Opening Cinematic

Diablo III demonstrates some of the most detailed, epic and vivid concept art ever seen. The team at Blizzard Entertainment are renowned for their cinemtaic style and incredible vision. The cinematics for Blizzard's games have gone down in gaming legend, and Diablo III's are no exception.

The of the opening cinematic that is most inspiring is the storybook style, 'drawn' beginning. The blend of parallax 2D work and textured 3D work is seamless and creatures an incredible style.

Here I look at some of the Concept team's artwork and a couple of interviews with the cinematic's directors.

Introduction

Chris Thunig is part of the cinematics team at Blizzard Entertainment, working as a 2D Art Director. Thunig has worked on a number of major film projects, including Troy (Benioff, 2004), Kingdom of Heaven (Scott, 2005), and Corpse Bride (Burton, 2005). He has worked as storyboard artist, pre-production/concept artist and as a matte painter.

Thunig is hugely responsible for the cinimatic style of Blizzard's current titles, including Diablo III. In an interview with Blizzard Insider, Thunig expanded upon the thought process behind creating the intro cinematic:

“Even after the initial story has taken shape, creating the cinematics remains a very fluid process. Good ideas can come from anywhere at any time, even very late in production, so we’re always on the lookout for ways to tweak things for the better.”

It's interesting to note that Thunig promotes a fluid work flow, rather than setting things in stone too early. Partly responsible this is the nature of working in tandem with a game studio, a dynamic with Thunig explains thus:

“Much like animation studios, we are also focused on telling a story through moving artwork, but we differ in that we’re also building the story alongside a game development team. Most animation studios don’t have that dynamic, and staying in synch with the game team can be a creative process that works in both directions.”

A game cinematic has to cater to the fact that players aren't just going to watch this world and its characters, they're going to be playing in it and with them – it has to feel like a world they can step into.

Chris Thunig

Vice President of Art and Cinematic Development at Blizzard Entertainment, Nick Carpenter is one of the guiding visionaries behind the visuals of Blizzard's leading titles. Describing his job, in an interview with WoW Insider, as “helping everyone sort of work in the same direction” , Carpenter works with all the company's Art Directors, Creative Development teams and the Game teams.

In an interview with Blizzard Insider, Carpenter discusses how the story of Diablo III was formed, and who was involved:

“It starts when the game teams and the story leads meet to discuss everyone’s basic expectations, as well as the main themes and motifs of the game. We often go into this meeting knowing the major ‘tent poles’ of the storyline, and can start building out the other story details from there … We knew how the game would begin -- with the falling star crashing into the cathedral at New Tristram -- and we also knew how the game would eventually end. So we began by setting up the story with the intro and outro in mind, and those early meetings were really about creating the middle of the story which would connect the two end points”

Carpenter then begins to talk about how they went about condensing the epic story of Diablo III into something that would work as an opening cinematic. “Through the constraint of time, we came up with the unique 'storybook' look for which I think the Diablo III cinematics will be remembered.” The hardest part of the opening cinematic was to convey Diablo's vast back story in as condensed a way as possible, without losing any of the 'epic-ness'. Carpenter tells us that the style of a “macabre, living storybook where the images come to life on the page”, helped to give the viewer “the sense that they are witnessing events with the weight of an epic, almost mythological past”, even with it being very summarised.

Nick Carpenter

Josh TallmanJosh Tallman is a Senior Concept Artist at Blizzard Entertainment – his work is featured across Diablo III. His work is incredibly filmic.