Interview with Dave Reynolds of Realm Pictures - Creators of Real-Life FPS

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Over the weekend we covered an awesome story about a group of film-makers who used Chat Roulette to invite unsuspecting users into a real-life FPS. Using a combination of a GoPro helmet cam, a large group of willing zombies, some incredible props and a tightly organised communications and effects team, they were able to create a live action first person shooter game in which the player controlled the action by telling the player character what to do.

It's an amazing achievement which has taken the internet by storm since it went live. As well as spearheading the project, Dave Reynolds provided the voice of the player character (and the determined looking Doom-esque facade at the bottom of the screen). We got in touch with him to talk about the production process and everything else besides.

What initially gave you the idea to combine an FPS with Chat Roulette?

The idea has been floating around for a long time; years ago we strapped a webcam to someone's head and got people on ChatRoulette to control what they did, but recently we've been thinking about how cool it would be to take that to the next level and have the strangers controlling a live action video game character.

How long after coming up with the idea did it take to get to the actual production?
There was about 5 weeks of R&D from the initial idea until we filmed it. The week running up to the shoot was very intense!

What was the strangest/funniest reaction you got from someone whilst searching for the next player?
The funniest thing to watch was probably the utter confusion in people's faces when our 'type start to play' screen appeared, and how that turned into delight and excitement when they realised what was going on.

As the main voice, did you find it difficult to figure out how many hints to give players to help them along?
When we planned the game, I hadn't counted on being as involved as I actually was, but as we started playing the game I just intervened as much as seemed necessary!

The voice itself is great, were you basing that on anyone in particular? To me it sounds like something halfway between Duke Nukem and Seth McFarlane.
I was certainly aiming for a Duke Nukem-esque narrator, so I'm glad that came through!

How many times players made it all the way to the end? Was there any kind of pattern between them and their approaches?
Throughout the weekend, only 3 players made it to the final portal. Interestingly, they all approached the game in very different ways, and at points came up with strategies that we hadn't even considered when planning the game, for instance, saving the grenade and then throwing it at the Boss.

The video certainly feels more like a send up to classic FPS games than more recent ones, do you have any thoughts on the current FPS scene?
We grew up with the classic FPS games like Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3d and such, and admittedly, aside from a few exceptions, aren't really into the modern FPS scene. None of the team are really into the big multiplayer triple A games like CoD, but do still love story driven ones like Bioshock and wanted to get across some of the atmosphere and feeling those type of games give.

Was it challenging to transition smoothly between each new playthough as the day went on?
There was about five minutes between each playthrough for us to reset the props and graphics, and for the zombies to get back in place.

Would you ever consider doing a new one, perhaps with a different setting/genre?
Well Level 2 is currently in development, so watch this space....

Callum Davies

Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF

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