       'Uncovered' written by Kaj 's8n' Haffenden. Any glaring errors in judgement? Anything you think should be in here? Let me know! "Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?" |
Interview with Phil "Overman" Rice
First off, tell us a bit about yourself.. I'm a 27-year old Philosophy graduate from Trevecca University in Nashville, TN. By day, I work at the Boswell's Harley Davidson in Nashville... by night, when I'm not playing Quake2, I'm composing music, working on a novel, and of course, working on this or that Quake-movie project. When did you first get into computers? What was your first computer? I first had exposure to computers in about 4th-5th grade, where I learned BASIC on an Apple II-C. My first computer came along several years later, when our family got a Commodore 64. The first game that really hooked me into computer gaming for all time was, of all things, the classic text adventure "Zork." That was back in the days before hi-res graphics, when "new" gaming companies like Epyx, Infocom, and EA were really focused on gameplay. Okay, brag about your current setup... I'm now working on a Pentium-II 400mHz system, with 256mb RAM. About 30 gb of hard-drive space. Soundblaster AWE64-Gold (ISA) soundcard, which still records digital audio cleaner for me than the SB-Live, I'm not sure why. ATI All-in-Wonder Pro AGP 8mb video card (w/ video capture), and a Pure3D-II (Voodoo2) for 3d gaming. However, I just ordered Creative's TNT2-Ultra, which will replace both of those cards, and will finally enable me to play Quake3Arena without "tricking" it to use my current setup. I'm very happy with it, especially for the demo editing / audio production I do... the RAM makes all the difference in the world. When did Quake first catch your eye? When Quake first came out, I was still on a 486/33 in college, and wasn't happy with the performance I could get, so I stuck with Doom2 for a long time. By the time Quake2 Test was out, I decided it was time to upgrade, and got a 166mHz machine. I bought Quake2 the day it came out, and really missed the whole Quake (1) scene altogether. As I started to get a little more "net-knowledgable", I discovered that an entire online community had sprung up around Quake. I didn't even play Quake multiplayer until after I had been playing Quake2 for quite awhile. How then did Zarathustra Studios come about? To fill a void, or just something you felt like doing...? It all started when I was searching the web for demos of the infamous Dennis "Thresh" Fong in early 1998. I had heard of Thresh from his Doom2 domination, and that he was also considered by most gamers to be the best Quake player as well. While searching for those demos, I stumbled upon "Ranger Gone Bad," an early Quake-movie. I was intrigued, because I'd never heard of Quake "movies," and wondered what it could be. Watching that little flick, I started to envision the possibilities, and decided then and there to learn everything I possibly could about making Quake2 movies. I started by asking questions on a mailing list devoted to the topic, and proceeded to study the unofficial "specs" of the demo file format, and pick the brains of the few informed people I could find. When Keygrip2 was released that summer (1998), I set about learning that program backwards and forwards. It came surprisingly easy.... now I just needed some subject matter to "test" out what I had learned. The opportunity came when the UK hosted their Quakedelica tournament in the fall of 1998. I was following the tournament for, admittedly, one reason only... Thresh was scheduled to make his official Quake2 debut against the tournament winner, and I wanted to see him play. Perhaps it was a bizarre twist of fate... but the demo of Thresh's game was totally screwed up. Somehow, the demo did not save the camera info of the observer who recorded it... you couldn't see a thing! I knew for a fact that a great many people wanted to see this demo, and realized that I had to quickly seize the opportunity or someone certainly would. I didn't sleep for the next two nights, putting in about 25 hours of caffiene-sustained work into it. Then I sent the press release to Planetquake. