Dallas/Santa Monica digital studio Reel FX director Barrett Lewis transports gamers through decades of intergalactic mystery in “The History of TranStar” for Bethesda Softworks’ first-person sci-fi action game, Prey, out of AKQA. The piece serves as a leaked classified doctrine detailing the discovery of the Typhon alien species and the dark history of the game’s Talos I, a highly advanced space station owned by the TranStar Corporation. Lewis also composed the original music for the short, fusing his lifelong experience as a musician and his decades of expertise in animation to bring a cohesive cinematic animation style to the trailer.
Lewis worked closely with AKQA to bring a retro 2D cartoon animation aesthetic to the piece that both narratively and stylistically evolves as the piece progresses. The Reel FX team crafted the character design for the trailer, leveraging their in-house feature artists to deliver a defined and polished motif to the piece. Lewis then carefully developed an arc that unfolds the story through color, camera angles, design and music, progressing the style from a 50s Space Race era to a futuristic cosmic 2035.
“Having the opportunity to write the music for the piece afforded me a unique creative viewpoint, allowing me to let both the animation and music inform one another as the piece took form,” notes Lewis. “I was able to connect the dots in a way that an outside composer likely would not have had the chance to do and it made it all the more fun!”
Credits:
Client – Bethesda Softworks
Brand Manager – Matthew Clinkscales
Associate Brand Manager – Gia Manry
Agency – AKQA
Creative Director – John Whitlock
Senior Account Director – Ed Davis
Project Manager – Grant Skalak
Program Manager – Adam Abbruzzese
Production/Post Production – Reel FX
Creative Director – Barrett Lewis
Producer – Justin Skerpan
Producer – Pete Herzog
Production Coordinator – Kacie Bangle
Production Coordinator – Julia Gibson
Technical Director – Jon Speer
Layout Supervisor – Mike Wallace
Designer – Clayton Stillwell
Designer – Megan Petasky
Designer – Shannon Thomas
Motion Designer – Jackson Armstrong
Motion Designer – James Tobias
Modeler – Branndon Fricks
Modeler – Tony Jimenez
Lighting – Lyn Caudle
VFX Artist – Mike Roy
VFX Artist – Dan Margules
VFX Artist – Jared Brower
Audio Artist – Frank Pittenger
Editorial Assistant – Steven Happel
EP/Head of Production – Jim Riche
About Reel FX
Reel FX develops and produces award-winning animated films, short form content and virtual reality experiences. The company’s feature slate, includes the Golden Globe-nominated The Book of Life with Twentieth Century Fox, released on October 17th, 2014. The film also garnered Best Animated Feature nominations from the Critics’ Choice Awards, Producers Guild Awards, and Annie Awards. The title is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. Reel FX’s first full-length animated feature, Free Birds, was released by Relativity Media on November 1st, 2013 and grossed over $110 million worldwide.
Based out of Dallas, Texas, Reel FX has over 22 years of experience as an award-winning one-stop studio for the creation of animated content including films, special attraction/live venue projects, commercials, and interactive projects for companies like Fox, Warner Bros., DreamWorks Animation and Universal Studios. The studio also maintains a short form division focused on commercials, music videos, theme park attractions as well as virtual reality content through its dedicated VR division, Reel FX VR.
Since opening in 2014, Reel FX VR has developed world-class VR interactive activations and 360º narrative content for innovative brands, such as 20th Century Fox, GMC, Acura, American Express, AT&T, Frito Lay, GE, Legendary Pictures, Lionsgate, Porsche, Samsung, Shinola and the U.S. Air Force. Reel FX VR crafts unique and innovative content for all the leading VR goggle platforms – Oculus, HTCVive, and Samsung Gear VR.
About Prey
Set to launch worldwide on Friday, May 5th on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, Prey is the highly-anticipated first-person sci-fi action game from Arkane Studios – creators of the award-winning Dishonored series which includes the 2012 ‘Game of the Year’ and the critically-acclaimed follow-up, Dishonored 2. In addition, a free Prey demo will be available on April 27th for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and will allow fans to board Talos I and play the opening hour before the game launches worldwide.
Prey has been rated M for mature by ESRB. For more information about the game please visit: prey.bethesda.net.