Idea 1: Environment Exploration Originally, my first idea was to have a simple environment exploration. The viewer would be taken through an old, abandoned complex. I was inspired by the derelict testing track at the beginning of Portal 2, and wanted to use mostly natural VFX such as dust, water, and light.
Idea 2: Horror Trailer This idea evolved into a short trailer for a horror game. I would keep the atmospheric side of the first idea, but translate it to something more akin to Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This meant something dark and dingy with more emphasis on sound.
After some consideration, I decided on the short trailer for a horror game. The general idea was to focus on atmosphere, so I looked towards games such as Silent Hill 2 and Amnesia, with Portal’s overgrown levels and KittyHorrorShow’s “Haunted Cities Vol.4” as secondary inspirations.
MOOD BOARDS
(Allin, 2010; Lane, 2015; Mitchell, 2021; Philosophy and Video Games, 2017; Shaw, 2016)
Sound: – Fire Crackling – Lighter Flicking On – Footsteps – Ambient White Noise – Door Creak – Shifting Stone – Scratching
3D Assets: – Eldritch Statue – Trench Lighter – Wooden Door – Candles – Foliage – Altar
CAMERA/LIGHT MAP
This is where I expected the cameras and lighting to be:
For the majority of the sequence, I wanted the perspective to be the viewer’s. For the parts that are ‘gameplay’, I will be recording the play window directly with OBS.
Production
EXPERIMENTATION
Lighting: I wanted to test a few unusual lighting setups for my final cinematic. My artwork mostly consists of bright colour palettes; I wanted to translate that into a 3D space.
Later I tested more natural lighting with a shot at the start of my storyboard.
I have decided to begin with the natural lighting of the first two experiments and use blueprints within UE5 to change the lighting to something more unusual at the point in the cinematic where it becomes dark.
Camera Shots:
Various shot types
Tracking shot with lighting
I used a mixture of camera rigs, rails, and simply moving the camera using the sequencer to get a feel for how the cameras work in UE5.
VFX EXPERIMENTATION
Fog/Dust: The fog and dust particles in this experiment were created with the help of this tutorial here:
(Gono, 2022)
Particles
After playing with the Niagara system, I decided that I was going to hand draw some of the VFX I wanted to apply to my sequence as I felt I could have more control over what the effects would look like. I have kept the fog and dust particle systems for the environment, though I split the two so that I could have either the dust or the fog on their own in the sequence if necessary.
Lighter Flame: The lighter flame was going to be the main VFX of the sequence; the point of view character would be holding it for the majority of the cinematic. To start, I recorded myself flicking a lighter on and off. I then slowed this video down and turned it into a GIF like so:
Using this GIF, I traced the necessary frames to create a sprite sheet that the particle system would use.
I split the flame of the lighter into three separate sprite sheets/emitters for the particle system so that I could control the colour of each part individually. I’m using Simple Sprite Burst for all of the sprite-based effects.
The first draft of this in Unreal was too fast, so I played with the timeline and the lifetimes of each of the individual emitters to slow the whole thing down. Since I wanted the flame to be lit for the majority of the sequence, however, I further split the sprite sheets into a startup, a constant loop, and an end in which the flame would go out.
The constant flame was then tweaked to stop the fade at the end of each loop.
Candle Flame: The candle flame was created using a similar method to the lighter. I filmed a burning candle, slowed down the footage into a GIF, and traced the frames for a sprite sheet.
I streamlined the process here. For the lighter flame, I had just saved all the individual frames and deleted what wasn’t needed. There were hundreds of frames and it wasn’t efficient, so I instead had the programme make a sheet instead that I cut down.
Candle Smoke:
I had to take some creative liberty with the smoke here, though I created the sheet in the same way to the previous two effects.
I combined this effect with the candle flame and a point light in a blueprint. When the character passes over a trigger, the flame and the light is deactivated, and then the smoke particle plays. I then decided that I would do the smoke effect through the Niagara particle system instead as I wasn’t happy with the limits of the sprite sheet.
These were all somewhat close to what I wanted. I ended up looking at this tutorial and applying some effects and values to the emitter in order to improve what I had:
(Coreb Games, 2023)
I kept the rising effect from my second attempts and added a second emitter for the extra smoke, jittering a randomly around a ring for the clouds of smoke that happen after a candle is snuffed.
Water/Blood: Here I began with a Niagara-based, simple droplet. I didn’t like the way it looked, so I moved on to making another sprite sheet.
I used a mixture of the drop I had already made and these two references to create the sprite sheet:
(zeffir, n.d.) (microone, n.d.)
