Bert Vandecasteele

Author: Bert

  • Six cameras, one computer – and whole lot of sick moves

    Six cameras, one computer – and whole lot of sick moves

    Sometimes, unexpected things happen. It’s one of those cool things of being a writer – like going to Austria or accidently being in LA when your short film is in theatres. And that’s how I found myself in a photo studio in Kreuzberg doing motion capture for a video game.

    Now, you might’ve seen professional motion capture – actors in spandex suits covered with Styrofoam balls, running around and overacting like they’ve just been cast in the next silent comedy.

    You know what? Turns out that costs a lot of money!

    Until I learned about this:

    That’s right. Markerless motion capture with a handful of Playstation cameras. Seriously. The whole thing is probably the nerdiest thing ever – I mean come on, you don’t even have to change out of your Firefly shirt!

    This is what the set-up looks like:

    IMG_20151023_112635550The process was pretty straightforward (and that’s coming from someone who barely knows two lines of C): You set it up, calibrate the room, and then start capturing. We ran into a couple of issues distinguishing parts of our bodies from the floor, but after the computer model magically stopped locking its hands to its crotch, everything went swimmingly.

    So yeah. Here’s me.

    IMG_20151023_174018373My sick moves have officially been downloaded to the computer. Pretending to run around in a white room might be one of the geekiest things I have ever done – but seeing how I had an absolute blast, I guess I should go full-out geek more often.

    At the risk of making this whole post sound like an advertisment: If you wanna know more, here’s a link to their website.

  • Nashorn in Galopp

    Nashorn in Galopp

    Hey everyone, especially everyone who loves to procrastinate!

    Office colleague and director Erik Schmitt has finally uploaded his award-winning short film, Nashorn in Galopp (Rhino Full Throttle), to YouTube!

    I remember my first time watching this short. I was fresh off the dffb boat and completely frustrated with German movies. German movies were dry, overrationalized pieces of shit with no self-reflection or emotion – and they weren’t exactly funny, either.

    For me, Nashorn in Galopp was a breath of fresh air in a dusty room: It’s self-aware, created with gut feeling – and it’s hilarious in its own special way. Erik is one of the few German directors I know who can strike the tender balance between being weird without losing track of the story’s strong, emotional core.

    And as a guy who had just graduated by putting a bunch of animated guys on top of a mirror, it taught me a simple lesson:

    Quit fucking whining about Germany.

    Watch the film here! It has English subtitles and comes highly recommended.

  • Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition

    It’s back, and even better than before!

  • Why you should watch Inside Out

    Why you should watch Inside Out

    Pete Docter is my hero.

    If you’re reading this and you’re not into animation, you’re probably wondering if I suddenly got ill and got treatment by a back alley surgeon with a redneck name and mild dyslexia. If you are, you know Pete Docter is the Pixar genius behind the incredible Monsters Inc and UP. Both movies walk a tightrope between absurd and emotional and do it effortlessly and with style: Monsters Inc pits the absurd world of monsters against the realistic emotions of a toddler; UP features flying houses, talking dogs and the most heart-wrenching story about loss ever.

    So yeah, Docter’s my hero, and you will forgive me for having a tiny orgasm when he announced Inside Out – a movie in which we would be introduced to the emotions inside an eleven year-old’s head.

    Don’t know what I’m talking about? Here’s a trailer (along with my cold, cold shoulder):

    I watched Inside Out for the first time in Belgium back in May. It was brilliant, which made my heart sink, because that meant I had to write a blog post about it. I then proceeded to stare at an empty page for hours on end. This movie was so good, I didn’t know where to begin. And now, having seen it multiple times, I still don’t.

    Do I start with the fact that the entire movie theater burst into tears at the end every time I saw it? Or how elegantly a highly complex theme is introduced in the first ten minutes? Or how it switches between two worlds at the drop of a hat without ever being disorienting or confusing? Or about how little that trailer actually spoils about the actual movie (“Who’s your friend who likes to play?”)? Or how its climactic scene not only holds an emotional truth, but a developmental one, too?

    I could write essays about Inside Out. But because it’s a scientifically proven fact no one reads lengthy articles on the internet, I’ll just say this:

    Peter Docter is my hero. And after Inside Out, he’ll be yours, too.

  • An Abundance of Trailers

    So I was browsing the web, and I came across the first trailer to “Master of None”, the Netflix comedy by Aziz Ansari.

    So I figured: “Hey, this shit is crazy good, I gotta post this on my blog.” Only then the related links took me to the trailer to Shameless’ sixth season:

    And I was all like: “Holy shit, fuck Aziz, I gotta post THIS!”

    But then THIS MOTHERFUCKER happened:

    Jessica! You just beat everyone.

    Jessica Jones.
    Shameless.
    Master of None.

    The amount of good TV streaming into my life is crazy.

    P.S.: Sorry Aziz. No hard feelings, k?

  • Another tiny game

    Another tiny game

    Hey everyone,

    I made another tiny game thanks to the wonderful tutorials on the Unity website. This one was slightly trickier than the last, but I had tons of fun making it. I’m currently trying to figure out how to best proceed in this direction – how to move away from the tutorials and really start making my hands dirty.

    About the game: It’s a 2D roguelike (i.e. randomized game that’s out to kill you) in which you gather food and dodge zombies. So many tropes! I feel like a regular indie developer!

    • Play the game in your browser (unless you use Chrome): Click!
    • Download the game on your computer (unless you use Mac): Click!

