Explaining Dungeons and Dragons
About:
Format: Digital Video (03:38) 720p
Potential Submittal Work / Self Study
Music: “The Jolly Boar Inn” by Medieval Free to Use
Roles: Creative Director, 3D Modeler/designer, Storyboard Artist, Screenwriter, video editor, VFX Artist
Synopsis: Digital Video explaining the brief origin, world building, game mechanics, and character creation of the table-top role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. With a fantasy driven mindset, I sought out to create a brief explainer video enriched with motion graphics and visuals in order to emphasize the magical driven nature of Dungeons and Dragons, but have it condensed in a way that can be understood for new players not familiar with the game.
Process:
Programs Used: Illustrator | Photoshop | Procreate | Blender | After Effects
The timeline for this project was 4 weeks.
The process began with preliminary brainstorming such as collecting references of Dungeons and Dragons information, elements, and aesthetics. Which also influenced my screenwriting process. Storyboarding became the next goal, and I wanted these storyboards to look and feel more refined than my previous ones. In order to do so, I looked at various examples of different storyboard styles and techniques made by professionals in the entertainment industry. I was also given advice by a professional about storyboarding which I still follow by.
My brother assisted me with the VFX process. During production, I recorded his hand and arm doing magical movements inspired by Marvel’s Dr. Strange and in post-production I rotoscoped and added magical effects imitating the arcane intrinsic in Dungeons and Dragons (wizards).
Production began with the modeling of the 2D/3D assets necessary for the narrative. I used a variety of different programs such as procreate, illustrator, and photoshop for the 2D assets. Blender was heavily used in modeling and texturing the DM screen, table, miniatures, and of course the dice.
The use of a well-established storyboard plan was crucial for the planning and execution of this project. Since the time for this project was limited to four weeks, many aspects of it had to be experimented on in many levels but keeping the fantasy style alive and at every sequence. This inconsistency of creative levels from colors, 2D and 3D assets gave the video a very bright and non-boring visual feeling.
Conclusion:
Explaining Dungeons and Dragons - I loved working on this video, it allowed me to open my mind to newer mediums and artistic expressions while also strengthening my visual medium skills. This video was also my first explainer video, and I learned a lot about script writing and also maintaining a connection and flow between words and the moving visual. How beats and pauses can be moments of visual expression.
All in all, this won’t be the last explainer video, I plan like I do with many of my first video tries, to progress in my media skills and artistic/design endeavors.
For more on this project: Explaining Dungeons and Dragons/ Case Study
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