Developer's Journal 4:3 (Patreon)

Hey everybody.  This week I knocked out the opening scene of Episode Four in which Aghavni and MC talk through his theory of the case.  It was easy enough because the environment/lighting was already set up in Episode Three.  By the way, there was one line of some interest from Aghavni in the ending scene of Episode Three with some implications.  I wonder how many of you noticed it? 🙂

I do still have some work to do on the prologue, but I had to get a custom asset made for that scene so I'll come back to it this coming week now that I have the asset.

This preview image for some reason makes me want to talk about the Dutch angle (the preview is not a Dutch angle).  The Dutch angle is a tilt of the camera which "produces a viewpoint akin to tilting one's head to the side."  (Thanks Wikipedia!)  It is frequently used in movies to crease tension and unease.

I have noticed a strong trend in AVNs of using the Dutch angle a lot.  Some developers who are far better artists than I am seem to use it in almost every still.  I do use it, but I don't use it that much.  The Dutch angle does make for dramatic renders, but Leaving DNA aspires to be a relatively grounded narrative.  And I think that, for example, long conversational scenes--which LDNA has in spades--are better served by similarly grounded renders, rather than dramatic renders.  Being stingy, though, means that I can more effectively use the Dutch angle for its normal cinematic purpose of creating tension and unease.

For instance, when the MC is sitting in his car after the wedding, as his fantasy of revenge plays out, I switch to the Dutch angle to create that off-balance effect.  And I think that combining the tilt effect with some ominous music creates, in that particular situation, a very tense moment as we see MC's mind fight against his own deeply held principles.

To be clear, I'm not knocking any devs who use the Dutch angle.  MissFortune uses it a lot and he might be my favorite AVN artist.  I'm just explaining my own approach to it.  This is my journal and that means you guys have to put up with my ramblings.

That's all for this week.  Thank you for your support!

--Monk