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thekusabishatNumber three! Thank you, dear netbook, for throwing up a white screen halfway through the initial translation and making me start again. I think this one is a little more accurate, though, so it's not all bad. Original page here. This one is about the Camera Obscura: how it came to be, why it looks the way it does, and how it got its name.
Zero ~zero~ Anthology 3: Camera Obscura
Interviewees: Keisuke Kikuchi (producer), Makoto Shibata (director)
The Camera Obscura was essential to Zero ~zero~
The Camera Obscura as a weapon
---Under what kind of circumstances did Zero ~zero~ become a game in which a camera is used?
Kikuchi: The order was decided from the fact that we chose to use a game system* where a camera is used to fight ghosts. (In other words, they decided at the very start that they wanted to use a camera.) However, there were many complications with deciding upon a camera that you could use as a weapon to defeat ghosts.
*Method of gameplay - for example, the way you have to uncover the lies in Ace Attorney to progress in court, etc.
Shibata: It was already a camera in the very first proposal, but we kept saying, "What do we do with a camera?" Anyway, we sorted it out. Maybe because of the childhood experiences I've got, thinking up ways to use a camera as a weapon to defeat ghosts came really naturally to me.
---Looking at ghosts through the viewfinder sounds a lot like your story. (Note: from his staff column section "Gathering of Ghosts".)
Shibata: When my friends read that column, after it was put up, they said with surprise: "That camera you always had in your room, back then - that's what it meant?"
Kikuchi: Now, I also think that there is no better device to use in a horror game, but... at first, I thought, "Do you not have any better ideas than this?"
---Until you decided you wanted to use a camera as a weapon, were there any other proposals?
Kikuchi: There were lots of proposals. Things like shining light on them, throwing Ofuda*, and hitting them with a hamaya**.
*Paper talismans or seals (I think the door seals in FF1, for example). See Wikipedia.
**A sacred arrow, used to drive away evil. Literally means "evil-destroying arrow".
Shibata: ...And sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner (laughs). Later, we also rewrote a game system with a "scream" button, which you could press when you'd accumulated enough fear, and it would temporarily drive away ghosts. But it was absolutely awful.
---So then you finally settled on the camera.
Kikuchi: I was interested in the idea of a game system where you'd have to wait until the very last moment, when the ghost is right up in your face. With things such as "spiritual photography", and the superstition that your soul is sucked away when your picture is taken, I thought it was quite physiological. I wanted the quality of the picture to be reflected in the scoring, and I wanted the player to want to take good pictures.
Shibata: In horror games until now, once an enemy appears you can't run away, and I wasn't happy with that. I thought it would be advantageous if you could run away, even though I wanted to see more scary things. I wondered if it was possible to make such an opposing kind of game.
Kikuchi: Weren't you the only one saying you wanted it to be scarier? (Laughs)
The Camera Obscura's viewfinder perspective
---It isn't only battles; you can also use the camera in your search, right?
Kikuchi: Hints appear in photographs, and I thought that using to unravel the mystery as well was quite an interesting idea.
---When Miku looks through the viewfinder, the player also enters first-person perspective.
Shibata: One of my desires for the game system was the element of being able to look around you in a first-person perspective. I originally liked the first-person shooter view. It's realistic, so thinking of a horror game it suits it. The stereo sound would also be great for really pulling you into the fear, no? I also wondered if the entire thing should be in first-person.
---Deception was a while ago, but that was in first-person, wasn't it?
Kikuchi: Now that you mention it, Deception WAS first-person.
Shibata: In first-person perspective, some people get 3D-sick (motion-sick), and I believe that they can't really grasp the situation properly. Also, you don't get to see the character, and you can't see the camera while it's in operation.
Kikuchi: Since the mansion also has an ornate atmosphere, we wanted to show it from a good angle. "Behind Miku, the ghost is..." Things like that can't be shown in first-person view.
Shibata: The protagonist has a camera, and if it goes into first-person perspective while she's looking through it - could we effortlessly blend those two viewpoints whilst making them both substantial?
Kikuchi: And the act of looking through the camera itself, since you can't see around you, is scary.
Shibata: And then, when you're looking through the camera, even though there's no feeling of loneliness like it, which coincides with the situation Miku has been placed in.
The Camera Obscura's model
---About the naming of the Camera Obscura?
