Virtual acting tips

I figured a reasonable follow up to the previous post (before I go into more demo recording info) would be to post a little info regarding virtual acting, I asked SigmaSin whom will probably have the most screen time in ‘A Soldiers Revenge, and whom I’ve to both have a bit of a knack for being a reliable, consistent virtual actor. I asked for some tips for the blog, and here they are:

Alright, here goes.
The most important elements being a virtual actor are that you must be polite and patient. If you can do that, you’re already a good candidate to act. I’ll go into more detail on this, and give some extraneous tips learned from working with SaDOS on his latest piece.
1. Do as your director tells you
It’s the vision of the director you’re trying to create here. No matter how nitpicky he gets, oblige, it all goes to creating a quality piece of work.
2. Ask questions only when the director is done speaking
Chances are, the question you are asking will be answered by the director’s description of the scene. If it isn’t, by allowing him to finish talking, you keep a more coherent picture of the scene, and it’s no problem to go and sort out a particular detail afterwards.
3. Ask questions
By doing so, you improve your understanding of the scene you’re trying to create, and possibly increase the quality over what the director had in mind. “Hey, what if we moved the soldier to the medic’s right hand side, so the rocket launcher and healing beam don’t take too much prominence?”
4. Be quiet
Posing, voice taunts, running around, shooting, talking… all of these are bad ideas while the film is rolling. Even if you aren’t anywhere near the set (not in the shot), these noises can ruin the recording and require a reshoot. Also, doing this while scenes are being explained should be avoided. Bullet holes or blast marks on set are a pain, and require spamming shots in other parts of the map to get rid of them. This is annoying, takes up time, and may ruin another set to be used. Also, the noise can get distracting when trying to explain a scene. Just be mature, sit, and listen.
5. Run through your parts
When you have a couple specific marks to hit during a scene such that you are framed properly, run your path a few times before you go for it in scene. Remember that while recording, it’s better to be off the mark a bit than to correct it, but you want to be as close as possible. So, knowing your path is a good thing. This also applies to looking – practice the look a bit, then when shooting, just try to do it in one mouse motion. Even if you miss, stay where you ended up looking. It will appear better than if you try to correct it.
6. Crouch to get in to place
If you need to stand in a specific spot for a scene, crouch and move to it to fine-tune where you’ll be standing.
7. Explode off set
When you’re dying or taking damage in a scene, between shoots, use the explode command 1-2 times off set. This cleans up the blood and removes corpses. Shooting off set removes bullet holes and blast marks, but takes a lot longer.
8. Use the third person view
When a TF2 server has sv_cheats set to 1, you can type “thirdperson” in to console to get a view of your character from behind. This lets you control your actions a lot better, since you see what is seen on camera: you can tell when you’re clipping, you can tell when you’re not moving smoothly, etc. I would always recommend this unless the scene requires you to do something you need particular skill in game to do (hit a moving target, rocket jump). I would not recommend using the thirdperson variants unless you need them specifically (thirdperson_mayamode, thirdperson_platformer). The view is most intuitive with the basic settings, if you change it, you may find it difficult to move, and difficult to get back to a normal third person view.
9. Adjust your sensitivity
Usually, smooth movements are required, unlike in game, where you want to be as quick as possible. Consider turning on the mouse filter, or lowering your sensitivity (particularly if you have a scene where you have to look somewhere slowly). If you’re required to do things quickly, use the sensitivity you’re most accustomed to from the game.
10. Mess around in the skybox
It helps a lot if you’re getting frustrated or bored to blow off some steam. Build gigantic sentries, get screenshots of capture-point-sized giblets, what have you. After a few hours of shooting, slow motion no clip air melee battles for 15 minutes can really hit the spot. Also, something you do may give your director an idea for a shot.