Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: Zhu Siqi

When the game already has the advantage of substitution in terms of action, the adaptation of the film and TV drama in the literary drama may be the best choice.

On January 15, the adaptation of the widely watched action adventure game "the Last Survivor" was officially launched on HBO streaming platform and television stations in the United States. The play was prepared by HBO and directed by Craig Mazin, who directed the word-of-mouth series Chernobyl in 2019. The game's creator and screenwriter Neil Druckmann also participated in the script writing and the selection of actors. "the Last Survivor," a nine-episode series, basically continues the original framework of the series, telling the story of Joel escorting the accidental girl Ellie across the post-apocalyptic United States. As of today (February 6), the TV series has aired four episodes and has received high scores on rating websites such as IMDb and Douban.

I am both a gamer and a film lover. But every time a game is announced to be filmed and adapted, I suddenly become vigilant. This is all due to some more painful experiences of watching movies. For example, without saying the name of the protagonist, it is like the "mysterious sea" of a passer-by's story, the inexplicable work "Assassin's Creed" that can not save Michael Fassbender's appearance, and the "biochemical Evil" series, which gradually slipped from part 1 to part 7.

What dissatisfies me most about this kind of film is that it falls into the strange circle of empty industrialization and large-scale production. Those film and television adaptations that had a good reputation in the early years were also commercial genres, such as the old Tomb Raider series, the first "biochemical Evil" series, and even "Silent Hill" series, but they were more or less refreshing in the environment at that time. Angelina Jolie and Mila Jovovich not only have great personal charm, advanced special effects sets and exciting action scenes can also make the audience shout.

The amazing sense of some works can also be attributed to the times when the Hollywood film and television industry is extremely developed today, the original visual wonders have become commonplace, and can even be said to become the standard and passing line of cinema films. The game industry is not to be outdone. Many big companies' promotional films and broadcast CG let people say, "this may be a film company delayed by games." However, there are still some difficulties in adapting the game into a movie. The scripts of many games are not so innovative in the first place, but just to connect the exciting parkour or fight, which is a very standard adventure story after all. Players have fun, essentially because they can operate, can choose, can experience. When watching the movie, I can only sit in a chair and watch others fight and kill, but the story is very mediocre and will naturally find it difficult to accept.

Magic changes in characters and settings are also common. In fact, there are some famous games, which originally provide a very good story framework, and it is good to be faithful to the original when adapting, but the film creators do not believe in evil and make random changes, resulting in players and the general audience are not satisfied. You don't even know what kind of audience the film producers are trying to please.

On the day of the release of the movie version of the Assassin's Creed, I sat in the cinema and watched the actors flying up and down in the sandy buildings, picking up all kinds of inauthentic weapons and hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. I just want to shout in my heart, "Why don't you give me a handle!"

So, the last thing I want to see about "the Last Survivor" is that it is filmed as a zombie film on a rotten street, focusing on gunfights and escapes that must seem particularly tedious.

Luckily, HBO didn't choose that method. From episode 1 to episode 3, apart from the scenes praised by players and the degree of restoration of makeup, the show does know what a player who has lost his handle wants to see from the show. The creators compressed a considerable number of action scenes and deleted most of the exploration process, but on the basis of restoring the key plot of the game almost frame by frame, they added a lot of creative content that can only be seen from an off-stage perspective.

The TV show's reduction of the game scene is really amazing. I really like the original passage in which Joel's daughter Sarah went to the city after school to fix her watch and then visit the old lady next door. That way of shooting is the classic "serenity before the Storm" in the thriller-something has begun to go wrong, but the protagonist continues to live a normal life unconsciously, missing the key details of the changes with his eyes open. The audience, who are off the screen and have no way to interfere with the action of the characters, can only be anxious and their palms sweat.

In the game, this tension is transmitted by giving the player direct control over Sarah. As little girls left alone at home, listening to sirens and dogs barking outside, watching the explosion on the news, we fell into panic. The TV series also copied this segment, but if it were the only one, the effect of fear and horror would not be so sufficient because of the lack of sense of operation.

