Animation News Australia

Crafting Cinematics - About The Video Game Industry | Jumbla

Written by Jumbla Creative | Jul 21, 2017

Did you know that the video game industry hit $91 billion in revenues last year? For a little perspective, the worldwide box office achieved less than half this amount in movie ticket sales during the same period - a mere $38.6 billion.

This goes to show that videogames are becoming our go-to choice for escapist entertainment. Hardly surprising when you consider the incredible graphics and immersive environments modern-day titles provide.

For Jumbla, the size and scale of the industry is not what impresses the most. It’s the opportunity to work on fun-filled video game cinematics.

Here’s what Jumbla Creative Director Callan Woolcock had to say about our latest video game cinematics showreel.

Why does Jumbla love creating video game cinematics?

“We really enjoy doing video game stuff because it's a bit more in the entertainment sector, which generally means we get to have fun. A lot of our artists and animators love games too, and for them to be able to work on these projects is a dream come true.

“Some projects often allow us to have a little bit of creative freedom so we can push our stories, styles and concepts to come up with the best result.

“And the clients we deal with are great - it's usually quite a collaborative effort and that's how we make the best cinematics.”

 

How does Jumbla go about creating video game cinematics?

“Same as every job really - we have the concept phase where we come up with ideas, stories and styles, then refine those and essentially turn them into animations,” Cal said.

“The big difference is we get a bit more time to work on these projects, which allows us to put more people on them.

“A lot of the bread and butter work we do here only requires one designer and often has small budgets with a tight turn-around. Although you'd like to be super creative on every project, it's just not entirely possible and you have to do the best you can in the time given.

“But because the majority of video game stuff has bigger budgets with larger time-frames, this allows us to do much more creative, collaborative, and higher-quality work.

 

What techniques and programs do Jumbla use to create video game cinematics?

“We've used a lot of After Effects and Element 3D for stuff in the past, mainly as the studio is full of AE users and Element has really suited our work previously. This allows us to stay within the same program to integrate our 3D and 2D elements, and the overall workflow is much easier,” Cal said.

“We're using Cinema 4D for a lot of stuff as well, now we have a more solid team of 3D guys on board who are great with that software. We like to take a motion graphic-type approach to [video game] projects and these tools are best suited for that type of work.

“We can also use Maya and 3D Studio if required, but often it just depends on what the best solution is for that specific project.”