{"id":35208,"date":"2024-08-08T10:38:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T01:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=35208"},"modified":"2024-08-23T16:57:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T07:57:09","slug":"alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Film director Anssi M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 recently took to social media to showcase his work on last year\u2019s <strong>Alan Wake 2<\/strong>. Being the game\u2019s live-action and cinematics director, M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 was responsible for the live-action shots used in cutscenes and in-game overlaps. While most people would think this strictly involves scenes with actors, M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 shows how he and Principal Cinematographer Mikko Riikonen created the Vortex and Dark Presence effects alongside their amazing team.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The making of Vortex (reality switch transition) and Dark Presence. 8mm bts footage from 2022-2023. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alanwake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@alanwake<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/remedygames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@remedygames<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GyR18yWRwj\">pic.twitter.com\/GyR18yWRwj<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Anssi M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 (@AnssiMaatta) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnssiMaatta\/status\/1820041523058131285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To add some context, the Vortex cutscene (which looks like the inside of the eye of a dark hurricane) plays whenever control is switched between Alan Wake 2\u2019s two protagonists, Saga Anderson and Alan Wake. Since the characters are usually found wandering through two different dimensions \u2013 the real world and the Dark Place \u2013 the Vortex is meant to symbolize the switch in perspectives. It looks like the live-action and cinematics team created this effect in a practical manner, by swirling liquids against a dark background.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is harder to pin down the recipe for the Dark Presence, as it is a mixture of flickering lights, smoke, and at times the face of Alan Wake\u2019s live actor Ilkka Villi. Since the Dark Presence possessed Alan Wake\u2019s doppelganger, Scratch, it occasionally takes on the titular character\u2019s visage.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Because we are crazy, we wanted to lean into practical effects with our live-action material in Alan Wake 2. To build the actual sets, and to use practical effects to draw from our arthouse inspirations. This exploration was led by the \ud83d\udd25<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnssiMaatta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AnssiMaatta<\/a> and our DP Mikko Riikonen. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0NaEwotsEu\">https:\/\/t.co\/0NaEwotsEu<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Sam Lake (@SamLakeRMD) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SamLakeRMD\/status\/1820089641027915968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These effects could easily have been done digitally; however Alan Wake 2 director Sam Lake explains that \u201cwe (Remedy Entertainment) wanted to lean into practical effects with our live-action material&#8230; to draw from our arthouse inspirations.\u201d According to previous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/alan-wake-2-the-movies-and-tv-shows-that-inspired-remedys-survival-horror-ign-first\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interviews<\/a>, these inspirations ranged from David Lynch films to 1990s horror movie Se7en. M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4 and Riikonen led in the creation of the sets as well as the use of real items to create some surreal and haunting images.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.remedygames.com\/games\/alan-wake-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alan Wake 2<\/a> is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Epic Games Store)&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alan Wake 2 not only used real-life actors in its cutscenes but it also used practical effects for the Vortex and Dark Presence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":35210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-35208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alan Wake 2 not only used real-life actors in its cutscenes but it also used practical effects for the Vortex and Dark Presence.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alan Wake 2 not only used real-life actors in its cutscenes but it also used practical effects for the Vortex and Dark Presence.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-08T01:38:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-23T07:57:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240808-35208-header.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"507\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Alan Wake 2 not only used real-life actors in its cutscenes but it also used practical effects for the Vortex and Dark Presence.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Alan Wake 2 not only used real-life actors in its cutscenes but it also used practical effects for the Vortex and Dark Presence.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2024-08-08T01:38:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-23T07:57:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":507,"url":"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240808-35208-header.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game","datePublished":"2024-08-08T01:38:04+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-23T07:57:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/"},"wordCount":338,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240808-35208-header.jpeg","keywords":["News (Global)"],"articleSection":["Game Development","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/","name":"Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240808-35208-header.jpeg","datePublished":"2024-08-08T01:38:04+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-23T07:57:09+00:00","description":"Alan Wake 2 not only used real-life actors in its cutscenes but it also used practical effects for the Vortex and Dark Presence.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240808-35208-header.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240808-35208-header.jpeg","width":900,"height":507,"caption":"Alan Wake 2"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/alan-wake-2-directors-reveal-how-and-why-real-life-special-effects-were-used-in-the-game\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alan Wake 2 directors reveal how and why real-life special effects were used in the game"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31","name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","caption":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor"},"description":"Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/carlos-zotomayor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35208"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35212,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35208\/revisions\/35212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}