{"id":3031,"date":"2015-02-18T13:15:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T18:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=3031"},"modified":"2022-07-01T16:47:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T20:47:04","slug":"walking-with-a-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/02\/walking-with-a-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking With A Ghost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometime recently a new trailer went up for the\u00a0<em>Space Hulk: Deathwing<\/em> video game. It&#8217;s pretty good:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Space Hulk: Deathwing - &quot;Rise of the Terminators&quot; Trailer\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YROOgLD-wtU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some of the guys have been discussing whether or not the unexpected musical selection, Kadebostany&#8217;s <em>Walking With A Ghost<\/em>, works. Juxtaposing action games with slower or offbeat music has definitely been a thing since at least the very successful, memorable, and beautiful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ccWrbGEFgI8\">&#8220;Mad World&#8221; trailer for <em>Gears of War<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"gears of war (mad world)\" width=\"530\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ccWrbGEFgI8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Given that <em>Space Hulk: Deathwing<\/em> is a Games Workshop licensee, it&#8217;s tempting to quickly dismiss the latest trailer as simple mimicry given GW&#8217;s general ineptness and the low quality of many of the offerings from both it and its licensees. However, I think the game studio developers quite possibly put a lot of thought into that selection, and that it comes close to inspired.<\/p>\n<h2>Synchronization<\/h2>\n<p>First, note how the whole video is well keyed to the music. That&#8217;s not coincidental, and took more than just slapping the song over the video. As a counter-example, note how easy it would have been to just throw <em>Mad World<\/em> over the <em>Gears<\/em> trailer. Although I don&#8217;t actually believe little effort went into tailoring that\u00a0video to that\u00a0music, it could have. That song doesn&#8217;t have a ton of really distinctive audio shifts, peaks, or valleys, and the action on the video is pretty subdued. They would basically work together no matter what, with no effort to sync them up. It takes a fair bit of close watching to actually pick up a few subtle touch points:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When the lyrics go &#8220;Worn out places, worn out faces&#8221; as the clip pans from the rubble to the face of first the demolished angel statue and then has its first closeup of the face of the soldier (starting at ~9s);<\/li>\n<li>The lyrics go &#8220;No tomorrow, no tomorrow&#8221; as the soldier runs into the dying light, the video fades out, and then comes back in on yet more endless rubble and running (starting at ~22s).<\/li>\n<li>Of course the closing, with the &#8220;Mad world&#8221; chorus as the hero leaps from a minor potential confrontation with a vaguely humanoid enemy into a hopeless situation in a demonically lit setting against truly otherworldly aliens (~40s).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In contrast, <em>Walking With A Ghost<\/em> has a couple pace changes and definite valleys, all of which the <em>Space Hulk<\/em> trailer video is keyed to. Several\u00a0are pretty overt:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>~40 seconds in when the music picks up and the video goes from a setting pan and ultra slow motion to live combat;<\/li>\n<li>~70 seconds in, the music slows down again as the video slows to show the Tyranids bringing in reinforcements;<\/li>\n<li>~75 seconds in, the music picks back up into a more flowing style with horns giving a feeling of a Spanish bullfight or Mexican swashbuckling scene while the action picks back up, having switched to swirling swords and close combat until seguing to end with a last stand on steps vaguely reminiscent of a cathedral.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All in all, the video seems to have been certainly\u00a0choreographed to the music and at a minimum the latter\u00a0not just cynically slapped on in a cheap ploy to stand out or evoke some gravitas and intellectual veneer.<\/p>\n<h2>Lyrics<\/h2>\n<p>A few connections though are more subtle and tied to the lyrics, e.g.:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>~55 seconds in, &#8220;Round and round and round&#8221; as flames and the camera swirl around a Terminator;<\/li>\n<li>~64 seconds in, &#8220;I&#8217;m not creatin&#8217; my flow with my ego&#8221; as the camera pans over a pretty solid symbol of ego, a powersword inscribed with &#8220;I am wrath. I am steel. I am the mercy of angels.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With that, it&#8217;s worth looking at the full\u00a0lyrics of the song:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I&#8217;m just walking with a ghost<br \/>\nAnd he&#8217;s walking by my side<br \/>\nMy soul is dancing on my cheek<br \/>\nI don&#8217;t know where the exit is<\/p>\n<p>Every day is still the same<br \/>\nAnd I don&#8217;t know what to do<br \/>\nI&#8217;m carrying my tears in a plastic bag<br \/>\nAnd it&#8217;s the only thing I got from you<\/p>\n<p>I have short hair<br \/>\nAnd I&#8217;m faced with a few complications<br \/>\nSo, so if you care<br \/>\nTry to analyse the situation<br \/>\nYou know, man<br \/>\nAs the leaves fall on the ground<br \/>\nMy soul is goin&#8217;<br \/>\nRound and round and round<\/p>\n<p>So please, do it well<br \/>\nJust break the spell<br \/>\nWhy don&#8217;t you do it right?<br \/>\nI don&#8217;t want another fight<br \/>\nI&#8217;m not creatin&#8217;<br \/>\nMy flow with my ego<br \/>\nI&#8217;m taking off my hood<br \/>\nAnd I&#8217;m entering deeply in the wood<br \/>\nYou know, man<\/p>\n<p>Bugs are my only food<br \/>\nAnd it puts me in a strange mood<br \/>\nI ain&#8217;t giving you my heart<br \/>\nOn a silver plate<br \/>\nWhy couldn&#8217;t we be just mates?