How they filmed The Last of Us arcade scene

<i>Another fun fact. It is quite expensive to license some games to show in TV&#x2F;Movies.</i><p>What is the logic or justification here? It would never have occurred to me that you have to license games if you are filming in an arcade. Do you have to get a license if you film someone playing on a PlayStation? Playing a board game? Playing with LEGO bricks? Making coffee with a Bialetti? Standing next to a car with trademarked design elements? Is there somewhere some legal clause like you can play with your Game Boy but you can not film it without explicit permission? Is it because in the case of games - or software in general - you are not truly buying it but only getting a license to use it? Do I need a license to film someone using a browser or Photoshop? I mean, I can see that you have to license the music in a film if you make deliberate artistic decision and it really contributes to the scene, but what about some random music playing on a radio in the background? What about the radio in the background of a documentary film?

“If in the first act you have hung a Mortal Kombat II poster on the wall, then in the following one it should be played. Otherwise don&#x27;t put it there.” - Anton Chekhov

&gt; Another fun fact. It is quite expensive to license some games to show in TV&#x2F;Movies.<p>&gt; We had some pinball machines and arcade games not make the cut because they were too expensive to license, or the IP owner wasn&#x27;t licensing that particular game for that use at that particular time. We had a Ms Pac-Man that wouldnt clear because they were not allowing a license at that time.<p>&gt; ...New titles from the 90s were all mostly too expensive to license or use<p>&gt; ...Some licenses only allowed for showing the game in the deep background, or couldn&#x27;t feature game play, but only attract modes (Street Fighter II for example).<p>&quot;New titles from the 90s&quot;<p>Can anyone on here explain why these IP owners would want to keep their product OUT of these shows? Why would they want to require an agreement&#x2F;or-money for licensing out when it is free advertising for some old ass IP that could get second life?

It’s amazing how much work went into making it look like an abandoned 2003 arcade, even down to the team worrying about the color of the legs of a machine that might give it away as a more recent release. Then HBO stuff a Papermate Inkjoy RT pen in Sarah’s hand right in the first episode. The Inkjoy brand didn’t appear until around 2012 (and the retractable one was a little later). I’m assuming it was a product placement thing but it was quite in your face.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;productplacementblog.com&#x2F;tv-series&#x2F;inkjoy-gel-pen-in-the-last-of-us-s01e01-when-youre-lost-in-the-darkness-2023&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;productplacementblog.com&#x2F;tv-series&#x2F;inkjoy-gel-pen-in...</a>

Somewhat related, but anyone has noticed hard brigading and moderation to squash bad opinions about the show on Reddit? It sounds genius actually, if you produce content which success heavily relies on public opinion, why not hire a few PR companies to alternate the reality in reddit, youtube, etc.<p>Of course this is just speculation, but as a fan of the games I noticed a lot of weirdness around the reactions.<p>The show obv has some real budget and time constraints, which has meant so far that you don’t really see zombies (which sucks for a zombie show) and some epic scenes from the game have been either totally removed or botched.<p>My opinion: if they remake this show as much as the game, then it’ll eventually become great. A CGI show might make much more sense though (and seeing how good Gantz:O was, or Arcane, it’s totally doable with today’s tech). I hated the third episode because it did nothing to the story, but now I realize that the off episodes (3 and 7) are actually the best ones because at least I have no expectation.

I&#x27;ve had quite a lot of experience with filming around CRT&#x27;s, and it&#x27;s impressive how well they achieved these OLED screen replacements in this episode because while watching I was so drawn into the scene that I didn&#x27;t even have the thought occur of &#x27;how did they manage that without mad amounts of flickering&#x27;

The first comment was that’s not what an arcade looks like. But they are wrong, some arcades did look like that.

Pretty unrealistic Ellie could pull off a fatality despite not knowing how to use a joystick earlier

TIL that old-style forums still exist. This brought back memories from 2010s. I don&#x27;t know what to think about forums anymore though; they definitely do seem to be a thing of the past (esp. when users are hidden behind made-up names and portfolio pictures). Somehow, the comment sections of tiktok videos feels more authentic and alive than dedicated forums.

They&#x27;ve apparently disabled signup on the forum due to the hug -- anyone actually a member there able to grab and rehost the various cool pictures that are only thumbnails to non-members?

&gt; Nope! we didnt trash anything at all. No arcade games were harmed in the making of this show.<p>Phew! :)

Interesting, apparently they made their own CRT ”shader” from scratch. I wonder why not use one of the amazing ones available in something like RetroArch?

Link to watch the actual scene: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=5lmAsCi7Asw">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=5lmAsCi7Asw</a>

a bit OT, but I&#x27;ve noticed over the past 20+ years that almost every movie&#x2F;tv show that shows someone playing video games will play the same 40 year old sounds. I&#x27;m always hearing the arcade Defender shooting and thrusting sounds, and occasionally Atari 2600 Pacman sounds. Are these just &#x27;public domain&#x27;? Why don&#x27;t we hear more &#x27;real&#x27; video game&#x2F;arcade sounds?

Great stuff, thanks for posting in HN!