Art Direction

I'd like to talk about a concept that comes from two forms of media I enjoy: video games and theater.
Art Direction. The way that a specific game or show takes the story they've been given. The art director is in charge of unifying the artistic vision of the media he or she is in charge of. It's why it's worth seeing a show more than once, and the difference between a meaningful, deep game and a cheap, irrelevant game.

There are two examples I'd like to use to explain this concept: the musical "Pippin" and the game "Spec Ops: the Line". I have seen two productions of "Pippin", one by South Shore Summer Theater (SSST), a theater company set in the south shore (obviously) that uses teenagers as actors and techies. The other, which I just saw, was by the American Repertory Theater (ART). Now, obviously the ART production was much more professional and of much higher quality, but I actually found the art direction taken by the SSST production to be much better. The SSST show was much darker, featuring an ensemble split between people dressed in all white or all black and a very dark (and eventually insane) Lead Player. The ART production was much brighter, taking a circus theme featuring many acrobatic stunts. It was also much heavier on the humor. Now, because I hate happy things, I found the SSST production to be much more enjoyable. (I kid, it's really because I find a show that is dark to be much more meaningful and emotionally impactful). Despite that all of the technical elements, as well as the singing and acting were much better in the ART production, I found the SSST production to be better simply because of the way they interpreted the script.

Spec Ops: The Line is a third-person shooter, which is not exactly a unique genre. Many popular games are this genre, including the Gears of War series. What makes this unique is how this game views itself. Rather than featuring the usual glory of war, encouraging and rewarding acts of violence. Now, there's not anything particularly wrong with this approach (contrary to Mr. LaPierre's claims, video games do not cause violence), but when an entire genre (shooter) has taken this one view of violence and war, it seems like time for a change. And what a change Spec Ops is. Shining a light on the violence inherent in these games, it forces you to make decisions you are not going to like, and forces you to consider the implications of those actions. It has, unlike many other shooters, left an emotional impact on those who played it. As such, it will remain relevant.