Attempted Interviews

   From the beginning, the games of Quantic dreams would be focused upon in my essay on performance in video games (Seeing as David Cage had always aimed to make every game title he worked on an interactive movie of sorts), so around the 5th of November I had this message sent out to them in hopes of getting a response... no luck, though, but it was worth a try (Maybe I should have given Naughty Dogs a try too... wouldn't hurt to give it a try this weekend, I suppose, but if Quantic Dreams was too busy to respond, something tells me Naughty Dogs will be too).

Dear Quantic Dreams,

   I am a 3rd year animation student at Leeds College of Art, I have always been the biggest fans of your works and was wondering if I could do a simple email interview with you for my Dissertation? The topic I happen to be writing about is acting in video game animation. And seeing as motion capture plays a pretty huge role when it comes to the narrative of most games these days, I was hoping to know more about how you go about in creating an empathetic performance for your characters?

   Thank you kindly!

Yours Sincerely,

   Rebecca Wong Si-Lin

   And seeing as Jamaal Bradley made up a big part of my argument (Much like Ed Hooks was), it only seemed right to interview him if possible, but I suppose he himself is also busy on working on numerous projects at the moment seeing that he has always been really high in demand:

Hello Mr Jamaal,

   My name is Rebecca Wong Si-Lin and presently, I am studying my final year of Animation at Leeds College of Art and am presently working on a dissertation on Acting in Video Games. As embarrassing as it is to admit (Though then again I am incredibly slow with most things), I was only able to learn about you and your amazing career through LeSean Thomas' tumblr about a year or so back since I began my studies in animation, but have since then become a huge fan of yours!

   But my apologies for drifting off there, back to the subject at hand, I was hoping whether you could answer a few questions through emails?

   After reading Ed Hook's somewhat disheartening (But nonetheless still incredibly insightful) opinion on the future of acting in video games in his book "Acting for Animators", I was so glad that I was able to chance upon your interview with Nancy Beiman in "Animated Performance" and see a considerably more uplifting outlook on the progression of game cinematics. 
   
   I was wondering however, since that interview (Which should be more than 5 years since), has your opinion changed as well? Do you think there will be more video games to come that will have strong performances that will evoke just as much emotion and empathy to the audience as other forms of media do?

   Would you mind also sharing with me some of the game titles that you have particularly enjoyed when it came to the area of animated performance and storytelling?

   Aside from the more primary focus on gameplay back in the day, what do you think were the aspects that restrained older video game titles form giving a stronger performance (Is it writing? Graphics? Technology? Etc.) as compared to the games of today?

   Does your opinion still stand? Will games and film really have the same quality of character and animation in the future?

   Thank you kindly for taking the time to read my message, please have a wonderful day!

Yours Sincerely,

Rebecca Wong Si-Lin

Update: I gave it a shot and tried contacting Naughty Dogs after I had written this post, don't think I will be expecting a response from them however.