Parallel: Beta Release Trailer
The Project
Parallel is a sci-fi franchise and a trading card game. The goal of the cinematic was to announce the franchise's first beta release, conveying that you could pick a faction, build a deck for fighting, and battle your peers for control over Earth and the ultimate source of power in the galaxy — using the tension that a conversation between the main characters creates. At the same time, we wanted to communicate it in a realistic yet slightly stylized style, while keeping a serious tone and showing a love for cinematography....
Parallel is a sci-fi franchise and a trading card game. The goal of the cinematic was to announce the franchise's first beta release, conveying that you could pick a faction, build a deck for fighting, and battle your peers for control over Earth and the ultimate source of power in the galaxy — using the tension that a conversation between the main characters creates. At the same time, we wanted to communicate it in a realistic yet slightly stylized style, while keeping a serious tone and showing a love for cinematography.
- Directed by — Oscar Mar and Mobo Boehme
- Art Direction — Oscar Mar
- Previz & Layout — Mobo Boehme
- Production Manager — Tommy Alvarez
- Concept Art — Jan Urschel / Oscar Cafaro / Cristiano Rinaldi / Nacho Yagüe
- Lead Character Artist — Matt Corcoran
- Environment & Lighting — Oscar Mar
- UI Design — Kristoffer Brady / Neptali Cisneros / Nicolas Lopardo
- Animation — OF3D
- OST, Sound Design, Sound Edit — CYPHER
- Color Script / Color Grading — Oscar Mar
- Editing — Oscar Mar
- Produced by — Parallel //
This is where it all started. This was the first cinematic we made at Parallel studio, the project that changed everything for me.
Previz
This is easily one of my favorite stages in production. Seeing the cinematic's potential come together for the first time always brings the crucial creative conversations to the table. For this project I used Blender (rendering with Eevee) to ensure a fast, agile and iterative workflow.
The versatility of its tools allowed me to quickly rig the characters that were done at low-poly level for the game, and establish basic lighting shots to see the mood we would go for....
This is easily one of my favorite stages in production. Seeing the cinematic's potential come together for the first time always brings the crucial creative conversations to the table. For this project I used Blender (rendering with Eevee) to ensure a fast, agile and iterative workflow.
The versatility of its tools allowed me to quickly rig the characters that were done at low-poly level for the game, and establish basic lighting shots to see the mood we would go for.
Hero Characters
Lead Character Artist Matt Corcoran developed the main Catherine and Marlo from scratch, handling everything in the character creation. From sculpting and modeling, to texture, shading, grooming and optimization....
Lead Character Artist Matt Corcoran developed the main Catherine and Marlo from scratch, handling everything in the character creation. From sculpting and modeling, to texture, shading, grooming and optimization.
He struck a perfect balance between realism
and the stylized nature from Nacho
Yagüe's original concept art, capturing the
definitive look that makes Parallel's visual
style so unique....
He struck a perfect balance between realism
and the stylized nature from Nacho
Yagüe's original concept art, capturing the
definitive look that makes Parallel's visual
style so unique.
Environment
The goal for the environments was to showcase the Marcolian faction culture instantly. They tend to reflect their power, their capacity, and a deep love for minimal and grandiose architecture. As a proud culture, the challenge for Jan Urschel was to develop an innovative visual style that moved away from traditional spaceship interiors as much as possible. Integrating such colossal landscapes into tight character dialogue frames was also an incredible compositional challenge that he explored since the concepting phase....
The goal for the environments was to showcase the Marcolian faction culture instantly. They tend to reflect their power, their capacity, and a deep love for minimal and grandiose architecture.
As a proud culture, the challenge for Jan Urschel was to develop an innovative visual style that moved away from traditional spaceship interiors as much as possible.
Integrating such colossal landscapes into tight character dialogue frames was also an incredible compositional challenge that he explored since the concepting phase.
Animation
The animation was handled by OF3D studio. They crafted every sequence using hand-key animation, which enhanced the overall stylization and expressiveness of the scenes vs a classical motion capture solution....
The animation was handled by OF3D studio. They crafted every sequence using hand-key animation, which enhanced the overall stylization and expressiveness of the scenes vs a classical motion capture solution.
We used several animation libraries for the background characters that were way less important than the protagonists for obvious reasons, but still added a lot to the overall sequences. It was a great way to quickly check and iterate to add diversity to the background....
We used several animation libraries for the background characters that were way less important than the protagonists for obvious reasons, but still added a lot to the overall sequences. It was a great way to quickly check and iterate to add diversity to the background.
Concept Art
The concept art of the environments was handled by Jan Urschel, while the beautiful ships and props were done by Oscar Cafaro and Cristiano Rinaldi....
The concept art of the environments was handled by Jan Urschel, while the beautiful ships and props were done by Oscar Cafaro and Cristiano Rinaldi.
UI Design
The UI adds immense credibility, immersion
and realism to any project. Here, a
minimalist yet information-dense design makes
the shots feel grounded.
Flawlessly executed in After Effects
by Kristoffer Brady, this layer complements
the environment art and gives context to the
scenes. Without this visual language, the
impact of the storytelling wouldn't be the
same....
The UI adds immense credibility, immersion
and realism to any project. Here, a
minimalist yet information-dense design makes
the shots feel grounded.
Flawlessly executed in After Effects
by Kristoffer Brady, this layer complements
the environment art and gives context to the
scenes. Without this visual language, the
impact of the storytelling wouldn't be the
same.
Matte Painting
Even though calling this matte painting is perhaps too generous, I created the background planet used on the first opening shot using satellite imagery of Earth as a foundation to achieve rich texture and detail, and mixing it in Blender in a semi-procedural workflow, allowing us for flexibility on the workflow. To optimize the render times, we utilized the classical projection of a high res still on a 3D geometry, which made the renders fly....
Even though calling this matte painting is perhaps too generous, I created the background planet used on the first opening shot using satellite imagery of Earth as a foundation to achieve rich texture and detail, and mixing
it in Blender in a semi-procedural workflow, allowing us for flexibility on the workflow. To optimize the render times, we utilized the classical projection of a high res still on a 3D geometry, which made the renders fly.
Color Script & Editing
Color Grading and editing were both handled by Oscar Mar in After Effects. The color script he used features a classic but subtle teal/orange contrast. The Marcolian factions utilize their signature red and white, enhancing their sculptural shapes even more. In contrast, the Universal faction — carrying a more mercenary look — leans towards darker tones. This visual contrast matches the difference we were trying to evoke with the factions, both directly and indirectly....
Color Grading and editing were both handled by Oscar Mar in After Effects. The color script he used features a classic but subtle teal/orange contrast. The Marcolian factions utilize their signature red and white, enhancing their sculptural
shapes even more. In contrast, the Universal faction — carrying a more mercenary look — leans towards darker tones. This visual contrast matches the difference we were trying to evoke with the factions, both directly and indirectly.
// Thanks for watching