The scene of the old lady's spasm is probably one of the scariest scenes in episode 1, and the biggest adaptation of episode 3 is completely out of the hero's perspective, telling the life story of passers-by NPC Bill and Frank, who were originally in the game. In addition to complementing part of the worldview, this seemingly dispensable story has already summed up the atmosphere impression left by the whole game so early on-barren, but lush and beautiful. just like the wasteland art style covered by green plants throughout the work. After all, the literal translation of "The Last of Us" is "the last us", so we must tell more stories about people.

I think the story in episode 3 is essentially intended to convey the dignity of people living in eschatology. It is the connection between love, aesthetics and sociality that has never been given up, and even the optional death, that makes the bystander perspective that people still provide for the play make me realize that I have not carefully examined Joel until I went through customs. Because it was Joel in the game, I focused my eyes on Ellie most of the time through his eyes and paid little attention to himself. My feelings for Ellie are gradually emerging as "this is my daughter". The perspective of the TV series gives me more opportunities to look at Joel and examine the "father-daughter" relationship from the outside.

Perhaps by stripping out distractions such as fighting, I realized more clearly in the play that the narrative of the first three episodes was actually gradually depriving Joel of his daughter, partner and friends. So that the later relationship with Ellie has the opportunity to develop. These three deprivation correspond to the earliest trauma (bereavement), the reason to start (immunity), and the determination to stick to it (protection). In strict contrast to his and Ellie's journey, the hierarchy is easier to figure out than busy slapping mushrooms with tiles in the game. The TV series' careful arrangement of this rhythm provides a very delicate and coherent emotional experience, which enables the audience to successfully complete the transformation from "actor" to "viewer", that is, from substitution to empathy.

Therefore, I think the reason why many game adaptations have "flipped over" is precisely because players have lost the means to replace them, but they have not been able to establish a connection of empathy. I am not opposed to the adaptation of a game into an action movie, but that when the game already has an advantage in action, the adapted film and TV drama pays more attention to the quality of the play or the narrative efficiency in the action scene, which will make the player feel more comfortable on the screen and off the screen.

In the first three episodes, Joel and Ellie seem to have very few harmonious scenes in the same frame, and their relationship is far from getting close.

"what are people like us doomed to protect? the bastards in front of us are in trouble." Being able to adjust to this point in terms of narrative, coupled with the fact that HBO is already higher than the average production level in the industry, the play "Last Survivor" has now become my favorite game adaptation.

Because of the good response to the broadcast, HBO soon announced that it would renew the second season of "Last Survivor", confirming that it would cover the plot of "Last Survivor: part II". Sure enough, the comment area below the related news has been brushed up again. Nearly three years after its release, it is still difficult to find a peaceful environment for discussion.

Although I was not able to complete the second part of customs clearance, the reason for me to "abandon the pit" was mainly due to its operational arrangement, not the plot. In my eyes, narrative is sometimes more useful than the story itself, especially when I have to be personally involved in the operation.

In the game, the producer wanted me to manipulate Abby at some point and take her perspective to understand the situation she was facing, which was no problem. But the actual play experience is that whenever I, as Ellie, because Abby's behavior is angry, I will be forced to switch to the operation of Abby, as if the producer is lecturing at my head.

Under the circumstances that players naturally have more feelings for Ellie, the producer should have used a smarter way to guide us to sympathize with another heroine. the effect of this design is at odds with the original intention of the producer. it is also the reason why it is difficult for me to get into it and finally give up the pit. Therefore, I expressed a view in the public opinion scuffle at that time: if "Last Survivor: the second movie" were a TV series rather than a game, I might have a much higher opinion of it. Because the sense of substitution of TV series is weaker, the audience is more naturally located in the perspective of God, and will not be seriously affected by their own emotions in the plot. Sitting on the sidelines, the mood will be smoother when switching between the two women. It would be better if we could optimize some less clever characters, especially Abby's father.

At least this is my expectation for the follow-up of the TV version of "the Last Survivor". This expectation may not come true, but the current situation of TV series makes me a little more confident about it. I know that this series is still controversial and is likely to continue to be controversial. But it is a work worth paying attention to after all. How it will be interpreted and presented in the future, I will believe HBO for the time being.

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