Mixing 3D and 2D for Cinematic Game Trailer
Year
2024
Scope
3D
Motion Graphics
Cel Animation
Video Editing
Sound
Illustration
Overview
Jurassic Park: Nightfall is a fictional thriller game set in the Jurassic World universe.
The project combines 3D and 2D elements to explore another workflow and an interesting visual approach. Contrary to a gameplay piece, this cinematic trailer focuses on storytelling through the mood and feel of environments, dramatic light, and color to engage and evoke emotion in viewers. It's designed to resonate with both gamers as well as a casual audience drawn to the thriller narrative and the visual style.
Art Direction
Purposefully combining realistic 3D renders with stylized 2D assets presented an exciting creative challenge. To capture the thriller tone and dark jungle atmosphere of Jurassic, we used strategically placed cinematic light sources to enhance volumetrics and create dense fog. While the scenery remains dark, the lighting and complementary color palette provide striking contrasts, adding depth and mood to each scene.
Workflow
The 2D assets were illustrated and cel-animated using various software, while all 3D scenes were created in Blender.
Drafts of the 2D animations served as stencils for refining the animation of the 3D scenes, allowing the environment to respond to the later comped 2D elements by adding details like reflections and emissions at the right keyframes.
Post-production, including compositing and sound, was done in Premiere Pro and After Effects. Alpha renders without light were used for masking, allowing precise layering and integration of our mixed mediums.
