Meaning you should show the publishers and investors that your team can be trusted with the money and the game's production. The business and management side is especially important in this sense.

"Look at the market!"
Don't just go about making your favourite game, at least if you want to make it in the game industry. Research and try to find out what is selling at the moment. Make that. Or better, make something that is bit further into the future, because by the time the game is finished, the markets have most likely have changed.

And additional advice: "Go to conferences and network!"

I'm taking this advice to heart. Hope IMPs will get more chances to do this in the future, too! ^^