Kikuchi: I did a lot of thinking about it, since it's a specially-created camera, and we wanted to give it an appropriate name.
Shibata: But, I did consider calling it "Shashin" (写真, meaning photograph), and I thought it was a great name, since it's written like "showing the truth" (he's saying 真を写す - which is 写真 reversed and put into a sentence).
Kikuchi: Well, the meaning is "a shadow-destroying machine", so it's "Shaeiki". (影を射つ機械 = 射影機, or Sha (attack, defeat, destroy etc.), ei (shadow) ki (machine).)
Shibata: The concept was the kind of naming that occurred when foreign culture began to arrive, between the Edo and Meiji periods.
---So, with regards to the design, it reflects the set time period?
Shibata: That's right. With regards to the camera, it became certain. Since I picked it up in my dream, to convey that, I looked for the camera with the perfect image but perhaps wasn't realistic. I thought it went smoothly that way.
---Was there anything you used for reference and such?
Kikuchi: We searched through data on loads of cameras.
Shibata: Since Miku carries it around with her, it took the shape of a small, square-shaped bag, like an old folding-type camera when folded up.
---So it's folded up?
Shibata: Yeah; when it's opened up the lens protrudes outwards, and you can see the body of the bellows. I wanted an old machine like that, and I found the perfect one. It was a German camera called the Linhof 5x7, and when I found it I thought, "This is the one!"
---So it was modelled on a foreign camera?
Kikuchi: The Air Force camera was the wrong time period, but its image was a perfect fit.
Shibata: Then we introduced the Edo Period's mechanical design. Telescopes, magic lanterns, pedometers, microscopes, telegraphs, electricity... We looked at these things from old machines. It's a dim gold colour, like brass craftsmanship, and an arabesque pattern is carved into it.
Kikuchi: The process was really smooth.
---In the latter half of the story, the Camera Obscura becomes an important key, doesn't it?
Shibata: Right. Around that time, we started getting lots of detailed questions from the designer, like "What's going on inside it?" When he saw the story plan, he at once said, "Such a thing can't fit inside that design!", and other things like that.
Kikuchi: Please enjoy finding out what "such a thing" is while playing the game.
---So, how did it get there?
Shibata: Actually, I had prepared the side story of the man who made the Camera Obscura, but it's not mentioned in the game. If we had put it in, the game would've been far too inflated. I regret that.
Interviewees: Keisuke Kikuchi (producer), Makoto Shibata (director)
The Camera Obscura was essential to Zero ~zero~
The Camera Obscura as a weapon
---Under what kind of circumstances did Zero ~zero~ become a game in which a camera is used?
Kikuchi: The order was decided from the fact that we chose to use a game system* where a camera is used to fight ghosts. (In other words, they decided at the very start that they wanted to use a camera.) However, there were many complications with deciding upon a camera that you could use as a weapon to defeat ghosts.
*Method of gameplay - for example, the way you have to uncover the lies in Ace Attorney to progress in court, etc.
Shibata: It was already a camera in the very first proposal, but we kept saying, "What do we do with a camera?" Anyway, we sorted it out. Maybe because of the childhood experiences I've got, thinking up ways to use a camera as a weapon to defeat ghosts came really naturally to me.
---Looking at ghosts through the viewfinder sounds a lot like your story. (Note: from his staff column section "Gathering of Ghosts".)
Shibata: When my friends read that column, after it was put up, they said with surprise: "That camera you always had in your room, back then - that's what it meant?"
Kikuchi: Now, I also think that there is no better device to use in a horror game, but... at first, I thought, "Do you not have any better ideas than this?"
---Until you decided you wanted to use a camera as a weapon, were there any other proposals?
Kikuchi: There were lots of proposals. Things like shining light on them, throwing Ofuda*, and hitting them with a hamaya**.
*Paper talismans or seals (I think the door seals in FF1, for example). See Wikipedia.
**A sacred arrow, used to drive away evil. Literally means "evil-destroying arrow".
Shibata: ...And sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner (laughs). Later, we also rewrote a game system with a "scream" button, which you could press when you'd accumulated enough fear, and it would temporarily drive away ghosts. But it was absolutely awful.
---So then you finally settled on the camera.
