Kameo: Elements of Power Interview: Cinematic Artist Michael Cawood

Mike Cawood’s interest in animation began while he sat glued to the television watching cartoons as a kid. He knew what he wanted to do by the time he was halfway through high school and began immediately to direct his career in the direction of animation. He went on to higher education and received a two-year diploma in Art and Design, all the while teaching himself how to animate in his spare time. At that time, he also began making short films at home. Eventually, he made short films in college as well.

It took him three years to complete an advanced Degree in Animation, in Wales. About that period, he says, “I had the time of my life pushing my skills as a filmmaker, and feeding off the enthusiasm everyone had for their work.”

How would you describe your technique in Animation and Cinematics?
I experimented in so many techniques over the years but ultimately specialized in traditional 2D hand drawn animation while using computers to bring it all together, mixing things up and blur the lines between 3D and 2D.

How did you get started at Rare?
I applied to Rare in 1999 and got the job (impressive considering I was an hour late for the interview—I couldn’t find the place!). After I finished off my Degree (First Class with Honours—Yay!) and picked up a few awards for my student films, I was put straight onto the creation of real-time cut-scenes on Dinosaur Planet (later to become Starfox Adventures). Although I did some in-game animations most of the credit for those goes to the other animators I worked with. Ultimately I stuck to making the cut-scenes for the duration of the project, using Maya and some proprietary software developed in-house.

At what point in the long course of the development of Kameo™:Elements of Power™ did you begin your contribution?
A number of the old Starfox team members moved over to the Kameo team in 2002 as it was going through changes that ultimately would result in the game being developed for the Xbox platform. Somewhere along the line I took over as the Lead Animator. So here I am today.

How did the change to Xbox 360 affect the cinematics of Kameo?
The biggest change was a massive increase in resolution and, along with that, the visual fidelity of the image that was expected. Although I’d always planned my cinematics to account for character model improvements and rendered my work at a higher resolution than was needed at the time, my system was really put to the test to reach Xbox 360 standards.

What processes are most important to the successful completion of your work?
Aside from the talent of the animators and modelers one of the most important things to keep on top of is communicating ideas amongst such a big team. It can be tough keeping track of such a big project and ensuring that you are all doing it justice at all times.

If you could be any of the Elemental Warriors or other characters in Kameo, which one would you be, and why?

Pummel Weed, no…Ash, no…Chilla, no…Oh that’s not a fair question! Wait, no…it’s easy. I’d be Kameo, that way I get to be all of them whenever I want.

What was your greatest challenge while working on the cinematics for Kameo?
Changes over the course of the game’s development have made the sequences very organic. Whether it’s the story, the lead character design, or the tiniest little trinket that a character wears, I’ve had to stay on top of the wave of changes while developing our workflow to deal smoothly with any foreseeable alterations.

What has been your greatest joy?
Making it look easy! When it all comes together and looks like we didn’t struggle to get there, it feels great. The character animation is the part where it really comes to life, where we can really get inside the heads of these characters and make them actually “think.” But it’s great seeing the final scene in the context of the game. It’s like watching two small waves meet and form another bigger one in perfect synchronization. The combination of the gameplay and the right cinematic at the right time provides a ride for the player’s emotions and when you get it right nothing else comes close!

If you have to name only one thing that you hope players will appreciate about the cinematics in Kameo, what would it be?
I’m loath to pick any single aspect, since you’ll only scrutinize it and see the flaws! Although I’d like to think I’ve pushed Kameo’s personality and her “cool factor.”

Kameo has an especially beautiful and voluptuous 3-D environment. How were you able to stretch your creativity on scenery details and character cinematics within this world?
Actually re-producing the game’s environment in pre-rendered form was a major issue. There’s a lot of custom work that goes into getting the best out of the real-time environments, and it takes a great deal of effort to match those standards. But there are a few key spots in these sequences where we pulled out all of the stops and did our best to rise to that challenge.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into a career doing what you do?
Funnily enough Art isn’t everything. I’ve actually benefited from a strong background in maths and physics from my early school days. On top of that I’ve had to focus heavily on my animation and film making skills. But you have to know a little or a lot about so many different areas that it’s hard to pin it down. Hard work, talent and perseverance clearly help, but the right attitude and really good training go a long way.