<br \/>\nOh no, never come back to me<br \/>\nOh no, never come back to me<\/p>\n<p>I wish i could be a child, write me another dance, another chance, another romance<br \/>\nwe could just be friends<\/p>\n<p>I wish i could be a child, write me another dance, another chance, another romance<br \/>\nit could be the end<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Accepting a fair dose of lyricism, that actually captures and references an awful lot about a Space Marine&#8217;s life, especially those fighting in a space hulk.<\/p>\n<p>It starts with the opening lines:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I&#8217;m just walking with a ghost<br \/>\nAnd he&#8217;s walking by my side<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What does a Space Marine do but trudge along with the Emperor&#8217;s will aiding his every move and his spirit foremost in the Marine&#8217;s mind?<\/p>\n<p>Bouncing around a bit, there&#8217;s a middle stanza about the Marines&#8217; monastic lifestyle and\u00a0how their dedication to the Emperor and setting aside of themselves is what gives them their strength as they wade into combat against tremendous odds in dark,\u00a0unknown\u00a0enemy territory:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I&#8217;m not creatin&#8217;<br \/>\nMy flow with my ego<br \/>\nI&#8217;m taking off my hood<br \/>\nAnd I&#8217;m entering deeply in the wood<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Toward the end, it turns out we&#8217;re specifically hearing\u00a0from\u00a0a Space Marine fighting, probably until he dies, with Tyranids&#8212;the bugs of this particular franchise:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Bugs are my only food<br \/>\nAnd it puts me in a strange mood<br \/>\nI ain&#8217;t giving you my heart<br \/>\nOn a silver plate<br \/>\nWhy couldn&#8217;t we be just mates?<br \/>\nOh no, never come back to me<br \/>\nOh no, never come back to me<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Most dramatically though, most of the song captures what I take as an overarching theme of the Space Marines:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I don&#8217;t know where the exit is<\/p>\n<p>Every day is still the same<br \/>\nAnd I don&#8217;t know what to do<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>My soul is goin&#8217;<br \/>\nRound and round and round<\/p>\n<p>So please, do it well<br \/>\nJust break the spell<br \/>\nWhy don&#8217;t you do it right?<br \/>\nI don&#8217;t want another fight<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I wish i could be a child, write me another dance, another chance, another romance<br \/>\nwe could just be friends<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These lines\u00a0are all about one of the central pathos of the Space Marines. They&#8217;re in many ways the pinnacle of humanity. It&#8217;s not generally readily\u00a0apparent from\u00a0the actual games, but these guys are all ostensibly artists and scholars without par. They&#8217;re brilliant, talented, dedicated, create great works while traveling between\u00a0battles, and have built and maintain\u00a0the greatest, most human, most advanced worlds and societies remaining in the Imperium of Man. But by and large, they spend all their time locked in a deathgrip with the universe, dying\u00a0easily and frequently\u00a0in endless combat in order to\u00a0defend humanity, often times from itself.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s a key part of the appeal of the faction to me: Those Marines that haven&#8217;t become completely inured and numbed to that role must realize the deep tragedy\u00a0of their lives. The brightest and most foresighted must futilely long for a way out of all the fighting, an impossible cessation of endless, all-consuming war. Though their personal specifics are lost to them through their conditioning (presumably&#8212;the fluff&#8217;s a bit contradictory),\u00a0some of them must yearn to go back before they were inducted, when they were still children leading simple lives, unconcerned about the fate of humanity and not facing constant pain and death.<\/p>\n<p>So, I would argue that even besides the choreography, the lyrics of the song actually make it an appropriate choice as well.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>I figure there&#8217;s half a chance the producers of the trailer really did just throw on a cool song they heard that would maybe help their trailer stand out. That said, there&#8217;s little\u00a0denying the whole video has been crafted around that selection. The choreography is too tightly synced, to music that decidedly requires it. At a minimum they weren&#8217;t just crassly thrown together with no effort.<\/p>\n<p>At a maximum, the piece was actually chosen with some thought as to the lyrics and what&#8217;s going on in this fictional universe. Obviously all of the textual reading above is\u00a0bullshit and nonsense. But it&#8217;s at least as valid as any literary interpretation out there, and I could believe it occurred to a\u00a0developer if they happened to be actual fans and devotees of the 40k universe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometime recently a new trailer went up for the\u00a0Space Hulk: Deathwing video game. It&#8217;s pretty good: Some of the guys have been discussing whether or not the unexpected musical selection, Kadebostany&#8217;s Walking With A Ghost, works. Juxtaposing action games with slower or offbeat music has definitely been a thing since at least the very successful, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2015\/02\/walking-with-a-ghost\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[378],"tags":[272,24,277],"class_list":["post-3031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","tag-40k","tag-space-marines","tag-videogames"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3031"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3043,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031\/revisions\/3043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}