Final Fantasy VIII Interview - What makes this new game hotter then the others? - Miscellaneous - http://maxpages.com/homertips/Final_Fantasy_VII

It sold nearly 3 million copies in the first four days after its release in
Japan. Last year, its predecessor broke sales records and became the
largest selling title ever for the Sony PlayStation. Spanning four CDs,
going farther and deeper than any other video game has gone before, and
offering some of the most stunning images ever seen on a gaming
system, Squaresoft's Final Fantasy VIII is coming soon--and you know
you want it.

Square shattered the sales barrier with Final Fantasy VII, selling 3.26 million copies in Japan alone,
and Sony has that classic title to thank in no small part for the runaway success of its system.
Without a doubt, Square's track record has been spotty of late, with releases ranging from the
less-than-sterling Saga Frontier to the sadly underappreciated Xenogears. However, a look at both the
preview demo and Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII makes it clear where most of Square's design
focus has been concentrated since the last Final Fantasy. This eighth game in the series may well be
the most stunning yet, in more ways than one.

And believe it or not, Final Fantasy is heading to the silver screen. Unlike
other live-action video game films, such as Wing Commander, Mortal
Kombat, and Super Mario Bros., the Final Fantasy movie will use
computer-generated graphics, complete with motion-captured character
animation. The film is currently under production at Square's studios in
Hawaii, and is scheduled for a major theatrical release in the United
States and Japan in spring or summer of 2001. With that in mind,
Gamecenter landed an interview with Jun Aida, vice president of Squaresoft USA's film entertainment
division and the producer of the Final Fantasy film. What's going on behind the scenes of the movie,
and what's going on inside the game? Read on and find out.

Gamecenter was recently able to spend some time talking with Jun Aida, the vice president of the film
entertainment division of Squaresoft USA and the producer of the Final Fantasy movie. Mr. Aida works
out of Square Hawaii, where he took some time to chat about Final Fantasy and the game industry, as
well as the work he's doing on the Final Fantasy movie.

GC: Tell us a bit about what Square's Hawaii branch does.

J. A.: This is the research and development facility in the United States, and a
majority of the studio is dedicated to the production of the [movie] feature. We
also have a game development section as well.

GC: Tell us about the film production.

J. A.: Well, I don't consider our feature as just another video-game-turned-movie.
Our movie is certainly inspired by the ideas and story behind some of the previous Final Fantasy
games. Hironobu Sakaguchi is the director of our movie and the creative mastermind behind all of the
Final Fantasy games, so he brings very unique and creative ideas to the production, but we're
producing the film as a standalone CG-animated feature. We don't expect audiences to know anything
about our past Final Fantasy games in order to understand the story or appreciate it. That's one of the
reasons why we hired a very talented writer named Al Reinert to write the screenplay. He was
nominated for an Academy Award for Apollo 13, and he took a lot of Sakaguchi's creative ideas into a
Western style of storytelling.

The movie takes place in the year 2060 or 2070 on Earth. We don't go to other planets and so forth, but
it's science fiction/action/adventure. We're here to please both the game-playing audience and
nongamers who would love to go see a good feature film. We're working with Columbia Pictures, but it's
a straight distribution agreement: they have no financial interest here. The cost of the film is up there
with your usual CG-animated feature film like A Bug's Life or Antz, although I don't know exactly how
much they are, and we're working with very well-known actors from Hollywood--people who would
normally do Disney [animated features]. We haven't made any announcements yet about who they are,
though.

GC: For a project such as this, it seems like a lot of new technology would have
to be created in order to accommodate the needs of something of this
magnitude.

J. A.: That's my understanding, yes. No one has ever done photo-realistic
human CG-animated characters before, so we have put an extensive amount of
effort into creating our own proprietary software. Every time I go down to see the
people in the animation department, they just impress the hell out of me. The CG-animation techniques
used here are things no one has ever seen before. When I met with the actors, while they were very
interested in our screenplay, many of them were just stunned with the animation quality that I showed
them. It's very, very impressive.

GC: The cinematics in Final Fantasy VIII, such as the facial animations, are really impressive, but will
we see things in the movie that will surpass even that?

J. A.: Yes, that's right. Final Fantasy VIII was just a magnificent piece. I have a lot of respect for that
team. The game contains about 60
minutes of CGI movies and every second is just great.

