With Free Guy, the premise is of a non-playable character (NPC) character gaining consciousness/free will. The director of the movie, Shawn Levy, wanted to make an authentic and recognizable movie in the gaming community [1]. They worked very hard on the visual effects. In the opening scene they filled one continuous shot and edited it for several months. Then they showed it to the filmmakers and received feedback to work more on it. Then they added more CGI effects to make it more exciting [2]. This wasn’t the first time Shawn Levy directed a movie revolving around new technology and its effects on society as he previously directed “Real Steel.”
Throughout the movie we see various technologies, such as monitors maintaining servers, streamers, Youtubers, ziplines, computer programs, headsets, and artificial intelligence (AI). Dean Zimmerman the film director, stated they made distinctly different visual scenes by having scenes with, “those unabashed video game visuals, full of eye candy everywhere but then have these beautiful moments of quiet, where he’s sitting in his apartment, or waking up and saying hi to his fish, or having a nice walk by the water with Jodie’s character.” These helped the audience feel certain emotions [3].
The movie makes fun of how quickly trends catch popularity. One premise in the movie is that Guy gains popularity online for gaining levels from not killing or committing violence against other NPCs. The film also comments on the impact of technology and gaming culture, showcasing how characters navigate and challenge the constraints of their digital environment. In the beginning of the movie we see many players being violent in order to gain levels, but near the end we see the opposite being done.
The movie asks questions about the use and rights of AIs. One character in the movie does not care about AIs “life” and tries to take down the game, but other characters feel empathy for the AIs.
The movie makers made three distinct looks for the movie. The real world outside of the game, the game world, and the game world to players. The game world is oversaturated and confusing showing the audience the addictiveness of games and the wide variety of options players can take [4].
References
Siegel, Tatiana. “The Low-Key Hustle of ‘Free Guy’ Filmmaker Shawn Levy: ‘I’m Willing to Outwork Anybody.’” The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Aug. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/free-guy-filmmaker-shawn-levy-1234992187/.
BBC Click. “Free Guy: How We Did The Visual Effects” YouTube. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKBSi4Zj7x8&feature=youtu.be.
Hullfish, Steve. “Behind the Scenes of Ryan Reynold’s ‘Free Guy.’” Frame.Io Insider, 26 Aug. 2021, https://blog.frame.io/2021/08/26/ryan-reynolds-free-guy-dean-zimmerman/.
“Here’s How the ‘Free Guy’ Design Team Created the Look of Free City.” Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2021, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-08-12/free-guy-video-game-design.