Having already produced intro animations for all games in the BAFTA Award winning Buzz! franchise, RealtimeUK were again commissioned by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) to produce an intro animation for the fourth title in the Buzz! Junior series, Buzz! Junior: Dino Den.
The brief from SCEE was to create a 60 second introduction which showcased brand new characters, four cheeky little dinosaurs, in their unique prehistoric world. As with the other three Buzz! Junior titles, the game is aimed at young children, with the focus on fun and mischievous school boy humour.
Initially our team visited SCEE to go over details of the project and to play a work in progress version of the game. From this we were able to gain an overall impression of the game; the varied environments and the kind of antics the dinosaurs were involved in.
RealtimeUK’s Animation Director, Chris Fenna, explains “as always there was a wealth of material for us to use in this animation, so we selected elements that would ensure that the intro was engaging and entertaining. We wanted to include as many environments as possible but had to be mindful of the budgets and timescales.”
An initial draft script was developed and sent to SCEE. With this approved, Chris set about producing a full storyboard for the intro which was then timed out as a 2D animatic. During this stage further refinement was made to ensure the content fitted the 60 second duration. From this a 3D blockout was produced to stage the animation in a 3D environment.
SCEE supplied us with in-game assets for the dinosaurs and the caveman. These needed modifying to raise the level of detail to a higher TV standard required for the movie.
One challenge of this project involved the creation of convincing prehistoric environments from volcanoes and lush vegetation to frozen lakes and snow-capped mountains. These were created with the seamless combination of matte painting and 3D modelling. The rapid transition from each of these environments required careful planning to subtly introduce hints of neighbouring environments in each of the scenes.
On completion of the animation a full sound track was added. This involved numerous sound effects, individual voices for each dinosaur and bespoke music directly scored to picture.
SCEE were thrilled with the final movie and felt it effectively introduced the characters and portrayed the style and content of the game
Tony Prosser, RealtimeUK’s Managing Director commented ”we were thrilled that SCEE again choose us to create the intro animation for Buzz! Junior: Dino Den. The particular attention paid to the final finishing and lighting stages ensured that we delivered an exceptional piece of animation.”
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