SWOT Analysis

This is an Analysis to identify my Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This Analysis was developed by albert S Humphrey in the 1960s. It is a strategic tool used as a simple ice breaker helping people identify others & what they're good at. It is used in a Bussiness or in an Educational facility.  

'I Know What You Did Last Summer'

After we broke up from University after finishing our first year, I knew I didn't have enough time to do any extra curricular work as I had a month long holiday away planned. So I went straight into finding what I could do. At that time I had recently bought a new Canon 7D professional camera to help me with my course. The camera can be used for either still photography or video work. 

I approached an event manager regarding photography work to one of his upcoming events. The first question he asked me was "Are you looking to get paid?" & I of course did. He wasn't very keen on hiring me but I persisted. Initially he hired me as a voluntary photographer but I wasn't very bothered as I was looking to build my portfolio. 

The event began from midday until the next day at 2 in the morning. I thoroughly enjoyed being the photographer at the event but I felt I lacked the full equipment such as an external flashgun. I now have full access to the equipment as I'm back at uni. 
I poured my heart and soul to this jo to the point that the Event manager paid me from his own pocket, he loved the images and he mentioned that they'll be valuable in terms of advertising.

The other extra curricular work i set for myself was to sign up and become a member of digital tutors. The website helped me learn further skills in mainly Maya and Photoshop. I set my self various tasks such as learning to model and texture! Digital Tutors is an excellent tool to further your skills but it comes at a price of USD$45.00 per month. 

I am going to continue to set myself tasks outside of uni sessions if time allows.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Cinematic

What is Machinima? It is using the in-game computer graphics instead of the pre-rendered ones for cut scenes and cinematics within the game. Machinima is different to pre-rendering in the fact that it is less time consuming as there are fewer details to the characters and environment, limited facial expression and movement. It is also cheap to produce Machinima than to hire an animation team to contribute towards the game.

The game that I have chosen that uses an excellent example of Machinima is Metal Gear Solid 4. The entire series of its games use this advantage to their games. Below is the opening scene to illustrate

As soon as the cut scene is over the only way you are able to tell you're in game mode is by the little menus on the screen and third person view. 
On the cut scene, the music is done with cinema in mind and is very moody and atmospheric. As are the camera shots, specifically the camera angle which is mainly the POV, which included realistic features such as camera shake to convey the character's environment which is a truck on the bumpy road. The animators also used various angles very indicative of the cinema style, with high and low angles. This all combined creates a visually captivating Machinima cut scene.

In my opinion, I think that Machinima has many advantages that are useful in the games industry. I personally prefer a fully rendered cut scene considering that we have high end game consoles which can handle beautiful graphics, that should be used to it's full potential too.