Necron End Cinematic Commentary
Ah, the Necrons, one of the few races I play. I really loved doing a video for them too as they are naturally creepy when photo captured. This cinematic turned out to be one of my favorites if not my favorite. However, the middle part got cut at the last moment due to a false statement in the dialogue that Games Workshop found. Sadly, I cut the entire middle part because there was no way to take just that sentence out of the dialogue with all the different languages the game was already translated in, making it the shortest video of the seven.
Part 1
Scene 1
When you attack the Eldar base, they go through a scripted reenactment of the war between them and the Necrons long, long ago. The dialogue for the beginning of the Necron battle starts with, “The Necron fought a great war long ago and lost.” It was simply logical that I take the exact battle sequence already seen in the game and apply it here. Adding the Black and White filter gave it that something special, making it feel like a flash back. I really enjoy this transition from this scene to the next when the color comes in and how the sound designer kicks off the music.
Scene 2It’s scenes like this that I really like. The setup tells so much of what’s happening without music or dialogue. Somehow, an Imperial ship crashed here, causing craters in the sand, obviously ramming into the wall. The fire burning on it is unique too. The fire object is meant to be placed on the ground, but you can raise the fire. However, when you raise the fire, a red box shows (that’s the way the object is setup); the red box is just never visible. So wherever I raised the fire, I had to make sure something hid the red box.
Anyway, the guardsmen come out and view the area. It’s a small troop and they’re staying pretty close. The crash landing had to cause a loud disturbance which alarmed the Necrons living on the planet. Flayed Ones come out of the ground encircling the troops who attempt to fight back as the enemy slowly closes in on them and annihilates them. Epic.
Scene 3I told the Producer that I found a Monolith that came in from the sky, a model used in the first expansion, Winter Assault, before the Necron had even been introduced. I wanted to show it descending upon two unsuspecting races and “profit from the confusion” (as the dialogue goes). He said he wasn’t sure, because the Monoliths are technically supposed to be coming out of the ground on this planet. I brought him to my cubicle and made him watch the animation. He said, “do it” and left. I did a little victory dance. With some proper camera work, this scene turned out amazing, if not my favorite scripted battle sequence in the entire game! I love the contrasting bright color differences between the green, purple and orange, used by each race. Ah, mucho excellento.
Part 2
As I mentioned above, the second part was completely removed. Here’s what happened in a nutshell. A few Eldar Seer Council appear out of a Webway Gate. They arrive to find dead Eldar units strewn across the battlefield. In their horror, they investigate the area cautiously. The camera then cuts to the Necron Lord who is watching them from the top of a rocky hillside. He hits his staff in the ground and a green energy field comes down on him.
The next scene is a few meters away from the unsuspecting Seer Council. The camera rises and everything has a green tint to it, with warped vision on the edge (like looking through a glass). You are now witnessing the perspective of the Necron Lord as he approaches the Seer Council. It was a great effect, but alas, it will never be seen.
The camera then cuts to a view of both the council and the Necron Lord. The Lord transforms into the Nightbringer and the council attempt to fight back. Viciously, the Nightbringer synch kills them all. And scene.
Part 3
Scene 1
The final set takes place during night, which isn’t very common in the scripted scenes. The ominous green energy of the Necron Warriors’ weapons against the dark scenery and bloody ground is an artistic expression of how I view the Necron race.
The camera starts tilted and slowly lowers to the Necron army below. I’ve moved the fog of war back to capture as much depth to the scene as possible. These items make it troublesome for the Dawn of War engine to display the images at a decent framerate. The engine expects a raised camera looking down with not many objects on the screen. I’ve basically done the complete opposite of that. I ran this scene on the greatest machine available at Iron Lore and there were still a few hiccups. In the end, I don’t think they took away from the overall quality of the footage.
Scene 2The scene was already somewhat creepy, but I had another idea to make it truly horrific. Even though I had used the Flayed Ones in the beginning of the video, having them come out of the ground in a forest behind marines looking the opposite direction was simply a necessity. I spent a considerable amount of time tweaking the delay and order of the Flayed Ones spawn times to have it best match with the way the camera spins through the woods.
Scene 3The Flayed Ones attack the soldiers who attempt to fight back. The large Necron Warrior army seen earlier is now approaching in the background. I don’t have any animation to show the horror that the marines were experiencing, so I opted for a less than optimal route. I chose to have their morale broken, which is used as an in-game variable for determining the morality of a squad. The visual effect of this is red rings appear around each unit. This is more meant for gameplay rather than cinematic sequence, but it was the only way I could portray their fear, so I went with it.
Scene 4Lastly, the close-up of the Great Deceiver, the new unit we added to the Necron race for Soulstorm. Once again, his functionality and art did not come until the very end of the project. I had to hold my breath and wait. I won’t say I was really that patient though. I pestered the artists and programmers for this material so I could finish up the movie. I’m not the final step in this process; the sound designer needs to take the videos and do a proper mix and he needs time for that. It all came together in the end though.