The Dark Pictures Anthology - Man of Medan
Hi all, it's great to share some of the work i did on the first Dark Pictures Game, Man of Medan. My job on the project was Art Director and I also lit a lot of scenes and was responsible for cinematography. These shots are some of my favourites that I worked on which I did lighting (static bakes and cinematic) cinematography / camera and post processing on. The game was made in UE4 and all the shots here are taken from in game moments. It was a pleasure to work on this project and collaborate with many talented people
A shot of Fliss being escorted through the ship. Fliss was one of my favourite characters to light!
A horror moment late in the game. As the horror intensifies, we tried to reflect that in camera work and lighting.
An example of the chiaroscuro style of lighting used in the game
An ensemble shot of the cast telling ghost stories. Group shots proved challenging for lighting as the rendering budget is split between many characters!
The star of the game, Shawn Ashmore, playing Conrad. He did a great job with his performance for the game!
During the Kidnap scene, artificial light sources become more prominent for the first time. Up until this point, all lighting is natural sun / sky. This is a precursor to setting up the dim / failing artificial lights on the ghost ship.
Conrad during the kidnap scene. This is an example of the camera style used for player choice moments
Olson has an interesting face with distinctive features that provided some great opportunities for camera and lighting.
Julia planning her escape in the Kidnap scene.
The Curator was such a great character to work on. I really enjoyed art directing his scenes.
The Curators repository environment, where the player finds themselves between scenes to hear his verdict on how your game is going!
The character team did a great job with his face and costume!
The beginning of the game is set in the 1940's where we first meet some of the crew of the Ship.
One of the horror moments early in the game!
A shot to set the scene at the beginning of the adventure. I wanted the start of the game to feel safe and happy - in contrast to what's to come later!
The main characters meeting for the first time.
Brad on the Duke of Milan.
An example of the isolated feel we tried to put into exploring the many narrow corridors of the ghost ship.
Brad exploring the ghost ship alone..
I really enjoy lighting environments with a sense of story and history.. and the ghost ship had lots of that!
The 'machine room' on board the ghost ship. An example of the dim artificial light sources that were prevalent in the ship.
Past and present.. We tried to always show how the years have affected the ship.. making sure to leaves traces and connections to the past.
Some early look dev of the ship interior. This process helped us develop the visual style for the game.
Some early look dev of the ship interior. This process helped us develop the visual style for the game.
The underwater plane wreck environment was a big challenge to do. A tricky one for real time CG!
This is a colour script for act one of the game, depicting how colour and tone set up the journey to horror!
This is the colour script for act II and III - depicting the decent into the depths of the ship and eventual escape. (or not - depending on how your game goes!)
An example of how important static lighting was on the project. Here we see how UE4 lightmass was used to add realism and grounding to the sets, without hitting the rendering budget.
An example of how dynamic lighting was used in the game to give scenes a cinematic feel.
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan - Halloween Trailer | PS4
I lit and did camera work on all the shots featured in the trailer.