I separated the particle system into two emitters, one for the initial drop, and the next for the splash at the bottom. This required two sprite sheets.
After a few iterations, I landed on this:
There are four separate emitters; I have a sprite sheet for both the shine and the base droplets so I can individually control the colour of each. After increasing the lifetime of the particle, the drop is a good speed for a thicker liquid like blood. For water I will be shortening the lifetime to make it faster and there will be no splash. I decided later to completely remove the splash from the particle as I wasn’t happy with it.
Glowing Eyes: For the glowing eyes, I wanted a flare effect as they appeared in the sequence, a little like the eye effects on Protoss in StarCraft.
(Sinvelia, 2021)
I drew the eyes I wanted first, and changed the alpha over time so that they faded in. Then, I added two dynamic beam emitters with a faster float curve on the alpha. They also only loop once so they flash in as the particle system is activated and never again.
I had to leave the start of the beam alone in the end as the beam would not spawn if the start position was edited.
SEQUENCE DEVELOPMENT
Blockout: The initial blockout was a small section as part of my level’s second ending, following my original map.
This is what first made me change the start of the sequence to a subway rather than the outside area in the storyboard. The lighting in the level was different to what I wanted in the sequence, and the tunnel was much shorter, so I made something different in a new level.
Asset Placement: Since I couldn’t find a trench lighter as an asset for my list, I decided to create one out of box brushes instead based on the images I found. this will be what the character holds for the duration of the sequence.
(GravitisLtd, n.d.) (Reddit, 2023)
The main asset that I needed for the end of my sequence was some sort of eldritch statue:
(TLaCroix, 2019)
Instead of finding a 3D model for an altar, I instead made it from box brushes in the level blockout.
The door needed to be old, rather than having the modern look of the start of the scene, so I went with this:
(Niskanen, 2020)
I had looked through several candle assets, but I settled on this one for the way that the candlestick matched the look of the statue in-engine:
(FlukierJupiter, 2017)
The textures on the assets used for the scene also had their textures desaturated to greyscale so that the odd lighting that I am using wouldn’t interfere with their colours.
Camera Placement: Here I’ve deviated a little from the initial camera map based on the new blockout:
I felt the storyboard was too basic with its shots, so I decided to have a few more shots that pull away from the character’s point of view. This meant that I had to add more cameras than my revised map shows.
Blueprints: I used a mixture of blueprints and the level sequencer because I wanted to mix ‘gameplay footage’ with the cine camera captures. I tied the lighter I made to the character, along with the three particle systems that make up the VFX for the lighter. F brings up the lighter and G activates the startup sparks. After a short delay, the main loop then plays.
In the level blueprint, I call the final particle system and the looping system. After stepping over a trigger, the loop deactivates and the final system plays. This also deactivates the point light on the character.
The level blueprint also deactivates the point lights in the candle blueprint so that the candle blueprint isn’t handling everything (it was lagging badly when I tried to record). It also changes the colour of the point light behind the statue.
The candle blueprint handles deactivating the flame and activating the smoke particles when the player walks over a trigger.
Character: In order to get the flame particle to always face the camera and move with the character, I had to play with the emitter. A forum post (Unreal Engine Forum, 2018) directed me to the emitter properties. ‘Local Space’ would have the particle move with the character. For the camera, I changed the Facing Mode to ‘Face Camera Position’.
Sequence: The sequence is focused on controlling the cameras I have for shots. I had nine cameras in total. It also focused on controlling some of the light sources. There is an orange point light that passes two of the cameras down the long stretch of the cave tunnel that acts as the player. I have it stop by the door.
As a side note, I had to add an indigo light here to make sure the door was actually visible for the establishing shot. I also put the same coloured light in the final room for a nice contrast.
I recorded two different versions of the sequence, one with the red light and smoke, and one with the orange light and flame. I use clips from both in the final sequence. There only needed to be one version of the ‘gameplay’ footage, though I had to do several takes to keep the positions consistent with the rendered scene.
For the cameras, I decided not to use rails or rigs, instead relying purely on keying in transform values and moving the cameras to exactly where I needed them to go. Since I wasn’t doing any larger shots, this was easier, especially in the confined environment.
Post-Production
SFX
Footsteps: The footsteps were straightforward. I created a randomised sound cue with multiple single step sounds and applied the sounds to the first person character using this tutorial:
(Peanut Games, 2022)
In shots not tied to the player character, I isolated the audio in my recording and added some reverb to the footsteps in Audacity. I then placed the sound over the footage.
For sound effects that I couldn’t find, I recorded a few of my own. The lighter flicking on was recorded by me with the same lighter I used for the VFX, and the ‘crackling’ sound that is overlaid on top of other ambience was recorded by rifling through a box of sweets.
