Compost Creative’s in-house animation team put their heads together to create this traditional 2D cel animated story that tells the tale of the valiant King Arthur and his knights, who become plagued with corruption and evil in their quest to retrieve the all powerful grail.
It’s always a treat to get to illustrate and animate in such a stylised world. This trailer uses primarily deep blues and vivid oranges to create the shadowy underworld that their intrepid adventurers venture into.
When making a game trailer, mood and atmosphere are crucial. You’ve got a short amount of time to captivate and intrigue a viewer to convince them that they want to spend hours and hours exploring this world. In the case of Corrupted, the project came from R&D for a game trailer where the client decided they wanted us to go in a different stylistic direction. Still, Compost Creative loved this look so much that their animation team used spare time in between projects to finish it.
Accompanying an eerie soundtrack, they created a haunting and intriguing atmosphere by designing environments rich with depth and detail. Their team carefully thought through the world in which the trailer takes place, building out the background environments in great detail. In the final trailer, these environments slowly fade away in mist and shadow — offering a hint of a larger world to explore without giving too much of it away too soon.
They also faced the question: how do you make a trailer that’s set largely underground, in shadow, look vibrant? Even when a game is dark, it’s also supposed to be fun, so it’s crucial to convey that through inviting visuals. Their colour palette allowed them to capture the shadowy-gloom of the setting, through the heavy presence of blues and blacks, while still making the trailer look appealing, through the pops of orange that highlight key parts of the image.
Animation Directors: Colin Thornton & Neil Wilson Assistant Producer: J.S. Young Production Coordinators: Genevieve Weatherburn & Orla Smith 2D Animators: Daisy Evans, Starr Horton, Ka Hei Heiley Chiu, Chris MacDonald, Sam Jewitt Instagram:@compostcreative
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Compost Creative’s in-house animation team put their heads together to create this traditional 2D cel animated story that tells the tale of the valiant King Arthur and his knights, who become plagued with corruption and evil in their quest to retrieve the all powerful grail.
When making a game trailer, mood and atmosphere are crucial. You’ve got a short amount of time to captivate and intrigue a viewer to convince them that they want to spend hours and hours exploring this world. In the case of Corrupted, the project came from R&D for a game trailer where the client decided they wanted us to go in a different stylistic direction. Still, Compost Creative loved this look so much that their animation team used spare time in between projects to finish it.
Credits:
Animation Directors: Colin Thornton & Neil Wilson
Assistant Producer: J.S. Young
Production Coordinators: Genevieve Weatherburn & Orla Smith
2D Animators: Daisy Evans, Starr Horton, Ka Hei Heiley Chiu, Chris MacDonald, Sam Jewitt
Instagram: @compostcreative