Final Fantasy Vii: Advent Children
As animation and computer games became rampant these days, more and more people both young and old are being hooked into it. The world of game development came into a higher level through the demands of game enthusiast who craved more from their favorite characters. This paper aims to evaluate the CG (computer graphic) movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and know the techniques used by the creators in making the movie. INTRODUCTION Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII is one of the most successful role playing game of all time. Having sold 9. 8 million copies worldwide, it is considered to be the most influential game to date.
The story of the game revolves around the main character, Cloud Strife, who starts as he joins the AVALANCHE, and claims to be a first Class SOLDIER. The story ended when Cloud defeated his mentor turned into evil, Sephiroth in a one on one battle but he was not able to stop a Meteor from falling to the planet and failed to save the life of his friend Aerith and Zack. Final Fantasy: Advent Children Final Fantasy VII Advent Children is a 2005 computer-animated film from Square-Enix and was directed by Tetsuya Nomura, co-directed by Takeshi Nozue, and written by Kazushige Nojimathe.
This Computer Animated film is a part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series that serves as a direct sequel to the one of the most successful role playing game of all time, Final Fantasy VII. The film is set two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII and year before the Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children picks up about a year after the events of the game. With the old team broken up and having gone their separate ways, the planet is now in the state of recovering after the Meteor attack that was caused by Sephiroth.
If you haven’t completed or played Final Fantasy VII, it might sound a bit confusing at first because this movie is aimed for the fans of the original video game so you’re unfamiliar with the game, you will be confused, but other than that, this movie is much better than the previous Final Fantasy movie (Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within). Story begins as Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart has gone and lived together (not as married couple) and established the “Strife Delivery Service” at the new city called the “Edge” that was built by the survivors of the meteor attack.
Living with Cloud, were Marlene Wallace (Barret’s Daughter) and an orphaned boy named Denzel. In this scenario, Cloud as a survivor of the meteor attack was infected by a disease called “Geostigma” and blames himself from Zack and Aerith’s tragic deaths. One day, three mysterious men suddenly attacked Cloud after he received a message from Tifa. These men claims that Cloud knows the location of their missing mother and attacked him when he said that he has no idea what they’re talking about. Cloud fought against those mysterious men and eventually escaped the battle.
Confused by the attack, he visited Rufus, a former leader of the Shinra Co. hoping to gain information of his attackers. But instead, he asked Cloud to join him to stop the three mysterious men but Cloud refuses and left. Shortly after Cloud’s departure, a man named Kadaj, leader of the three men who attacked Cloud, breaks into Rufus’ lodge and asked him where they could find their “mother”. He later revealed that he and his brothers, Yazoo and Loz, are planning a new “reunion” that will culminate in an assault on the Planet.
The “mother” that Kadaj and the others are looking for is actually Genova’s remains and somehow connected to the disease that spread after the meteor attack called Geostigma. Loz arrives at Aerith Gainsborough’s church in an attempt to find their “mother”, and is confronted by Tifa. She was defeated by Loz but as Loz delivers the final blow, Marlene distracts Loz by throwing a materia from Cloud’s chest. Loz went to get Marlene, Tifa screamed and told her to run just but was too late. Kadaj and his other two brothers began collecting children infected with geostigma, including Denzel and took them in the Forgotten City.
Cloud attempts to rescue them but he was stopped by Kadaj and his men. In the end, Cloud was overpowered by the trio and was rescued by Vincent Valentine (a friend of Cloud in Final Fantasy VII game). Vincent told Cloud that what the trio are seeking could result to the return of Sephiroth (Cloud’s rival). He told him that geostigma is the result of one’s body working excessively to fight off an infection brought on by Jenova’s lingering presence within the Lifestream. Cloud agrees to return to Edge and confronted Kadaj in a battle.
In Edge, Kadaj and his brothers summoned several monsters to attack the residents. As you can see, the residents are not as detailed as the main characters. As these monsters attacks the residents of Edge, the other guys from Final Fantasy VII game, including Cat Saith, Red XIII, Barret, Yuffie, Cid, Vincent and Tifa, arrived and to saved the people of Edge. Kadaj summoned the famous Final Fantasy dragon Bahamut but in a different form, now called as “Bahamut SIN”. The other Final Fantasy characters tried to stop the powerful dragon while Reno and Rude tried to stop Yazoo and Loz.
Cloud arrived to the scene and joined the battle to defeat Bahamut SIN. With the help of the other characters, Cloud finally defeats Bahamut SIN after he was also accompanied by the spirit of his lost friend Aerith. In a nearby building, Kadaj confronted Rufus and then later discovered that Rufus has the head of Jenova in a box all along. Rufus tossed the box on the edge of the building in his attempt to break it but Kadaj dived over the building and recovered it although some of the contents from the Jenova’s head is spilling out.
As Kadaj dropped from the building, he spots Cloud and a motorcycle chase carries them into the ruins of Midgar. When Cloud catches up with Kadaj and they fought until they reach Aerith’s church. When Kadaj unleashes a magical blast and destroys the flowerbed, it released an outflow of Lifestream (infused water) thus healing Cloud’s geostigma. It proves harmful to Kadaj in some way and he backs off. After Cloud was completely healed, he pursued in his search to Kadaj in the ruins of Shinra Headquarters where they battled again.
