Mirror's Edge LARP!

September 8, 2013 8:34 PM

Parkour, done similar to the style of the video game Mirror's Edge.
posted by Evernix (41 comments total)

No.
posted by Songdog at 8:40 PM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

but why
posted by sonic meat machine at 8:47 PM on September 8, 2013

The big thing that video is missing is the shot where Faith jumps onto the landing gear of a helicopter, which then flies past a skyscraper, allowing her to see her reflection in the mirror.

I feel this is not too much to ask. Get on it, parkour video makers.
posted by chrominance at 8:51 PM on September 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Minute for minute, that has to be more dangerous than base jumping, surely?
posted by smoke at 8:52 PM on September 8, 2013

All it needs is for the artist to leap off a ledge and fall horribly to his/her death because there was no way to see the proper landing spot in advance (not at all bitter about that game).

Seriously though, this was beautiful and affecting. Well done.
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:55 PM on September 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Before I click on this I need to know if it will give me the sort of please-god-kill-me-now motion sickness the game did
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:06 PM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

Woah.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:13 PM on September 8, 2013

The developers of the game had mentioned in some article that they'd placed a tiny dot in the middle of the screen (even though there's almost no gunplay in Mirror's Edge) so that those prone to motion sickness would have a fixed point to focus on.

I read that and wondered, probably aloud, if they were perhaps placing too much faith in the therapeutic benefits of a tiny white dot.
posted by savetheclocktower at 9:13 PM on September 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

but why

Read in the voice of Werner Herzog.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 9:26 PM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

Nope.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:33 PM on September 8, 2013 [4 favorites]

I loved Mirror's Edge as a game concept, but playing it demonstrated I'm just as cack handed, clumsy and unfit in virtual reality as in real life.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:36 PM on September 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've played Mirror's Edge enough to be pretty good at it. Which still means I plummet to my death at least once a chapter. So this video is neat and terrifying at the same time.

(FWIW I read an interview with a traceur which I'd wildly paraphrase as "How do you get to the roof of Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice." You don't do advanced stuff like this without knowing exactly what your body can do.)

Extra kudos to the guy for the cosplay!
posted by zompist at 9:47 PM on September 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

You don't do advanced stuff like this without knowing exactly what your body can do.

Honestly, watching parkour videos where they're scaling buildings and running across rooftops, I'm much more concerned that a certain building element may not be as solid as it appears. What if you jump onto a metal roof that's not meant to be anything but a screen for AC units or something so it doesn't have much structure underneath it? It'll be able to support your weight about as well as a cookie sheet. What if that ballustrade on the roof parapet isn't really attached all that well? What if the cornice you grab onto is just foam covered with a thin layer of stucco?
posted by LionIndex at 10:17 PM on September 8, 2013 [13 favorites]

I'm much more concerned that a certain building element may not be as solid as it appears.

I doubt any part of this video is showing a first attempt at an unexamined building element. (Or at least that would be my approach - search for areas that look like they have potential for a good Mirror's Edge style shot, then check out the area and see what you can do with it, find the best way to use it to get a good shot, and then run camera.)
posted by anonymisc at 10:28 PM on September 8, 2013

I'm much more concerned that a certain building element may not be as solid as it appears.

I'm no expert at parkour, but I am an expert skier, and I can tell you that professional skiers don't just go ripping lines down cliff faces with the "hope" that they'll point their sticks in the right direction. The more advanced and technical the route, the more study and research that goes into it before you ever attempt it. This starts with regular observation of the terrain in differing conditions, then careful testing of the route in bite-sized pieces, then more observation, discussion with others who have attempted the same or similar...and so on and so forth. Eventually, on the right day you find that the conditions are right, and you've practiced each of the parts so many times they are now muscle memory, and you can link the whole thing together and just rip it right off. And that's when its time to make sure the cameras are rolling.

I would imagine a reel like this isn't much different. In fact, its not one continuous shot but multiple shots, so I think its safe to say this is very much similar - this guy / these gals are professionals who are showing us the best of what they do, and each spot their foot or hand encounters isn't the first time they are running it but the 101st time.

Its kind of like those videos of kids doing insane trick shots with quarters or frisbees, except way cooler and less choreographed.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:39 PM on September 8, 2013 [9 favorites]

Yeah, thoroughly inspecting a site is pretty fundamental to responsible parkour (dummies are often not good enough to get to some of these places and like surfers, freerunners often keep their mouths shut about difficult and advanced spots). They spend a lot of time checking out interesting spots and drilling one or two things on them over and over again.
posted by mobunited at 10:53 PM on September 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have never made a game that inspired someone to risk their life to show how much they love it.
posted by andreaazure at 10:55 PM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

I kinda figured that sites were checked out, but I was just describing what scares me about the videos - it's not "oh no, he's gonna fall" it's "oh no, there's gonna be a bolt missing".
posted by LionIndex at 11:19 PM on September 8, 2013

I'm much more concerned that a certain building element may not be as solid as it appears.

Point of Contact & Tree POV

"It's never just jump. When you get to the level when you think about serious gaps or heights, questions about grip and stability become your only focus. When you see a tracer awkwardly clamber over the side of an arm jump to test it before he does it for real it's not because he doubts his ability to be able to jump across, it's because he needs to feel the surface, the moment of touch so he can feel it on a visceral level before he can really convince himself that it's safe to do."

