Orks End Cinematic Commentary
I worked on the Orks End Cinematic throughout my entire contract. It was the second video I did. As I learned how to do things and figured out neat tricks, I would go back to this video and add them wherever I could apply. My goal for this video was to have as many Orks as I could fit in each shot as possible. That’s what the race does; it barbarically infests an area and continually expands. I also needed some good battle sequences, capturing them in their natural lifestyle. ;)
Part 1
Scene 1
I delayed the starting point for the dialogue to extend the length of the movie so I could start with a battle scene. This scene was added long after I created the original Ork ending movie. At first I used Imperial Guard being that it was at the Imperials base. However, it was hard to tell who was fighting who since the Orks and IG are both greenish. I finally decided to use the Sisters of Battle because their art was just coming in (they were one of the two new races added in Soulstorm). Their white outfits made it obvious who was who. I then just setup the characters like I was playing with Legos and let them go at each other, filming multiple shots to choose from.
The only scripted part of this battle is Gorgutz, their warboss, who comes in quickly to join the battle (it looks as if he’s waddling).
Scene 2This was the first scene that I got a review of “Totally Awesome” from coworkers. It’s a complex scene of fancy camera work and intertwining vehicles who are each on their own path. Sadly, when I put it with the dialogue, it was just too long and drawn out, so I cut it in half. Oddly enough, it was a pretty easy scene to script. I just drew out how I wanted it, set the paths for my vehicles and had the camera follow a slightly delayed path behind one vehicle. I threw in a flyer once it became available.
Part 2
Scene 1
This is another scene where I setup the scenery. The plan here was to have a group of Squiggoths (note: in-game, you can only have one of these at a time) coming out of the water to a beach. Why they are coming here is up to the player’s imagination. This scene was considerably longer, covering the entire map of Orkish civilization. I ultimately thought it was boring and decided to make several smaller scenes to capture the same idea and cover several different maps/planets to obtain the feel of conquering an entire system.
Scene 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6The smaller scenes I mentioned above were easily laid out. I’d pick a map from a given planet, change the lighting, place a few different Ork squads and then tell them where to go. The camera shots here are pretty simple too, usually panning in one direction. One thing to note is that I choose a different color scheme for each scene. This is to show there are many differing clans of Orks. Typically, these clans would fight against each other and nothing would progress, but with warboss Gorgutz around, they all worked towards a common goal, as mentioned in the dialogue of the movie.
Part 3
Scene 1 and 2
For this scene, I did an old cinematic trick. My first attempt showed a seemingly barren area and then I faded the screen to black and faded back in with bustling activity happening. This was to go along with the dialogue which states Gorgutz turned the fields into mines to produce valuable metals. This method did not go over well with those who watched it. After a while, I learned enough about the video editing to do this trick. I recorded the same scene with the exact same camera path twice, once without activity, one with. Then, in the video editor, I lined them up and blended them together halfway. This way, the bustling activity is what fades into view, rather than the entire screen. This was well-received.
Scene 3The final scene involved the Orks cheering on their warboss Gorgutz. I envisioned putting Gorgutz on a raised platform and having as many Orks as I could possibly get the engine to agree with. I also gave them random colors to once again show the differing clans. I chose the Rokclaw Mountains, the Ork’s base, for this Orkish party of “Waaa’ing”. The next question was how to do the platform.
Ground units sink to the ground, so I couldn’t just place objects; I literally had to have the ground raised here. Secondly, this was a platform built by Orks, so it had to be incredibly crude. I used their sloppy, spiky wall barriers raised in a pyramid like structure to cover the fact that the ground was raised. Also, I had objects of dead, pinned soldiers throughout the platform. The Orks like to show off their kills. I was happy with how the scene turned out, but once again, I had an uphill battle reducing the framerate issues to as low as possible.