Bruno Velazquez on 'God of War', Film-Game Crossover; Hal Hickel Reveals Details of 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' at Showcase Conference

Bruno Velazquez, the game's director, said at the View Conference in Turin on Monday, during a discussion on how filmmaking and video game production have become intertwined: James Cameron's 'Avatar' technology helped shape the look of Sony Santa Monica's 'God of War' games. Velazquez said the studio aims to present the two latest main-series [...]

Sony Santa Monica borrowed the virtual camera technology used in "Avatar," while Paramount is remaking the 1990s games for "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow."

James Cameron's "Avatar" technology helped shape the look of Sony Santa Monica Studios' "God of War" games, game director Bruno Velasquez said at the View conference in Turin on Monday during a discussion on how filmmaking and video game production are increasingly intertwined.

Velazquez said the studio is looking to present the two original God of War games as a single, uninterrupted, and borrowed techniques from cinema to give the virtual camera a handheld feel. "We get inspiration from movies," he said. Noting that the developers procured one of the cameras that Cameron used in "Avatar" and brought it onto the set to film scenes with the actors. RELATED STORIES 'A Statement' Review: Just What We Need Right Now - Another Climate Change Movie! But Tom McCarthy's History Talk Festival Reveals How Much We Knew Back In 1980 Dominic West and Sienna Miller Shine in Divorce Thriller 'War': TV Review

These comments were made during the "Ask Me Anything About Games, VFX and Animation" session featuring Industrial Light and Magic Animation Director Hal Hickel, Guerrilla Games Studio Director John Bart Van Beek, Paramount VFX Supervisor Tara DeMarco, Lola Visual Effects Supervisor Trent Klaus, and Skydance Animation Production Designer Noelle Triaureau. The discussion was moderated by Wieke Schrakamp. Popular in Variety

"Certainly, it's pretty much the same these days," said Van Beek, whose studio is behind the Horizon franchise. He cited the volume of LEDs used in virtual production as one example of game technology influencing filmmaking, although he noted that games are fundamentally different due to player choice and agency.

Traffic also flows in the other direction. DiMarco said his current Paramount project, "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow," uses game historians and consultants to recreate the look and feel of 1990s and early 2000s video games, rather than simply applying today's technology to period material. He said the team is preparing a guide to pixel art, resolution and gameplay.

Directed by Sian Hader and starring Daisy Edgar Jones, the film is an adaptation of Gabriel Zwin's best-selling novel about game developers.

Van Beek pointed to the success of "The Last of Us" and "Fallout" as evidence of the increasing flow of intellectual property from video games to film and television. "On the contrary, it almost doesn't really happen anymore," he said, recalling the proliferation of movie-based games in the 1990s. However, he cautions that adaptations are still challenging because many of the original interactive experiences can be lost.

This convergence extends to the way studios evaluate audience reactions. In detail, Velazquez revealed that the development of "God of War" includes scheduled playtests, facial recordings, eye tracking and detailed reviews that examine narrative comprehension and difficulty. "We actually have eye tracking software where we actually see where their eyes go," he explained. "Are they looking where we want them to look at certain moments?" Such feedback is converted into the production process.

For the figure, technological sophistication does not necessarily guarantee better character performance. Discussing "The Mandalorian and Grogo," he explained how ILM determines when to keep Grogo as a puppet and when digital intervention is necessary. "Sometimes a puppet is exactly the effect you want on the brain of the audience," he said.

Hickel also explained how the production uses virtual reality to explore digital environments and simulate different seating positions inside the IMAX theater. Apple Vision Pro was particularly useful for judging the scale of the sets prior to physical construction. We could really understand the space and know how big it was, and what parts were actually going to be built.

The conversation also touched on artificial intelligence, and Velázquez compared current concerns to earlier fears that computer animation and motion capture would destroy traditional animation jobs. He argued that both technologies ultimately expanded the capabilities of artists. You still need that creative mind. You still need a creative team to come together and use these tools.

Van Beek took a more cautious stance, warning against possible misuse of artificial intelligence and appropriation of other artists' work. "People will use it for really great things and really terrible things," he asserted. Hekel, meanwhile, distinguished the uncertainty of professional employment from the sustained ability to create art. “There is no technological innovation that stops people from making art and finding ways to make art,” he argued.

Despite increasingly sophisticated tools, panelists emphasized that technology alone does not guarantee jobs. Velasquez said he would rather hire someone who collaborates effectively than a more technically strong candidate with a poor attitude, while DeMarco stressed the importance of communication, constructive feedback and adaptability when moving between disciplines.