第五人格 :: Behance

Call of the Abyss

III

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We were honored to be invited by Netease to produce a film for

their online game Identity V's coming tournament

“Call of the Abyss III”.

Cthulhu mythos, mystery, steampunk, and exquisite design, we were immediately hooked as soon as we got the script and settings.

The client originally planed it to be a 2D animation, but we saw the potential of the script, and insisted on making it 3D. We were very glad the final results worked out just as good as, if not better than, we hoped.

And thank Netease forgiving us this opportunity.

* * *

In a very limited time, the film needs to tell a story with a complex background and full of twists. We used a lot of metaphors and clues to deliver the plot, leaving plenty of room for the audience to interpret.

The story is inspired by H.P. Lovercraft’s short story Pickman’s Model:

A secret letter from the dancer came to Bureau commissioned them to investigate the mysterious artist Joker who were affected by the power

of Cthulhu. Cowboy, Mechanic, Seer and Embalmer came to Joker’s gallery and fought fiercely with him. During the fight, Mechanic was possessed by Cthulhu’s demonic power. It turned out that Dancer was the real villain

who was the puppet of Cthulhu this whole time.

It took a lot of thought on how to imply who is villain. There are a lot of hints, even from the very beginning of the film.

And this one we particularly love. The battlefield is actually dancer’s weapon; the music box. And Dancer looking down at the battle indicates that everything is under her control.

—— STORYBOARD ——

—— CONCEPT ART ——

—— PROCESS ——

This is our first attempt at CG character animation. It was quite a unique and fun project for us. During the process, we came across many difficulties and challenges. We make various of attempts just to get the desired results bit by bit. The whole team learned a lot of new skills.