Because it’s a horror sequence, the background audio is ambient with an emphasis on white noise and whispers. I’ve layered a lot of the sounds over one another and in places sounds cut off completely to build tension.
POST-PROCESSING
One of the effects that I added specifically to the post-process volume of the environment was a PSX shader. This material creates the almost cell-shaded, pixelated effect on-screen; the game I want to create a trailer for would be in a low-poly style, and this lends to that. To make the scene readable, I made an instance of the material and changed the Scale value to 750. At 300 it was too grainy, especially in the dark.
Colours: Here I made the shadows a blue tone. With the red lighting later in the scene, and the orange for the fire, it creates a nice hue shift that lends to the dream-like way I wanted the sequence to look. I’ve done the colour grading and extra post-processing in Unreal rather than in video editing software because I know the engine and have better control over how I want things to look.
I’ve also increased the exposure just to make the beginning dark tunnel more visible.
I’ve kept lens flares minimal; they are only in the footage with the character, as though they are wearing glasses. I also did this because the lens flares were too intense on the cine cameras in later shots, and I didn’t want it to be too cluttered.
EDITING
I’ve slowed down the shot where the lighter first appears to better accommodate the lighter sound. Even though I messed with the lifetime of the particle system, it was still too fast for what I wanted. I also sped up the final shot slightly because it was too long.
Here are the shots I cut:
Shots I had in earlier drafts and then cut
I cut these shots because they didn’t fit with the rest of the cinematic. The altar tracking shot was going to be after the lights had gone out, but I decided to move it to beforehand as an establishing shot instead. I had to add a shot using the sequencer to show the light change from beige to red as having the light colour change in the level blueprint when the player walked over a trigger changed the colour instantly, and I wanted a gradual shift.
Finally, as it’s a trailer, I overlayed a yellow box and text at the end of the scene to frame the glowing eyes of the statue. I had made fake film posters from various screenshots that I have taken of other projects for my level design assignment, and so I took inspiration from those as well as my moodboards.
Finished Cinematic
Full Trailer
This was challenging to make. I think that I could have been more creative with my camera shots as most of them are very similar, but for the genre, slow and steady is better for tension, so overall I think I have achieved something suspenseful. Doing a mix of hand-drawn and completely Niagara-based VFX was a challenge just to get it all looking consistent, but I think that the hand-drawn style does make it unique. I think I managed to stick relatively closely to my initial ideas despite the changes. Changing the blockout from a short corridor to something longer in particular let me do more with the concept, as well as adding in more cameras as it became clear that my initial map wouldn’t be enough.
References
IMAGES
Allin, J. (2010). Amnesia: The Dark Descent hands-on. [online] Adventure Gamers. Available at: https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18435 [Accessed 15 Nov. 2023].
Hoggins, T. (2014). Outlast review. [online] www.telegraph.co.uk. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/video-game-reviews/10654725/Outlast-review.html [Accessed 21 Jan. 2024].
Lane, R. (2015). The monstrous evolution of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Eurogamer.net. [online] 4 Oct. Available at: https://www.eurogamer.net/the-monstrous-evolution-of-amnesia-the-dark-descent [Accessed 15 Nov. 2023].
Mitchell, H. (2021). How Portal 2 mastered its environments. [online] Overlode. Available at: https://overlode.co.uk/how-portal-2-mastered-its-environments/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2023].
microone (n.d.). Premium Vector | Cartoon water splash with drops fx animation frames sprite sheet. [online] Freepik. Available at: https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/cartoon-water-splash-with-drops-fx-animation-frames-sprite-sheet_3805855.htm?query=paint+dripping [Accessed 18 Jan. 2024].
Philosophy and Video Games. (2017). The Unknown in Amnesia: The Dark Descent. [online] Available at: https://philosophyandvideogamesblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/22/the-unknown-in-amnesia-the-dark-descent/ [Accessed 16 Nov. 2023].
Shaw, B. (2016). Amnesia: The Dark Descent Retrospective Review – GameCloud. [online] GameCloud. Available at: https://gamecloud.net.au/featured/amnesia-the-dark-descent-retrospective-review [Accessed 17 Nov. 2023].
Sinvelia (2021). StarCraft 2 – Alarak all dialogue & cutscenes. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhRiEecdytM [Accessed 21 Jan. 2024].
umbrella isle (n.d.). 2:22AM by umbrella-isle. [online] itch.io. Available at: https://umbrella-isle.itch.io/222am [Accessed 21 Jan. 2024].
