MAVERICK MEDIA
ALBA
To help promote the launch of ustwogames Alba, we crafted this music video with the wonderful team at Maverick Media.
Alba is a beautiful game with a very strong message promoting awareness of nature and the environment. For each game sold, a tree would be planted, so this was a project we could really get behind.
Working closely with Maverick, we had the opportunity to level up the look of the game to create this fun and entertaining video.
SI SI SI!
It’s a pleasure to work on a project when you believe in the subject matter.
It’s also great when you can play a computer game and legitimately call it research. So all in all this was a fantastic project to be involved in from the start.
To get the ball rolling, the team at Maverick spent a lot of time writing and refining the song with Sister Music to create an engaging tune with a deforestation message at its heart. It was written as a call to action, encouraging listeners to do their bit and give nuggets of guidance on how they could help.
'Si Si Si' was the result, brilliantly composed by Neighbourhood Jukebox and sung by ANI (Ani De Los Reyes).
With the song now ready, it was onto the storyboard stage, and the video was starting to take shape…
COLOUR SCRIPT
With the structure of the video now in place, it was time to begin creating the world. Early on, the Lion King’s ‘I just can’t wait to be King’ was supplied as a great reference for abstract colours and bold patterns, so we were keen to take inspiration from this in some of our design choices.
We agreed to use painted backgrounds heavily in the aesthetic of the video - this would help separate our world from the game world, and allow us to go a bit crazy with the colours towards the end of the song.
We looked at all of the panels in the storyboard and decided which shots would require paintings, which would need 3D and which would be a blend of the two - the integration would happen with a combination of camera projections in 3D and compositing.
Set in the Balearic Islands, Alba has a really well-designed world, a beautiful colour palette and strong characters. There are specific vegetation and colours in the region, and we were keen to reflect all of these in our video - another good excuse to play the game!
QUIT PLAYING GAMES
Unfortunately, game assets don't always have enough detail to be flexible enough for the demands of music videos and bespoke animation, so we had the enjoyable task of studying the game and reimagining the characters and props with a higher-end finish.
Working with Maverick, we developed characters that had a friendly look, increased details, while also staying true to the game design.
Below is what we are the original game assets, and then the final look characters after development.
PROPS TO THE TEAM
With several environments and sets, there was a lot to create. Using reference from the game and matte painting designs we made a lot of props so that we could help integrate the 3D characters with 2D backgrounds.
After Rig-IT speedily supplied us with working character rigs, it was then up to the animators to do their thing. Some shots had up to 12 characters so getting everything working together nicely was a challenge.
All the while, the lighters and lookdev artists were developing the scenes, adding shrubbery, performing camera projections and creating their comps so that once animation was completed, it would be a simple case of replacing frames.
CREDITS
Client: Maverick Media
Directors: Dan Edgley & Charlie Batho
Producer: Jade Jordan
Storyboarding: Andy Hammond @ Maverick Media
Environment Paintings: Claire Eyheramendy
Character Modeling: Nur Diker-Koksal & Tom Paterson
Character Rigging: Rig-IT
Character Texturing: Dan Edgley
Prop Modeling and Texturing: Sarah Barets
Animation: Christopher Slavik, Laura Campanella, Dan Edgley
Lighting & Compositing: Charlie Batho