Inspiration

If I have to be very honest, there are way too many things that have inspired me to get into the gaming industry. When I was five years old, I got my very first Sega Genesis, which was a mind-blowing experience. I can only vaguely recall those times, but I know one thing for sure - that completely got me hooked up. I was playing a game called 'Ecco II : Tides Of Time', when I stopped for a second to appreciate all the beautiful colors. Obviously, the graphics nowadays are far more realistic, but that moment holds a special place in my heart. It was the very first time I appreciated the art in something. It's funny, since I have to actually focus now to think about those times, but they've subconsciouslly influenced me to become who I am today.

By the time I was eleven, I had my first computer. I would spend hours and hours, playing games. My biggest inspiration comes from one of those nostalgic games - Diablo II. After three years of playing this game, I accidently found out, that the cinematic are actually really good. I remember being amazed by the graphics in them. The one particular cutscene I have in mind is from the Lord of Destruction expansion pack - it served as a trailer for it. There are many things that I love about this cinematic, and after analyzing it, I can see how ahead of time have the people who created it been.

break down

At the beginning of the scene, you can see very clearly, that the colors are all quite desaturated. The beginning starts from inside the castle, where everything has a very dark-greenish tint. The desaturation depends on the lightning of the scene mostly - more lighter areas are richer in color and also highlighted.

I really love the low amount of movement of the scene too - the only thing that moves is the smoke from the lantern. As soon as the door opens up, the very bright light puts more contrast on everything once again, making it seem like a majestic revealing moment, adding more drama to the door opening.

Once the door opens, there's also another very interesting thing to notice here. The only movement in the scene is from the environment - the flags, the snow particles, the birds. Not one enemy moves even an inch, making the whole army look all the more threatening. The character stops in one place - it looks like he is hesitating to step out.

At that very same moment, the camera stops moving too. The whole time the camera has been slowly moving towards the gates, building up the scene for the moment

of opening. Another thing that seperates the inside of the castle from the outside - the lightning. It's a very well used technique in my opinion. The inside of the castle - dark, desaturated, not much movement, peace, and the outside - lots of movement around, many highlighted areas, danger. I love how the door is used as a switch - from good to bad, just a door away. The leader of the enemies is then revealed - Baal. The camera stays completely still, adding more anticipation as he is slowly shown.

One of the strongest points of this cutscene is how the camera angles work. There isn't too much motion in the scene altogether, but the angles make up for that. The scene, that shows the hero from above, makes it look like you're actually playing the game. It also adds more depth to the scene, since it can see it from another angle, making sure the viewer understands it's in 3D.

The scene in which the colors become a bit more saturated. The contrast is increased, due to the sun. This is probably the most colorful scene in the whole video. I really like the level of realism in the sky - the sun and the clouds are made extremely well. This scene also acts like a dramatic pause, just before the conversation between our hero and the demon army begins. It puts more pressure inside the viewer, making him/her feel like on the edge of their seat.

Once Baal (the big bad demon) shouts 'Enough', then his power is revealed. It's done in a very mysterious way, though. First, with just a slight movement of his fingers, the air below the flags starts going up. A burst of wind. He does that on each side, before using something like a spell, that will kill the Hero. Not much is revealed about the actual power of the demon, which is what most people aim for - mystery. Curious people buy games.

The crystal on Baal's neck starts glowing in a very, VERY contrasting orange color, to indicate it's somehow special. Then Baal does a little motion with his fingers, where the amazing effects start kicking in. First, the heat effect - the area around his hands starts distorting, to immitate a very high temperature. Then, a strange, serpent-like spell appears. It's semi-transparent, distorting everything around it. This indicates, that the spell is somehow anomalic.

The only moment that somehow dissapointed me - the effects when the body is ripped into pieces. The blood effect is in my opinion terrible. Especially if you compare it to the rest of the video - it's just a bad choice.

The classical zoom-out outro. The camera zooms out, the bad guy is laughing and his army is stepping in to finish the job. Pure classic!

Now that I think about it, this project has influenced me in many ways. I really enjoy contrasting colors, but with a certain amount of desaturation. I also love realistic lightning, as it's one of the very main components of a good looking and realistic scene. Glow is also one of my most favourite effects, which is used on the crystal. The different angles have also influenced me in picking a good angle for my projects and changing them up every now and then.