Vidyo (2014). Silent Hill 2 Review. [online] No Games Here Blog. Available at: https://nghviews.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/silent-hill-2-review/ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2024].
zeffir (n.d.). Animation Falling Water Droplets Stock Vector (Royalty Free) 365180885. [online] Shutterstock. Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/animation-falling-water-droplets-365180885?src=SiLbCzDymlWapvuHOgLT_A-1-149 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2024].
TUTORIALS
Chris Live Visual (2023). Cinematic Depth of Field Focus Unreal Engine 5. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTNTz1-lD80 [Accessed 19 Jan. 2024].
Coreb Games (2023). UE5 l Cigarette Smoke Effect l Niagara VFX Tutorial l Unreal Engine 5. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbfXgoQCdHs [Accessed 17 Jan. 2024].
Gono (2022). [UE5 Niagara] How to make Fog, Mist and Dust. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0s0vaNrL8 [Accessed 14 Nov. 2023].
Peanut Games (2022). Step by Step Footsteps for FPS Player Character – UE5. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeI77obivRY [Accessed 31 Jan. 2023].
cguick (2023). Train Tracks – Download Free 3D model by cguick. [online] sketchfab.com. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/train-tracks-540407ba5e54411698f2fa176d0c3dcd [Accessed 4 Jan. 2024].
Epic Games (2020). Edith Finch: House Grounds in Environments – UE Marketplace. [online] Unreal Engine. Available at: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/ef-grounds [Accessed 21 Oct. 2023].
FlukierJupiter (2017). Candlestick – Download Free 3D model by FlukierJupiter. [online] sketchfab.com. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/candlestick-d1a0b96e5b3e44a9ba548ba9a8864c0d [Accessed 6 Jan. 2024].
ManyTextures (n.d.). Stone wall texture to download – ManyTextures. [online] www.manytextures.com. Available at: https://www.manytextures.com/texture/18/stone-wall/ [Accessed 27 Nov. 2023].
Niskanen, V. (2020). Rounded Wooden Door – Download Free 3D model by Valo Niskanen (@Valo.Niskanen). [online] sketchfab.com. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/rounded-wooden-door-5ce4dc4a03f74851b618c6d6e6308468 [Accessed 5 Jan. 2024].
Petry, C. (2014). NormalMap-Online. [online] Github.io. Available at: https://cpetry.github.io/NormalMap-Online/ [Accessed 3 Feb. 2022].
PSD Dude (n.d.). Free Metal Textures: Seamless, Scratched, Rust, etc. | Metal texture, Leather texture seamless, Brushed metal texture. [online] Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/662029213946080287/ [Accessed 27 Nov. 2023].
SilverTm (2019). Industry Props Pack 6 in Props – UE Marketplace. [online] Unreal Engine. Available at: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/3e2a3cb997cf47b1ab782a67957bfed0 [Accessed 10 Feb. 2022].
TLaCroix (2019). Lovecraftian Sculpture – Download Free 3D model by TLaCroix. [online] sketchfab.com. Available at: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lovecraftian-sculpture-d6f20b6445d541fba9a6e6d2d43836c3 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2023].
SOUNDS
City, A. (2021). [ASMR/AMBIENCE] Humming Hotel Hallway Ambience Sounds | Ambient Hotel Corridor Background Noise | 1H. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvxRZbq-yN8 [Accessed 14 Sep. 2023].
Distorted Room (2017). Creaky Door Sound Effect. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKq51DHuLzU [Accessed 18 Jan. 2024].
FilmCow (n.d.). FilmCow Royalty Free Sound Effects Library by FilmCow. [online] itch.io. Available at: https://filmcow.itch.io/filmcow-sfx [Accessed 15 Dec. 2023].
SoundEffects (2021). Room Tone Hum – SFX Producer.wav. [online] Google Docs. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m7kNgWC_6jdev_tKoafr46rZxoUt2yCh/view [Accessed 19 Jan. 2024].
Vũ, V. (2021). Water Drop – Sound Effect (FOR MUSIC PRODUCER). [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDFUFkhXNLg [Accessed 20 Jan. 2024].
WXYZVNNE (2022). Four Voices Whispering : Horror Film Sound Effects. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JOEKMiHJn0 [Accessed 6 Jan. 2024].
OTHER
Geller, J. (2019). Who’s Afraid of Modern Art: Vandalism, Video Games, and Fascism. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5DqmTtCPiQ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2024].
Geller, J. (2020). Four Short Games About Pain. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgpvZVsfiVM [Accessed 21 Jan. 2024].
MandaloreGaming (2023). Amnesia: The Dark Descent Review. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy17Qk_M_ag [Accessed 15 Jan. 2024].
