Eight months ago, while playing San Andreas, I got this idea that I could use the in-game camera to craft some sort of article. I had already begun playing around with the camera, snapping pictures of various game oddities and easter eggs as a sort of hobby, and had previously captured some interesting shots. I didn't really consider the size or scope of the project when I began; my only goal was to use the camera and have some fun.
What started out as an experiment to see what could be done within the confines of the GTA game engine quickly turned into something much larger. Snapping pictures of the guys during the perfect frame of an idle animations to convey the right message or letting them wander in just the right direction to give them intention was extremely tedious. If the time of day wasn't right for the shot I'd need to loiter in the area for 20 minutes (in real time) for the next "day" to come around. Driving around the state is never without incident and more than once I was left stranded in the middle of the country with no vehicle large enough for my guys.
And the deaths! Oh, my poor crew. Taking pictures is (apparently) pretty hazardous. Their lives were much safer when they were just drinking and smoking in the alleys of Grove Street.
But during all of this, I kept snapping. I'd say that for every shot that made the final article, there were five shot in a similar manner which got cut. And after my final "roll" of film was snapped and my ending written, I could wrap up the article. What of all those extra pics? What ideas were cut? What situations made the gave me an ulcer?
Filled under:
#1 hobbie Jul 7, 2005 02:36am
Those are some nice shots. Did that one guy really die after running up a ramp?
#2 R. LeFeuvre Jul 7, 2005 04:11pm
Yeah. I was actually trying to get one of my photo-buddies to follow me up that entire scaffolding. But he just was so confused with the switchbacks that the going was very very slow, he had a hard time following me. And then, at one point when I was not watching him, I heard him scream out and he was dead... killed by walking up the ramp.
Of course, the strangest death related scenario was the one time the Biggs didn't die. In the original article there was a section where Biggs is (nearly) killed by an exploding car, the "Ghost Car". That all really happened, just as it was pictured. I blew up the car and for some reason Biggs didn't run to a safe distance with the rest of us. And he was indeed next to it when it blew up and I found him laying underneath the flaming, charcoaled wreckage. I snapped some pictures of the heinous scene and then, as cars do in GTA, the smoldering vehicle vanished and Biggs stood up. I was so shocked I barely got a shoot off before he ran back to us. I really don't how he lived....
It was so amazing I had to put it in the story, although most people probably don't realize that it's exactly how it played out for me. Well, unless they read this.
#3 Slayerx Aug 7, 2005 12:58pm
ur things cool, i did one and everyone died!. one died from ballas in san ferrio and the others got ran over just before LV i killed the driver mind.......