12.21.12

"Dishonored" prequel webisodes

Motion Graphics, Entertainment

Psyop's latest work with ROKKAN for Bethesda Softworks is the engrossing, animated prequel series The Tales from Dunwall for Bethesda Softworks and Arkane Studios’s highly-anticipated multi-platform title “Dishonored.” The series gives gamers a firsthand glimpse into the steampunk-inspired, shadowy whaling city of Dunwall where plague is rampant and the city is in disarray and on the verge of dystopia.

The initial brief was very open ended: Since just the idea behind the backstory existed, inspiration was taken from the game’s artistic direction and given a twist. The prequel videos, although stylistically different from the game, accurately portray a folklore for the story of Dunwall.

The three webisodes were predominantly produced by hand; with all the imperfections of hand-drawing, they are like paintings in motion. Each frame (nearly 3,000) was essentially a fully rendered styleframe, which was then enhanced with 3-D elements to add to the painterly atmosphere, dimension and depth of each shot.

Charles Bae, Rokkan/Regi Jacob, Bethesda Softworks, creative directors/clients Sam Ballardini/Jon Saunders, designers; Lizzie Akana/Angelica Alzona/Sam Ballardini/Marika Cowen/Stephanie Davidson/Blake Patrick/Stephanie Russell, illustrators; Robin Nishio, storyboard artist Ryan Moran/Borja Peña/Jon Saunders/Michael Shin, animators; Jason Conradt/Danny Kamhaji/Helen Park/Borja Peña, animators; Oliver Castle/Dave Chen/Bryan Eck/Sue Jang, 3-D modeling; Jon Saunders, director; David Barosin/Zed Bennit, visual effects artists; Borja Peña, lead technical director; Ryan Mack, producer; Delaney O'Brien, assistant producer; Lucia Grillo, executive producer; Psyop, production company.

www.psyop.tvwww.rokkan.com