Photo Essay: Video Game Controllers

The goal of this photo essay was to explore control input in video games and our interaction with them on a base level. The photo collection can be found on my Flickr page here.

The photo collection and minimalistic captions representing each photo demonstrate a few key factors in how we approach video games. While some initially view the photos as hunks of plastic for child's play, the intent of the essay is to note the way we as players interact with the controllers. To approach the controllers as the "handheld medium" that separates video games from other art mediums like film is essential in understanding this unique interactive entertainment form.

Photo captions tell the real story, with the earliest dated controller described as "Direction pad, two face buttons, two mode buttons. Two thumbs to operate." In this classic Nintendo controller, players can use their simple input, often a combination of four cardinal directions and two face buttons to enjoy a large variety (literally hundreds) of games. This same controller is used to direct Mario to a power-up in Super Mario Bros., charge up a super spike with Eddie in Super Spike V'Ball, defeat Ridley as gaming's original heroine, Samus, in Metroid, and explore a vast land and down foes with magic by issuing commands in Dragon Warrior.

Additionally, this photo essay raises the question, "What about the future of game controllers?" If Nintendo's recent advancements are any question, controllers will only continue to tie in to more natural forms of human interactivity. While old technology is being used in new ways (Nintendo's Zapper and Wii Remote both utilizing infrared, twenty years apart), things like accelerometers and gyroscopes bring real human movement to many video games in a big way. Companies like Emotive are developing headsets that measure brain activity, and whispers of Microsoft planning on using human shadows hint at "controllers" on the horizon.

For the time being, of course, a few thumbs and fingers seem to draw players into their games just fine.

While intense graphics, blippy-yet-masterfully composed soundtracks, and addictive online elements pervade the minds of gamers across the globe, the input control connecting players to their games undoubtedly rules the medium. These photos and their captions highlight that fact.

Portrait Project

The purpose of the Portrait Project was to use visual cues to challenge our assumptions of our photo's subjects. In this case, we were assigned to step out of our comfort zone and photograph (in my case) one individual we did not personally know, and another that we do personally know a certain number of times.

Using common visual cues, most should be able to note the uncomfortable looks that the photo subjects give off. Whether a viewer is considering the environment of the photos, in this instance we consider a lobby and outside an elevator, or their posture, clothes, and behavior, they make a judgment on whether the photographer seems to be acquainted with them.

My Flickr page contains all the photos in the project, but the final contact sheet used is seen on the left. I arranged each picture, four for each individual, to line up more symmetrically for the viewer to compare them. In my presentation to our photo journalism class, we found that viewers of the photos were split on their judgment.

The truth of the photos here are that the man outside the elevator is my roommate, while the girl in the lobby I am not acquainted with. I instructed my roommate to have his backpack with him and look as though he was waiting for the elevator in order to go to campus. By doing so and framing the photographs in an "impromptu" manner, letting him naturally look uncomfortable (as he surely was), the two subjects looked similar. Therefore, my project demonstrates that these visual cues may be misleading when the photographer chooses to mislead, as I did.

Document Project

My plan for documenting a night of myself consuming a decent amount of alcohol, and slowly descending into a drunken stupor seemed to pan out for my Document Project. The shots of each drink consumed led to ultimately finding my bed as a safe haven from a long night.

In documenting each alcoholic drink or shot that I took, I attempted to keep the same general frame for the photos, with a few unexpected exceptions. Most shots were "in-action," with each drink being visibly consumed.

The Document Project culminated in a few essential editing choices. With the low-lit situations I was often in, brightness and contrast levels were carefully monitored. No photos needed to be cropped, but they were arranged in a "contact sheet" format, with a sizable amount of white space separating each photo. The order of the drinks, then, can be "read" from left to right.

The final version, seen below, can also be viewed in various sizes on my Flickr page here.

Light photograph

In my photo, I utilized the Szarkowski element of Frame. It was a cloudy day, and I chose to photograph the "slanted" exterior windows on the second floor of the Union. While, to us, the windows appear to be perfectly straight, the angle of the natural light and slight bends and tilts of the windows reveals a "bendy" reflection of the roof above.

These "bendy" lines greatly contrast with the very straight lines of the rest of the photo. The windows and building itself lead off of the picture. That, combined with the use of nearby buildings, help define the frame. To me, it helped construct the feeling of very square, straight architecture around the viewer, yet the light from the sun (what little there was that day), found the details in each bend of the window.

When dealing with the framing, I was careful to ensure that the lines of the building were leading in the directions I intended. Though the building was leading off the picture, a series of vertical lines were sort of "intertwining" the rest of the picture. I felt that the use of these lines would help lead a viewer's eyes around the photo.

This photo didn't take too much editing at all. There were a few touch-ups to ensure the levels and contrast settings were correctly showing the scene as I saw it when I took the photo to begin with. Aside from that, little cropping or editing was needed.

New Place = Same Place?

Because I know, and have personally talked to, other Mike Suszeks in the world, I took the time to register www.mikesuszek.com.  And guess what?  That's where you are now!  At least, where you WILL be after all the transitioning happens.

That also means, I have at least four emails I can be contacted at (spoiler alert, they all forward to my Gmail).  So if you want to gripe about the things I write here, or want to tell me you loved the most recent podcast, shoot an email to mikesuszek@mikesuszek.com, which will wind up going to mikesuszek@gmail.com.

I know, I want you to type my name as many times as possible.  It's an ego thing.

So bookmark this place if you're interested in my life.  If you're TOO interested in my life, follow my Twitter.  If that's not enough... well a man can only do so much.

Peace!

-Mike

Flickr photos!

I'll be posting my Flickr updates here, primarily for my Photo Journalism class.

To start, my Flickr address is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesuszek/

My first (really bad) uploaded photo can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesuszek/3251551884/

And if you want to check out more of what I do (obviously better than taking photos), go to The Wiire, and check out my first product video review, and feel free to listen to the newest Wiire Podcast this week, Episode 123!

-Mike

Look that way -->

Now I've got your wallet.

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