From the Ampisound blog.
posted by unliteral at 11:37 PM on September 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

I would be afraid of that one little bird shit I wasn't expecting. You think you'll have a firm footing, but no.
posted by pracowity at 11:57 PM on September 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

If I remember correctly, Faith doesn't cast reflections in-game, and the sun is rarely at her back so you don't see her shadow much. But what this video is really missing for verisimilitude is the sound of the runner's footsteps (and breathing) and the presence of a bunch of policemen recklessly firing their weapons into crowds of people.
posted by jeffhoward at 12:22 AM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I do hope they check stuff out before running across any of my buildings. Especially with the historic structures and original stonework or masonry construction, there's plenty of reason to be dubious of their stability. Repeated runnings could even be more dangerous in that there are only so many impacts or wiggles something needs before it falls off, out, or even in. I was particularly alarmed at the chimney pots, as a tall chimney with limited or unrecent maintenance could easily take a seemingly vertical landing and translate that into lateral force sufficient to topple. They're only built to hold themselves up.

Not to mention vertical drainpipes, or scaffold supports (for ghu's sake don't swing around them!)
posted by dhartung at 12:56 AM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

I haven't played the game but I'm just wondering, in real life if you fall 50 feet do you get to start right back from your last save point or do you have to go back to the beginning of the level?
posted by crayz at 1:36 AM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Before I click on this I need to know if it will give me the sort of please-god-kill-me-now motion sickness the game did

All I know is I'll be delaying my breakfast for a few minutes.
posted by ersatz at 2:02 AM on September 9, 2013

I haven't played the game but I'm just wondering, in real life if you fall 50 feet do you get to start right back from your last save point or do you have to go back to the beginning of the level?

Neither, your saved game corrupts.
posted by Malice at 2:25 AM on September 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

I have dreams like this quite often, where I'm able to do things like "float/jump" down staircases, or skip/traipse lightly along descending platforms, pillars, etc.

The only difference is, in my dreams it's all very low-gravity and smooth, but watching this video, I could feel the cartilage in my knees going "CRUNCH!" every time he landed.
posted by ShutterBun at 2:50 AM on September 9, 2013

jesus that's terrifying.

no no look out for that SOLAR PANEL oh christ there's a duct BE CAREFUL WITH THAT DUCT it's just aluminum you can't stand on that oh god ANTENNA ANTENNA WATCH OUT fuck you're going to break that window sill right off aren't you SATELLITE DISH DON'T TRIP ON THE SATELLITE DISH do you have any idea how long it takes to calibrate those fuckers AAAAH COMPOSITE SHINGLES those things are more delicate than they look you're going to fuck up the shingles and that roof is going to start leaking DON'T STEP ON THE LOOK OUT SUNROOF WINDOW LOOK OUT oh hell now you've loosened the caulk by yanking on the frame and it's going to leak too dammit

ROOFING IS SRS BZNS SIR
posted by ook at 6:42 AM on September 9, 2013 [6 favorites]

I love these sorts of videos. This video is also kind of crazy, perhaps even crazier.
posted by chunking express at 6:52 AM on September 9, 2013 [3 favorites]

While I was watching it, I thought "at least he's not fucking up the roofs" then I got to 1:29.

Seriously, stay the fuck off my roof. The damage you do to roofing that is made to support weight but not impact may not be immediately noticeable but will be damaging and expensive.

Doing this sort of things makes you The Tick: doing damage to city infrastructure under the illusion of doing something cool.
posted by plinth at 7:42 AM on September 9, 2013

I could feel the cartilage in my knees going "CRUNCH!" every time he landed.

One thing to note, on most of those long drops (down stairs, from higher roof to lower, etc), he rolled at the bottom because really, no one's knees can take that kind of abuse consistently. He's distributing the kinetic energy as widely as possible.
posted by Mister_A at 7:46 AM on September 9, 2013

Also dude please come clean my gutters!
posted by Mister_A at 7:46 AM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was just waiting for him to crash through a roof and end up in somebody's office.
posted by alby at 9:09 AM on September 9, 2013

Man I wish it had been unedited. A continuous uninterrupted run would have been even more affecting.
posted by Redhush at 10:38 AM on September 9, 2013

That was awesome.

He is very good at what he does. Which is, apparently, be Spider Man.

Which is awesome.
posted by jammy at 10:49 AM on September 9, 2013

There were a handful of moments there which were absolutely perfect Mirror's Edge. I would have liked a bit more simple running and some vaulting over chain link fences though.

If they can find a way to build some abstract floating monoliths to run around that would be neat too.
posted by lucidium at 11:59 AM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

I read an interview with a traceur which I'd wildly paraphrase as "How do you get to the roof of Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice." You don't do advanced stuff like this without knowing exactly what your body can do.

The same is true for Mirror's Edge. The game rewards skill more than most. The time trials are the real parkour simulator. They feel like you're hanging out on the rooftops, learning to do parkour, polishing your moves, finding the best routes. Get a star or two in each of the time trials then go back and play through the story campaign and you'll feel like a badass Hollywood parkour stuntperson.
posted by straight at 12:07 PM on September 9, 2013

This made my hands sweat.
posted by oceanjesse at 12:45 PM on September 9, 2013

Guy I linked to climbed a crane and it's also crazy.
posted by chunking express at 4:53 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Am I the only one who thought the body and shadow look like renders? Sure, I reckon someone had to get up onto those roofs to capture the environmental footage, but I suspect there's more than a little compositing/editing trickery going on here. The movement is just way too smooth -- watch a helmetcam video of downhill biking or anything similar and it's a lot more shaky than this.
posted by El Mariachi at 11:05 PM on September 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

You want sweaty palms and crane climbing?
posted by ShutterBun at 11:29 PM on September 9, 2013

He is very good at what he does. Which is, apparently, be Spider Man.

Peter Parkour.
posted by radwolf76 at 2:06 AM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]