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and I decided to design a website to showcase that project and any others I might decide to do. Thus "Zarathustra Studios" was born. Planetquake liked my content, and graciously agreed to host the website. What exactly is the role of ZS? Does it just offer the most kick-ass Quake II movies ever released, or is there more to it than that? (blush) Actually, when I was working on "Father Frags Best" and designing the website, I was convinced that simply showcasing my movies was not enough really elicit any long-term interest from the Quake2 community. So I decided to write a set of tutorials on the subject of Quake2 movie-making, starting from the very beginning, and passing along everything I had learned about it. The learning curve on demo editing was considerable, even with Keygrip2, and I wanted to make the whole process more accessible to anyone who had an interest. The more the merrier, I say. The response on the tutorials has been great as well, and I've also received some great questions and inquiries from people working through them... and those inquiries helped me shape the rest of the "curriculum" for future tutorials. In regards to your hit release "Father Frags Best", what was the response you got like? Was it as popular as you expected it to be? I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had what I thought was a humorous idea, which developed into a script, and was completed in an unbelievable 60 days including map design. The response was unbelievable... comments came pouring in, with very few exceptions all positive. We just hit 10,000 downloads, it still blows my mind. I couldn't be happier about the response. ...were there any negative reactions to it? Yes, enough to count on one hand. I had one younger kid say that the "PG" material got him in trouble with his mom, so I changed the rating to R to be safe. Occasionally, someone would say that the jokes were "cheesy"... but hey, it's a sit-com, so I guess that's appropriate really. What can we expect from ZS in the future...? We've got a couple projects in the works that will be released this summer and early fall... one of which will feature some familiar faces from... ahem... a previous movie I did. =) Now that I've assembled a team of specialists, I think the quality will only go uphill from here. Also, the complete set of tutorials on demo editing will be completed by early Fall 99 as well. After that, I've got a very big project in the works, which will be a full-length feature (<>2 hrs). It will require a solid year of work, and it will be, as far as I know, the most ambitious 3D-gaming movie ever made so far. I'm looking to get as close to Hollywood quality as is possible. If all goes well, it will debut in some sort of public performance at Quakecon2000, much like "Devil's Covenant" in 1998. You do movie work outside of Quake II, correct? Tell us a little about what you do here... Wow, I wish I did. It's something I dream about from time to time... and I might one day make an independent film of some sort. I've got lots of ideas... but the business of movies is a tough one to break into, and it seems silly to bank on that at all. If I do get involved at all, it will more than likely be because I've become independently wealthly and can oversee it all myself. What sort of a future do you think game engines have in the movie industry? What's your opinion on the whole "machinema" scene? That depends on a lot, really... while game engines are advancing fast, so are real movie technologies. I don't know that games will ever quite catch up... and even then, if game developers themselves don't have any interest in "cinematic" use of their engines, then the game engine will always be something a movie maker has to fight against to fit it to his/her purposes. Sadly, no one at iD Software is interested in this at all, especially John Carmack, who is convinced that cinematics are a waste of time. The "saviour" might turn out to be Tom Hall of Ion Storm, who is currently working on Anachronox, a Quake2-engine RPG with lots of camera-scripting features built into the game. Tom thinks about games like a cinematographer... and that's just the kind of thinking we need in game development for the future to truly be open for 3d-movie-making. As for the current machinema scene, a vast majority of the movie-makers (myself included) are in this for purely entertainment, not for any "artful" motives. The most noteworthy exception to this is Hugh Hancock and Strange Company (www.strangecompany.org), the makers of the highly-acclaimed Eschaton series. Hugh (aka The Nomad) and his crew are very serious about their endeavors, and it shows in both their subject matter and their overall professionalism. After this summer, when I begin work on my "magnum opus" project, I'm hoping to shift my focus in that same direction... I'm convinced it will be good for the Q-movie community, and above that, it's really what inspires me. It's still entertainment... but I'm looking to move toward something that entertains on other levels than just "slap-stick." Fear not, there's plenty coming for comedy fans... but for those who are looking for more substance, there's something on the horizon for you as well. A BIG thanks go out to Overman for giving up his time for an interview... expect to hear a lot from Overman (and the ZS team as a whole) in the future :). Questions? Comments? Ideas?... send 'em over here. |