GC: The Final Fantasy movie appears to go way beyond normal animation. It's just shy of live action.
What have been some of the challenges in essentially creating a new medium for movies? Previous
animated films have shied away from using human characters, because it's been cost-prohibitive to do
the level of animation that is necessary. Square is breaking new ground, which must create lots of
complications.

J. A.: There are a lot of complications, yes. Sometimes I ask myself if it wouldn't
be easier just to shoot it as live-action. Of course, it would cost a lot more
money. I think we're trying to set new standards and [establish] a new genre of
feature films. I don't think we're trying to compete with live-action films. Our goal
is not to make it so photo-realistic that it looks like live-action. Our animation is
superb, and for the first 10 or 15 minutes, I'm sure that we're going to impress a
wide range of audiences just because of the visuals. But at the end of the day,
it's really the storytelling that has to be there for the audience to really enjoy and appreciate a good
movie.

So the challenge is really two ways: Try to come up with a very compelling story and also create very
unique photo-realistic visuals to support the story. And every day there's a new challenge. There's no
end to the R&D in our production. You can always do better, always put more money and more time in
to make it look better. Where you draw the line and say "OK, this is what we're going to do" is very,
very difficult, especially for our creative people.

If I had all the money and all the time in the world, I think our production would keep going, but there is
reality and there are deadlines to meet, so it's always very difficult to make a decision on those issues.
And since this is something no one has ever done before, I can't go out and hire someone to show us
how to do it and lead us through producing this picture. Pixar and Disney have never done a
photo-realistic human character before. There is no right approach, and sometimes you have to just do
the best you can. You can't go out and buy a manual to tell you how to do this.

GC: For normal films and even for an animation film, you tend to have basically
set guidelines for how to make it. But you're working in a software medium now,
and on top of that you're creating software to accommodate the needs of the
project constantly, so everything must be getting upgraded regularly. This
seems like it would make production tricky, because someone could discover
major enhancements that you wish could have been applied to portions already
completed and laid down on film.

J. A.: Yes, that's always a possibility. Who knows--by the time we're about to release our movie, some
of our hardware may be obsolete, but I guess that could be said in any large undertaking involving high
technology. So, I don't see it as a big problem. It was an issue initially when we were deciding which
hardware to use and what software to invest in. But once all the decisions have been made, I don't
think we go back and forth, because we really don't have the time to second-guess our decisions.
Once we make a commitment, I think we're more focused on daily issues that crop up about things like
rendering, drawing hair software, or whatever. There are more issues relating to our daily problems than
things like "Oh, here's some new software we can incorporate," or saying that we can spend $50
million to do something quicker. I don't think we are really bothered by those innovative or improved
technology issues.

The Film continued

GC: So what kind of hardware and software are you using for the film?

J. A.: We use SGI stations and Maya.

GC: How many people do you have working on the project?

J. A.: The entire staff consists of about 160.

GC: What's the current scheduled release date?

J. A.: We're shooting for sometime in spring or summer of 2001.

GC: Has Squaresoft discussed an actual game to accompany the movie?

J. A.: No.

GC: Since Final Fantasy VIII pushed the PlayStation's power so well, a lot of gamers will be eager to
see Square jump on the next-generation bandwagon of gaming.

J. A.: Yeah, our audiences have a lot to look forward to with the PlayStation 2.

GC: Has Square decided that the PS 2 is the next platform it wants to support?

J. A.: Ever since we switched over to PlayStation, that's all we've been
producing for, and I don't see anything changing. Especially when Sony
Computer introduced the capabilities of the PS 2; it is the entertainment
hardware of the future. I see a lot more people buying it, since it supports DVD,
which I think was a really smart idea.

GC: How important is the hardware of the new machine for Square?

J. A.: I think it brings a lot to the table for Square. The capability of the PS 2 is so huge. And what
we're doing on the film development side, a lot of the technology that we are gaining and creating here
could be transformed over to the interactive side very quickly and very easily when we are producing
games for the PS 2. In fact, the same couldn't be said for other hardware platforms. So, I think we are
trying to gain an edge over other game developers by doing this feature film. And I think it's going to be
very, very interesting when the PS 2 comes out.

At the end of the day, what I think the PS 2 brings to a company like Square, because we're so good
at storytelling and visuals, is that the increased capability of the unit will do nothing but help us
advance our games.

Screenshots:
The Gunslinger-
http://www.gamecenter.com/Consoles/Features/Final/shot10.html
An Attack-
http://www.gamecenter.com/Consoles/Features/Final/shot12.html

Doc.

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Page Updated Sat May 15, 1999 5:59pm EDT