Kadaj in his frustration to defeat Cloud fused the box containing Jenova’s remains into his body and begins to transform. As Cloud tries to stop him, he was suddenly stunned in midair to see that his Masamune blade is now in the hands of a different enemy. Not Kadaj but now standing in front of him was his rival Sephiroth. Sephiroth who returned through Kadaj’s sacrifice later revealed that those who die from the geostigma returns to the Lifestream, and through it, he will be able to control it and use their Planet as a vessel to travel space in search of a new planet and be alive again.
He overpowers Cloud but just when he was about to defeat him, Cloud performed his new Limit Break (Cloud’s blade attack) and defeated Sephiroth. Sephiroth separated from Kadaj’s body and faded gone. Kadaj was weak and Aerith’s spirit begins to pour rain across the city, curing everyone who is infected by geostigma. Kadaj heard Aerith’s voice and then eventually he was taken by the Lifestream. Shortly after that, when they all think that it’s over, Cloud was shot by Yazoo at the back. With his friends terrified watching him, Cloud still managed to prepare a final attack that resulted a large explosion.
Cloud heared Aerith and Zack’s voices while he was unconscious and surrounded by a white light. Zack told Cloud that it’s not his time to die yet and he was sent back to Aerith’s church through the Lifestream. Shortly after that, Cloud awakens in Aerith’s old church with all of his wounds healed. Now surrounded by his friends and the citizens of Edge. Cloud told the citizens that the water in the church’s pool heals anyone affected by geostigma. He demonstrated the healing power of the water pool in the church by curing the children affected by the disease.
Satisfied with his achievement, Cloud smiled at his friends and then saw Aerith walking in the church with some other children. As Aerith stands and walks to the doorway, she turns her back and assured Cloud that he’s all right, after a silent and lovely smile, she then steps into a white light with Zack. MOVIE ANALYSIS SCENE ANALYSIS There are two parts of the movie that captured the interest of the researcher: One of the most interesting part of the movie is when Cloud is up against Bahamut SIN. The action sequences are fast paced and the environment is very much detailed.
It’s also interesting that the pervious Final fantasy characters are there to help Cloud in fighting Bahamut SIN. The scene where Cloud was tossed to the air by his friends to reach the monster Bahamut SIN in the air while it was preparing its attack portraits teamwork, trust and friendship indicating humbleness as Cloud’s friends trusts him to defeat Bahamut. Knowing all the characters attitudes, their pride in winning over enemies means a lot to them but in this movie, even Vincent Valentine (the guy with the red cape) gave Cloud the turn to defeat Bahamut.
Another thing that caught the author’s attention is the fight scene of Cloud against his long time rival Sephiroth. Like from their last fight at Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth never turned all game fanatics down by his fast moves and killer dialogues. The persistence and willingness of Cloud to fight and win over Sephiroth again showed strength, faith, sacrifice and love in his friends. He would not win over Sephiroth if he did not think of his friends whom he wants to protect, Aerith and his best friend Zack who inspired him in many way.
MUSICAL SCORE The music of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children are well executed in the movie. Square-Enix is very good in composing music for their games so it’s a must that they should also do the same in Advent Children. Every move specially in the fight scenes were given to life by their good music. The author’s favorite music in the movie is the music during the fight scene of Cloud and Sephiroth. The voice of the choir plus the orchestra’s stunning music surely captivated the viewers eyes and ears to focus into the movie. THE CHARACTERS
Many of the Final Fantasy loyalist were amused by the new character design of the Final Fantasy VII movie. From the short character comes a matured new character design from the skilful hands of Square-Enix. All in the Advent Children are new and stunning. GRAPHICAL TECHNIQUES Graphically and animation wise, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children has no equal. Despite the claim for realism, the characters’ features are nonetheless slightly cartoonistic, with larger, shinier eyes than a real person has, and have some minor faults – try looking at the napes of their necks for instance.
Square-Enix has brought the franchise to a whole new level by recreating the characters itself and the world of Midgar to its full 3d glory. It surpasses the first Final Fantasy movie in many ways. The animation itself it cutting edge and jaw dropping. It’s obviously the most spectacular, greatly conceived battle of the movie, with breathtaking special effects. This, the author think is the most interesting part, even for the briefest moment, Aerith’s full face.
And also, since it’s what the most hardcore fans have been waiting for for years – a long, magnificent one-on-one battle to the death. Despite all the fighting scenes, violence in Advent Children has a very little bloodshed to be seen. The graphics engine that are used in developing this movie is Blender. It’s a free software that can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications.
If you could notice, Red XIII (a fox with a flaming tail), plays only a little part on the movie. In fact, he only spoke at the very end of the movie. This is because the character Red XIII is somewhat difficult to animate because of its fur. But other than that, the movie has a lot of action sequences that are fast paced and action packed. CONCLUSION Final Fantasy VII Advent Children’s development period has been very long for a movie. But it has proven that the wait was well worth it because they really did their best in improving the graphical aspect of the movie.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children can be judged on so many different merits, positive and negative. But the movie itself is thrilling entertainment for people who like Final Fantasy. The quality and clarity of the CG visuals is genuinely amazing, but the most convincing scenes are the ones where the fewest special effects are going off, simply because they’re the least common. Reference 1. ) <http://www. adventchildren. net/ff7ac/movie/about. php> viewed February 23, 2
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