Anyone have the text to the poem in the opening movie?

[Chock]

Your wish is my command. Here's a replacement.

See what you think, do I deserve an Oscar? (probably not). You can download it from the link below and check it out in windows media player, then if you like it, stick it in the SH4 movies folder replacing the original Intro movie (which has the benefit of freeing up some RAM on start up since it's only about 6 percent of the size of the 'Milton' original intro.

It's here, (5.7 meg), takes about two or three minutes on broadband to download:

http://www.mediafire.com/?6mmqilmdb2m

[NZ_Wanderer]

Hehehe I like it, it will be a good replacement for the default one...
You should see if you could get some clips from the actual attack on Pearl, and blend them in to that movie, but I sticking your one on for now
Thank you
And yes, you got the Oscar...

Originally Posted by Chock

Your wish is my command. Here's a replacement.
See what you think, do I deserve an Oscar? (probably not).

[Safe-Keeper]

As for what you'd expect out of a war game, I would think it's quite common for people in war to think about death, fame, etc. Perhaps especially WWII submariners who spent 99,99% of their time patrolling doing... nothing much:p. So in my eyes, it fits perfectly well.

[Chock]

Hehehe I like it, it will be a good replacement for the default one...
You should see if you could get some clips from the actual attack on Pearl, and blend them in to that movie, but I sticking your one on for now
Thank you
And yes, you got the Oscar...

I'm glad you like it. But with regard to using actual footage from the attack on Pearl Harbor, there are two problems. From a purely legal standpoint, I think I'd be on very shaky ground doing that, which is one of the reasons why I dummied up a 'World Cine News' logo at the beginning, rather than use the Pathe, or Movietone news logos.

But more importantly than that, I think it would not be in very good taste to use real footage (where it is likely that people are dying in the shots) in something that is essentially a pastiche for the purposes of getting you in the mood to play a video game (oops, I mean simulation )

A similar thing was done in the James Cameron movie 'The Abyss' (long version), when real life footage was used in pretence of being an event in the movie: Footage of Sea King helicopters which were trying to use their downdrafts to fan heat and flames away from people desperately trying to escape from the stern of the burning Sir Galahad transport ship in Falkland Sound. I thought that was in really poor taste and James Cameron (who is undoubtedly a very talented man) went seriously down in my estimation for having done that.

It's also the main reason why I thought that the original intro movie misfired. I think it would have been largely fine as a 'credits' piece for the game (notwithstanding the poor choice of using a hammy Limey to read the poem). But as an into, I think it fell between two stools; yes it is fine to muse upon what death means etc etc, but to preface a game where you go out and simulate torpedoing people, with something of that nature was in my view very wrong.

I know people may disagree, but I wanted my replacement intro to emulate the upbeat 'Let's get at em' mood which was prevalent immediately following the attack on Pearl, and it was possible to do that without using real footage, particularly when that footage might affect people to whom the victims of Pearl are in living memory.

Chock

[NZ_Wanderer]

I take your points and agree with you on them

Hows about then, at the beginning of your movie when the movie starts, maybe have the official announcement by the president, and then cut into your part.. - Something like that could have a greater impact without showing any actual dying..

[Chock]

I did originally intend to use the Roosevelt 'Infamy' recording, but it's actually rather noisy if you listen to the entire thing, with a lot of what I presume are mike noises and general clutter. I even tried quite a lot of filtering, compression etc to try and clean it up, but in the end, it just wasn't gonna fly. And I daresay the truth is that the reason the 'a day that will live in infamy' sound bite is heard so often, is that it's one of the few clutter-free parts of the address. The full length address is actually rather long-winded too. Although it does use some quite clever speech techniques, ironically in fact, techniques that Hitler also used, such as repeating things three times etc. Well worth seeking out for a listen if you've never heard it in its entirety.

Roosevelt does make good points in it, most notably the fact that while the Japanese were still attempting to appear to offer an olive branch to the US in the negotiations which took place immediately prior to the strike on Pearl Harbor, it was quite apparent (especially to anyone who's sailed their sub from Pearl to the Japanese coast in SH4), that the attack must have been planned months beforehand, simply based on the transit time across the Pacific. It's a point well made, given that he is asking for approval to declare war from the American people, in that it underlines the callous treachery behind the attack.

