Theatre Mode

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

A bit early to bring this up (and I’m sick of the Halo 5 hate threads), but I want to read peoples opinions on this matter.

I feel like Theatre Mode has gotten zero changes through all the Halos since it was introduced. Witch has bugged me a bit since every other aspect of Halo has seen new features added (Forge, Multiplayer etc.).
I love filmmaking and cameras, and I think that, if possible, that the theatre mode should work as a professional or a semi-professional camera. By that I mean adjusting the focus and the depth of field and so on…

When I first saw screenshots from Halo 4, i immediately noticed that some of the screenshots had the Spartans in focus and the background was blurred out. That got me really excited. But when I got the game I jumped right into Theatre mode and tried it out, but to my dissapointment, I couldn’t figure out how, I tried everything, going into free camera mode, pushing every button here and there, but still nothing. Did I miss something? because I really wanted to take som cool pics :confused:

See pictures 2, 6 & 7 scrolling down on the page: halo4nation.com

I mean It doesn’t have to be a DSLR, but the main thing is focus and depth of field for interesting cinematography, since the graphics are great for that. Heck if we could add more to that, like the ratio we film in (anamorphic widescreen etc.) I’d be sold in an instance.

Anyways, hope i didn’t nerd out too much, but what do you guys think? :slight_smile:

2

I just want a way to reverse without backing up 10 seconds at a time, and dolly cameras
Specifically dolly cameras. That’s what Black Ops 2 got right.

3

I just wanna watch films with a friend again. :frowning:

4

LatestBorn2Kill, Enthusiastic and thoughtful Idea.

I totally Agree and would like to see such features implemented.

5

> 2533274877056440;2:
> I just want a way to reverse without backing up 10 seconds at a time, and dolly cameras
> Specifically dolly cameras. That’s what Black Ops 2 got right.

Yeah, the reverse one i thought was a given that everyone wanted, And I agree.

Oooh and Dollys i forgot about, that too!

6

> 2533274794991976;4:
> LatestBorn2Kill, Enthusiastic and thoughtful Idea.
>
> I totally Agree and would like to see such features implemented.

Thanks! I just like these kinds of details, really hope more people would share their opinion about it.

7

Reversing the gameplay.
From my understanding of it, what the game is actually doing when it saves matches for later viewing in Theatre mode is recording small bits of information like the position, direction and motion of the players, the bullets, and any other moveable object, as well as the currently equipped weapon, armour customizations, and whether or not the player is shooting or reloading–a relatively small amount of information for each unit of time. In theatre mode, the map is then loaded, and everything acts according to the previously laid out script, using the gameplay engine, with the addition of you flying around as an invulnerable monitor.
If you actually wanted the ability to rewind properly…you’re asking the game to play backwards. The code can only be read one way, which is the reason for the 10-second time skip when you press the rewind button. Essentially the game has to delete everything on the map except you, look at the script, and place everything on the map again according to what the script says happened ten seconds ago.

Focus and depth of field
This isn’t going to happen–at least not while theatre mode is currently running the script. You’re asking the game to run the game engine, and simultaneously add in new effects not supported by the game engine, like depth of field and focus whilst the game engine is running. You have to convert the script you see in theatre mode–the game code–into an actual WMV video or PNG file, which can be processed through an Adobe program later.

Changes to Theatre mode
Rewind button was added. Parties in theatre mode was removed. Campaign theatre mode was removed. :frowning:

Being able to set a path for the camera would be great, as well as an option to actually toggle between the first and third person view of the person you are currently hovering over. I suspect, however, that Theatre mode currently doesn’t constantly keep track of ammunition or grenade count, for other players. Easy enough change to make, though.

Combine Theatre mode with Forge
By combining Theatre mode with Forge, it would be possible to use some basic effects like the Forge Filters. Not the fancy effects like focus and depth of field you wanted, but its an idea. You also might be able to add in additional background objects, too.

