Framestore has delivered a dynamic, animated HD introduction for Activision’s new DJ Hero console game. Briefed by Freestyle Games, Simon Whalley and Mike Woods from Framestore commissioned director Marco Puig, from Warp Films, to help visualize the animation for this highly anticipated game. Marco’s thirst for something unique generated a fantastic treatment and VFX Supervisor, Diarmid Harrison-Murray, developed a look that was part photoreal, part hyper-real and part nod to game play. The result is an epic visual feast, in which a giant record needle terrorises a vinyl planet and its DJ inhabitants.
Realizing Marco’s vision was a huge technical undertaking for Framestore. Using a team of 25 3D artists, they worked on 76 shots in HD over a solid 15 week period. Apart from the central work of rebuilding and polishing the 5 main DJ characters (Cooky, GMF, HHH, Itch & Shadow), there was also a plethora of props, vehicles, environments, and other characters to create – the final scene alone boasting a retina-clenching 4800 individual dancers. A major challenge of the project was the execution of the music and sound editing. Framestore’s Mike Woods worked closely with Freestyle’s musical director, Daniel Neil, and sound FX house Pepper to create a sonic mix in 5.1 Dolby Surround sound that fits every aspect of the video narrative. Once all the elements were brought together, a final grade was added by Simon Bourne, creating an intro that is truly out of this world.