    I’m really sorry, Mac users who browse with Chrome. You and I, it just wasn’t meant to be.

  • Shovel Knight – Plague of Shadows

    Shovel Knight – Plague of Shadows


    Please play this in the background while reading this post.
     

    Remember Shovel Knight? You know, the one that ended up taking the gaming world by storm, making a tiny underdog into an Indie hero that ended up getting its own Amiibo?

    Of course you don’t, that’s why I keep this blog.

    Click!

    That’s better.

    Actually, I had forgotten all about Shovel Knight myself. After all, the game was two years old, and I had sucked every droplet of sweet delicious gameplay from its interactive cadaver – what else was I to do but move on with my life?

    Time went on, and I went to enjoy other platformers. I rekindled the flame of my childhood crush, Super Mario Bros. 3.  I enjoyed both young and old hedgehogs in Sonic Generations. I explored Spelunky’s caves multiple times, finding them refreshing and new every time. It was a time of wild experiments, of insatiable hunger, of being lost.

    Then, one day, I booted my computer and was greeted by an unexpected message. Shovel Knight had updated. Shovel Knight? Surely that blue armored hero rang a bell?

    I hovered over the PLAY button, unsure what to do. Sure, I could click it and return to my old love. But what if things weren’t like before? What if he had changed? And worse: What if I had?

    Reluctantly, I put it off, minimized the Steam window and went about my day. Shovel Knight was in the past. I tried to distract myself as best I could.

    I made it seven minutes before I caved.


    Artist’s rendering of what followed.
    So apparently, I did change. And so did Shovel Knight, who bravely stepped aside for a new hero to take the spotlight: The maniacal potion-chucking alchemist, Plague Knight, a glass cannon antihero with great movability, who makes am already hard game into an abolute deathfest.

    Immediately, I fell in love once again – but differently so this time.

    Shovel Knight was silent and stoic and told his story in pictures – Plague Knight is an awkward geek who can’t stop yapping. He is a text-heavy hero with a text-heavy story, but one that once again grabs you in the chest with its absurd honesty. Plague Knight is the perfect fairy tale for geeks: An awkward romance starring a regular guy who wants to take over the world.

    Plague Knight is an amazing unicorn in the games world. It’s the white whale of DLC: Free, long, absolutely different and yet somehow the same. It should not exist, and yet here it is: A whole new way to fall in love with a wonderful classic all over again. Get it on every platform that matters for next to no money. You won’t regret it.

  • Film aus Papier

    Hey guys and girls,

    Watch me read a little text the 14th of October! The topic: Cigarettes. The language: English. The teaser:

    Sometimes, people don’t just offer her a cigarette, but a light as well. How cute. And naive. They haven’t come to the conclusion I have about Ursula Behmke. You see, it’s funny, because they actually think she’s in urgent – dire – need of a smoke.

    They’re dead wrong. And here’s why.

    The info:

    FILM AUS PAPIER (Vol. 5) – Drehbuchautoren der dffb laden zur Lesung!

    Filmidee, Gedicht, Prosatext und Drehbuchszene. Humor, Milieustudie, Horror und Absurdität. Es sind keine Grenzen gesetzt. Taucht mit uns in unsere Welten ein, tauscht euch mit uns aus.

    Vol. 5: Mi, 14.10., 20.30 Uhr (an jedem 2. Mittwoch im Monat)
    Beginn: 20:30 Uhr

    EINTRITT FREI

    Sputnik Kino, Hasenheide 54, 10967 Berlin
    www.sputnik-kino.com

    See you then!

  • Panta Rhei

    Good news everyone!

    Panta Rhei, an animated short I’ve been writing together with director Wouter Bongaerts and producer/studio Creative Conspiracy, has been granted development funding by the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF). This means we’ll be able to continue our hard work on the screenplay for what will hopefully be another kick-ass story.

    Here’s the story’s logline, courtesy of Wouter:

    Stefaan is tormented by water that keeps seeping into his life. A flooded basement, leaking faucets, endless rain. He tries to flee the water – just like the stranded whales he studies.

    And here’s a piece of breathtaking art:

    12144936_10203924212826009_8247531981635616655_n

    Of course, the road ahead is long, but just for a moment, we get to take a tiny breather and enjoy a tiny piece of reassurance. Someone out there supports our work – and we’ll work our butts off to make them happy.

  • “Watch more TV”, says my hero

    “Watch more TV”, says my hero

    Here’s an interesting article about writers in gaming by the esteemed Sam Lake, writer of the first two Max Paynes and Alan Wake at Remedy in Finland.

    (He’s kind of my writing hero.)

    Now, I’ve got no idea whether Remedy’s next game, Quantum Break, with its mixture between 22-minute TV episodes and action gameplay, will be any good on the story front. Actually, I personally don’t see the blend working all that well – but boy do I want this to succeed.

    Even though it sounds like the exact opposite of what storytelling in games should be. For me, the strongest stories in games have always been the ones that made twists into gameplay actions instead of cutscenes. Quantum Break just seems to go entirely into the other direction, with gameplay impacting a 22-minute story segment that’s essentially a cutscene.

    Or is it? This is professionally produced television, right? You wouldn’t call Breaking Bad a cutscene, would you? So is this a cutscene just because it happens to television inside a videogame? And what is it about the word cutscene that makes it sound inherently worse than other forms of non-interactive fiction?

    Quantum Break’s storytelling concept confuses me. I can’t wait to see what happens.