Overlay different saved films
Now that we know how Theatre actually works, I wonder if it would be possible to have an option to toggle between different matches if they are held on the same map, or combine the events of both of them together. It’s currently only possible to have a set number of players on each map, so for large-scale battles, if would be helpful for machinima to be able to combine those films.

8

I love watching gameplay video on YouTube and Twitter. I’m interested in saving clips of my own from multiplayer and making a video. Anyone know how? I’m new to this… Please help.

9

Can you still not record games to your theater mode like how you can’t in MCC? I know the Xbox One has a game dvr, but it only saves up to like three minutes. Sometimes I like to record full games, and watching your clips was so much easier when it was displayed and titled into theater mode. I get that they want to push the Xbox One dvr, but jeeze they should have at least made it a good game dvr instead of the mess it is.

10

I used theater mode for the first time last night. I remember making all kinds of videos in halo 3 with the record option, but sadly I can’t seem to find that feature in halo 5. Is there one or, if not, would it really be that hard for 343 to patch in this feature?

11

Well first off they need to fix theater. Me and several others cannot get the camera to zoom. The rewind feature seems to go extremely far back for some reason as opposed to what others say. We also need a proper file browser. In time I suppose.

12

Honestly what we need with Theater mode is a COMPLETE Overhaul. Much like Forge, Rebuilt from the ground up. I can’t figure out why 343 removed the ability to view Campaign missions in Theater. Then again I don’t understand why they removed half of the fundamentals that they did but that’s a discussion for a different day as I’m trying to stay on course.

I agree with most of the Posters here. Theater has “Zoom” feature but when I click it, I seem to have to push Both sticks in to achieve it. There are No “Camera Controls” to say, Increase the flying speed or slow it. No screen shot feature. No ability to record a clip (other than X1 DVR) and the worst of all, no File share system at launch…AGAIN. I was REALLY hoping that 343 would have this mess sorted out by now. It’s their second game and having “Ultra New Hardware” for the X1, surely this could have been accomplished. Why make a beautifully detailed game and not allow us the freedom to screenshot it in the way WE desire, i.e Halo 3, ODST or REACH’s theater mode. Better yet, why take a step back at all??? (If you play the WWE games, you’ll understand what I mean. They took a HUGE step back in their games with little improvement.)

We need advanced controls and new options. I personally want Campaign theater back. I wanted it in Halo 4 and Halo 5. Sure you can make screen shots and video clips without the Spartan’s HUD by finding and Activating the BLIND Skull but let’s face it, that’s lame and pretty damn lazy. 343 claims to listen to the community but I just don’t see it. This is the kind of suppression from a company that Urges the community to MOD the game, much like Halo 4, and come out with a Campaign theater. It’s sickening what they have done with Theater. Another pet peeve and small annoyance is when watching playback of a recent film, when paused the film is suddenly “Mute.” Yes I understand in reality when you pause a movie it does the same. I just miss not having the level audio/ambiance playing while taking screenshots. As I said, Minor nit-pick.

With my “Rant” over I guess I join the what, 50 of us that want new features added to theater and campaign theater instead of waiting for a new game or patch to “Get it right.” It’s still a relatively new game and maybe they will surprise us with something nice but so far its in a grey area. Until then, keep fighting the good fight and see you all in the Virtual Battlefield!

13

Please fix theater 343, We need to be able to record!!!

14

How do I even activate the Camera to take a picture? Like in the past it said press A for snapshot or whatever. I don’t see an option to film or take pictures in the button legend. I’ve checked to see if theres a how to use and nothing. I just want to take awesome pictures and cool films like in the past.

15

They can take a few tips from Forza team. I only played 4 and did not play the new ones but I was able to make really nice screenshots back then. Some depth of field options and filters please.

16

> 2533274864359626;14:
> How do I even activate the Camera to take a picture? Like in the past it said press A for snapshot or whatever. I don’t see an option to film or take pictures in the button legend. I’ve checked to see if theres a how to use and nothing. I just want to take awesome pictures and cool films like in the past.

You need to use Game DVR to take screenshot and record now. Double tap on home button to bring the option up.

17

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welp