making-of posts

Behind the scenes with "that SWTOR cinematic trailer"

by William Dobson Jun 24th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Sure, the Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer from E3 may have been lacking in the gameplay department, but that didn't stop it absolutely rocking the socks off anyone that saw it. The people that made that possible are from Blur Studio, specialists in CG animation for games, films, and commercials. The IGN video above features an interview with Derron Ross, an animation supervisor for the company. He explains that although you might not realize it in the final products, a ton of the highest quality game videos are from Blur -- as an example, one of the early Warhammer Online trailers that a lot of you will have seen is from them. Ross goes on to describe what it takes to create something with such dangerously high levels of awesomeness.

If this little behind-the-scenes look at the SWTOR trailer has you craving more CG goodness, Blur's website has links to a ton of their other works for your viewing pleasure.

Tags: behind-the-scenes, blur, blur-studio, cg, cg-animation, cinematics, making-of, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, trailer, videos

The making of the Warhammer Online cinematic

by Shawn Schuster Dec 28th 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Warhammer Online, Academic, Education

Just before Warhammer Online launched, we were treated to a gorgeous new cinematic to give us just a taste of what to expect in the game. This teaser launched right about the same time as World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King trailer, making for several heated forum debates on which video was more amazing. No matter which side of that fence you're on, the fact is that Mythic gave Blizzard a run for their money in the cinematic department, there's no doubt.

Now the actual creators of that cinematic, Blur Studio, have compiled a two-hour video depicting the making of that Warhammer teaser. It's broken down into four parts, so you can pace yourself, but it's certainly worth a watch if you're into the whole CGI scene. You'll learn about the concept stages, how Blur took liberties with actually creating new content before it was designed for the game, how the Orcs were made as an army and much more. Check out Blur's website for their impressive CGI portfolio which includes the Tabula Rasa cinematic as well.

Tags: blur-studios, cinematic, creation, ea, making-of, mythic, video, war, warhammer-online

Cinemassively: The making of BloodSpell

by Moo Money May 5th 2008 at 12:30PM

Filed under: Real life, Video, Events, real-world, Cinemassively, Machinima

While Neverwinter Nights wasn't quite an MMO, players were able to host up to 64 people at once on a home server. It was also extremely customizable in a way that few MMOs allowed for. That's why it served as the medium of choice for veteran machinimator Hugh Hancock to create his feature-length machinima, BloodSpell.

Making a feature-length anything isn't easy. It requires a lot of planning, time, dedication, and a large cast of supporting players. Hugh has been releasing documentaries once a week that go over everything from concept to development to preproduction, all the way to finish. These short films are extremely helpful to any aspiring machinimator plotting a large-scale project! For more information, check out the BloodSpell blog.

If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.

Tags: bloodspell, documentary, hugh-hancock, machinima, making-of, making-of-bloodspell-documentary, neverwinter-nights, strange-company