Kikuchi: I was interested in the idea of a game system where you'd have to wait until the very last moment, when the ghost is right up in your face. With things such as "spiritual photography", and the superstition that your soul is sucked away when your picture is taken, I thought it was quite physiological. I wanted the quality of the picture to be reflected in the scoring, and I wanted the player to want to take good pictures.
Shibata: In horror games until now, once an enemy appears you can't run away, and I wasn't happy with that. I thought it would be advantageous if you could run away, even though I wanted to see more scary things. I wondered if it was possible to make such an opposing kind of game.
Kikuchi: Weren't you the only one saying you wanted it to be scarier? (Laughs)
The Camera Obscura's viewfinder perspective
---It isn't only battles; you can also use the camera in your search, right?
Kikuchi: Hints appear in photographs, and I thought that using to unravel the mystery as well was quite an interesting idea.
---When Miku looks through the viewfinder, the player also enters first-person perspective.
Shibata: One of my desires for the game system was the element of being able to look around you in a first-person perspective. I originally liked the first-person shooter view. It's realistic, so thinking of a horror game it suits it. The stereo sound would also be great for really pulling you into the fear, no? I also wondered if the entire thing should be in first-person.
---Deception was a while ago, but that was in first-person, wasn't it?
Kikuchi: Now that you mention it, Deception WAS first-person.
Shibata: In first-person perspective, some people get 3D-sick (motion-sick), and I believe that they can't really grasp the situation properly. Also, you don't get to see the character, and you can't see the camera while it's in operation.
Kikuchi: Since the mansion also has an ornate atmosphere, we wanted to show it from a good angle. "Behind Miku, the ghost is..." Things like that can't be shown in first-person view.
Shibata: The protagonist has a camera, and if it goes into first-person perspective while she's looking through it - could we effortlessly blend those two viewpoints whilst making them both substantial?
Kikuchi: And the act of looking through the camera itself, since you can't see around you, is scary.
Shibata: And then, when you're looking through the camera, even though there's no feeling of loneliness like it, which coincides with the situation Miku has been placed in.
The Camera Obscura's model
---About the naming of the Camera Obscura?
Kikuchi: I did a lot of thinking about it, since it's a specially-created camera, and we wanted to give it an appropriate name.
Shibata: But, I did consider calling it "Shashin" (写真, meaning photograph), and I thought it was a great name, since it's written like "showing the truth" (he's saying 真を写す - which is 写真 reversed and put into a sentence).
Kikuchi: Well, the meaning is "a shadow-destroying machine", so it's "Shaeiki". (影を射つ機械 = 射影機, or Sha (attack, defeat, destroy etc.), ei (shadow) ki (machine).)
Shibata: The concept was the kind of naming that occurred when foreign culture began to arrive, between the Edo and Meiji periods.
---So, with regards to the design, it reflects the set time period?
Shibata: That's right. With regards to the camera, it became certain. Since I picked it up in my dream, to convey that, I looked for the camera with the perfect image but perhaps wasn't realistic. I thought it went smoothly that way.
---Was there anything you used for reference and such?
Kikuchi: We searched through data on loads of cameras.
Shibata: Since Miku carries it around with her, it took the shape of a small, square-shaped bag, like an old folding-type camera when folded up.
---So it's folded up?
Shibata: Yeah; when it's opened up the lens protrudes outwards, and you can see the body of the bellows. I wanted an old machine like that, and I found the perfect one. It was a German camera called the Linhof 5x7, and when I found it I thought, "This is the one!"
---So it was modelled on a foreign camera?
Kikuchi: The Air Force camera was the wrong time period, but its image was a perfect fit.
Shibata: Then we introduced the Edo Period's mechanical design. Telescopes, magic lanterns, pedometers, microscopes, telegraphs, electricity... We looked at these things from old machines. It's a dim gold colour, like brass craftsmanship, and an arabesque pattern is carved into it.
Kikuchi: The process was really smooth.
---In the latter half of the story, the Camera Obscura becomes an important key, doesn't it?
Shibata: Right. Around that time, we started getting lots of detailed questions from the designer, like "What's going on inside it?" When he saw the story plan, he at once said, "Such a thing can't fit inside that design!", and other things like that.
Kikuchi: Please enjoy finding out what "such a thing" is while playing the game.
---So, how did it get there?
Shibata: Actually, I had prepared the side story of the man who made the Camera Obscura, but it's not mentioned in the game. If we had put it in, the game would've been far too inflated. I regret that.
