Today we welcome Matt Codd to the Respawn team! Matt is a veteran of the film industry (see examples of his work and a list of his movie experience at MattCodd.com) who has worked on projects like Saving Private Ryan, Twelve Monkeys and Serenity. This is Matt’s first time working on a video game and we’re very excited to draw from his vast knowledge of film.
AH: Can you tell me a little about your previous film projects?
MC: I liked the ones where it was a more relaxed environment and not governed by panic like where there’s crazy budget cuts and then trying to reform a film. Working with Spielberg was great because some of the power he has has been the most relaxed. Working on something like Twelve Monkeys is interesting because its Terry Gilliam and his mind and imagination is enormous. I’ve worked with Nigel Phelps a lot (who just did Transformers). In fact I started with him on Judge Dredd and I just love the way that he works.
AH: And your favorite specific design?
MC: Chronicles of Riddick…I was given a lot of autonomy on that. I was given all the necros to do, and basically everything that dealt with the bad guys was my task. I enjoyed doing that and using sort of Baroque rather than the usual science fiction formula.
AH: How did you get into art, design and film?
MC: Comics and movies. Star Wars. The very beginning must have been Planet of the Apes. And Ray Harryhausen films. And then when Star Wars came around it just changed everything.
AH: What do you perceive the challenges are of taking your film experience and applying it to video games?
MC: Well, I think as far as I’m concerned whether its video games or movies, good design isn’t all that matters. It’s all about trying to be original in this day and age which is really difficult because everything has been done at some point or another. I think that there’s more understanding of the design process in video games these days. I think that things have gotten so speeded up and out of control in movies that it’s not so interesting to work on and the time that’s put aside to video games is far more interesting and more fascinating to look at. A lot of the guys that I know in movies, we see a lot of game design and think “that’s awesome and I wish we were doing that in movies”.
AH: What are the games, in particular, that inspired you?
MC: Well, actually I stopped playing video games to be honest because I’ve got this massively addictive nature, I’ll be up till 5 in the morning. (Ed. note: Guess who is going to play video games all the time now!)
AH: I understand that.
MC: Things really changed for me with Medal of Honor, I was obsessed with that game. And then Doom 3 I thought was a brilliantly designed game. And then it goes on and on and I see, Gears of War, there’s some amazing things there. I mean, some [video games] also seems like they might be overdesigned, some of it’s too complicated, you can’t see whats going on and it’s the same in movies, I think there can be overdesign as well.
AH: Did you have any preconceived notions of what working in a video game office would be like?
MC: It’s difficult, your mind gets so blurred working on movies and I think it was the other concept guys telling me that how they enjoyed working on games and how much more freedom and time for their imagination they had. So when I was asked to come and meet and do this game I thought “If all those things are true, I’d love to come do it.” and sure enough, it seems that way.
AH: Well, I’m not totally sure how the film process works, but I think we get more time.
MC: It’s a lot shorter these days. I used to be working on a film for 6 or 8 months, and these days if you get 3 months working as a concept artist, that’s good. I think they’re just trying to squeeze as much out as quickly as possible without considering what the end result is. Half of design is the thought process, rather than just churning out stuff for no reason.
AH: Where do you start when you come into a new project like this?
MC: I’ve only been here a week so the first thing is for me to get an idea of what we’re working on. This is a secret project so going around to each work station and figuring out what each person is up to and what they’ve been doing and what they want to do as well. So, I’m still doing that.
AH: Is there anything that you find particularly confusing off the bat?
MC: The first thing and only because I’m not used to it is this that working on movies they slap a script in front of you. Pretty much 80% of the movie is going to be made that way. But what’s interesting about this company, or games, I’m not sure if it’s the same way everywhere, is they’re inventing as they go along and then seeing if it fits or if they need to take it out, it’s a far more imaginative way of coming up with entertainment. Of course, its gotta make sense at some point. You’ll have to ask me again later on.
There you have it. We’re delighted to have Matt on board and can’t wait to show you more of his work in the future. Welcome, Matt!
Comments
Make a Comment