Back on the subject at hand however, my original plan was not dissimilar to what you suggested - i.e. to recreate some of the attack sequences with the flight sim Pacific Fighters and overlay it with excerpts from that famous address and some news announcements, and I did actually record FRAPS footage of some Japanese attack aircraft and do a rough edit to try it out. But without the planned overdub of the Roosevelt address in a usable form, I thought it came across a bit lame. Besides which, everyone knows what happened on that day, and referring to it briefly in the 'newsreel' version, while showing a sub setting sail for retribution seemed to be more fitting. After all, SH4 is a submarine sim, not a torpedo bomber flight sim.

If you disagree, you could of course have a bash at producing a replacement intro for yourself. All you really need is FRAPS (or similar), the movie editing app that comes with windows and a sound editing app, not that much at all really. I certainly enjoyed having a crack at it, and as you can see from this post, there are a lot of things to consider (especially my bad acting), so it presents a good challenge, why not give it a try yourself?

Incidentally, the other famous recording of Roosevelt: 'The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself' is very clear, and quite appropriate, so you might want to try that one if you give it a go.

[edjcox]

To stand at the edge of the universe and look over into the precipice of time.....

You won't know you died in your sleep until you wake up in the morning......


All of these are profound in there own way.....

Milton simply stated that time somehow ends and when it does the immortal soul will live and go beyond the bounds of it......


Man it's simply all to heavy for me..... :hmm:

[cohiba]

I think the opening video/poem are brilliant!!! It is done very well; from the voice over to the footage... I think you can get many different meanings from the poem itself, but I believe it highlights the bravery, but after time nobody remembers even that... the horror... the horror... the horror...

[Jmack]

if you want to live forever ... do things in life that will remain in history ... that is the way to beat time and live forever ... triumph over death .

[santini812]

While I found the footage quirky and odd in comparison to the voice over, overall I thought it was brilliant. Just look at the comments it has generated. We've had history lessons from several perspectives, touched a little on the divine, man's immortal soul, death, time, glory....what else do you want from a two minute intro...I've never read a discusssion on the Intro to The Sims 2.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by melendir

Also it could be just that, someone who had final say of the intro just liked the poem. :hmm:

You guys are right, it is definately different from usual hero stuff intros...
That reader guys voice is kinda creepy.
Gave me a bit uneasy twilight zone feeling

thats it!!!

open this in a new window >> http://tzone.the-croc.com/sounds/tzone2.wav

que the twilight zone guys voice and now read this...

"Picture a man... he has entered a virtual world beyond sight and sound. His crew and his craft cloaked in the darkness of a sea at war wherein sound IS sight. Hes has taken command of an American submarine in the pacific during world war two. A submarine with dozens of buttons, switches and levers... some of which have been bugged to cause his virtual world to spiral out of control and crash to a bitter end... yet all of these bugged devices he needs in order to defeat the enemy who is trying to kill him. Such is life as a submarine commander...

... in the twilight zone"

[Cobber]

I can only describe it as crap.

[Capt. Shark Bait]

Originally Posted by joea

What so you think they are trying to say?

Hint: Read the links Milton talks about triumphing over time and death.

or, the futility of trying to:hmm:

personally, i think it's the best game intro since Klingon Academy

GoldenRivet, very good:rotfl:

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Cobber

I can only describe it as crap.

I'm lovin' Captain Cox's Silent Service mod!

[mbthegreat]

I think it is trying to make you think about what war is about and what you are doing when you sink another ship, because the people fighting on each side are morally equal, and everybody you kill is exactly the same as you. I believe it says in the Qu'ran the killing one person is equal to killing the entire human race, and I think that is really applicable here.

I think Snowman said something about Europeans and Americans thinking about war differently, and I think that is true, Europeans seem to have much more of a generational memory of the full horrors of war, the level of destruction, the level of death. Compare American civilain deaths (~11,000) with places like Poland (~2,000,000) or the USSR (~10,000,000). The only thing that really comes close in levels of brutality is the American Civil War, and even that is now where near the scale of the war in Europe.