Video game jobs for film students?

[jrmelancon]

Hello everyone! This is my first post on here and I'm glad to be a part of the community!

That being said, I have a few questions that I'm hoping I can get some help with.

I am currently in the process of finishing a degree in film from Full Sail University and will pursuing a Master's in Business Entertainment directly after and I find that the further I push and the more I accomplish in this program, the more open I become to alternative career options that, while still pertaining to almost all aspects of film making, aren't necessarily the "norm" when pursuing a career in the film industry.

As far back as I can remember I've always been in love with movies. The lights, the characters, the story, the idea of being whisked out of this world and adventuring into another... there is no greater feeling in the world, as I'm sure you all would agree. I tell you this because I hope that after you have read my last statement you will understand the gravity of when I say that my love of movies is overshadowed only by my love of video games.

I have been a gamer my entire life and it's been an amazing experience seeing games come from their humble and simple beginnings to seeing the newest and biggest games on the market now that rival the production values of most Hollywood blockbusters. But what excites me the most, and this is something that is becoming more apparent the more I learn about film, is how great of a story telling device video games have become and how powerful the medium is becoming as our technology gets better and better. The idea of a “Video Game” is no longer what it used to be and I think that eventually (sometime very soon in fact) the rest of the world is going to catch on to that fact and video games are going to be accepted as the valid storytelling device it’s become.

My question to all of you is this...

Is there a place for a future filmmaker in the world of video games? If so, how? Who would I speak to? Where is a good place to attempt to make this happen?

So many questions...but I guess the best one would to just ask if anyone has any advice...whatever it may be, any and all help/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you all in advance for any help! Looking forward to your responses!

-John

[beemoh]

Is there a place for a future filmmaker in the world of video games? If so, how? Who would I speak to? Where is a good place to attempt to make this happen?

What role in filmmaking, if any, have you specialised in?

Other than that, there will probably always be cutscenes in games, so you would probably be most immediately suited to that, in which case it's just a matter of applying to studios that want people to make cutscenes with a portfolio.

It would be a wise trick to do a few machinimas as well, so you can get used to working in common engines like Unreal, as well as standard tools like Maya.

If you're looking more to bring your own Magnum Opus to gaming, then design or production would be a better path to take, in which case you're looking at joining a mod team or making your own games in your free time.

If push comes to shove, though, the QA route is still viable for most anything if you're willing to put up with a lot of tedium, diabolical pay and are able to do the social networking thing.

[jrmelancon]

Hey Beemoh! Thank you very much for the speedy reply!

For the most part my experience in film had been in lighting, writing and directing. My favorite part of film is setting a mood and telling a story, be it visually or through dialogue.

So I suppose that ultimately I would like to tell my own story in video games. I saw that you recommended the possibility of me making my own games. I love the idea of this and I think that ultimately this is what I would like to do but there is a hitch...even though I like to think of myself as being somewhat tech savvy, I am by no means a programmer...are there any other ways you may know of to go about this?

Thanks again

[ezacharyk]

You don't have to be too tech savvy to make a game or a level.

You can purchase the latest copy of Unreal for the PC and put together a level or two. You can even mod it easily enough. You don't even have to be a great programmer. Unreal allows you to use a scripting language to create scripted events. Scripting languages are kind of like programming languages, but a lot easier for non programmers to use.

If you want to make story heavy games, I would suggest getting a copy of Neverwinter NIghts. I know the first one has a great mod tool, I have not played the second one, so I am not sure about it. I would check it out as it is the newer one.

Neverwinter Nights is great as you can script dialog and events to create pretty good stories. You won't be able to do as much detail on things like level and props or lighting. But you will be able to script events using one of those scripting languages.

There are plenty of cheap tools available for you to get your foot hold in. You just have to look and be willing to put the work into them.

[jrmelancon]

Hey ezacharyk thanks for the input! That's definitely sometime I am going to look into!

When you say pick up a copy of Unreal or Neverwinter Nights do you just mean the games themselves or is there a special version that lets you make certain mods and levels? Sorry for all the silly questions...like I said I'm kind of new to all of this...all I've done so far is play games, this is my first time trying to make one haha

[beemoh]

Hey ezacharyk thanks for the input! That's definitely sometime I am going to look into!

When you say pick up a copy of Unreal or Neverwinter Nights do you just mean the games themselves or is there a special version that lets you make certain mods and levels? Sorry for all the silly questions...like I said I'm kind of new to all of this...all I've done so far is play games, this is my first time trying to make one haha

The games themselves usually come with the creation tools.

Howeever, they rarely come with meaningful documentation, so remember to fire up Google or give the computing section of your nearest bookstore/Amazon a visit.

[jrmelancon]

Hey guys...sorry for the late reply.

Thanks a lot for the input! You've both given me a lot to work with! If you have any more ideas or insight I'm always open for advice...

thanks again guys