We live in a crazy, perverted world. A world where, in many ways, a video game's trailer is more important than the game itself, since it's the former that can often be solely responsible for sales of the latter.
Whatever you think of that trend, you've got to admit that the trailers themselves are often fantastic works of art in their own right, short films with a quality in production to rival anything you see on the big screen.
Given their prominence in the trade, many people often assume most/all of these clips are made by Blur, but that's not the case. There are studios like Plastic Wax doing much the same thing, but there are also studios like REZ, whose work is a little more grounded in reality.
As you'll see, unlike other studios that create entirely new content solely for a trailer, REZ have in most cases been working with gameplay footage, which while obviously framed as cinematically as possible (so sometimes a smaller lie instead of a giant one), is still a showcase of what the game actually is, not what an artist thinks/wishes it was.
Made up of a number of former Ubisoft artists, REZ have already worked on a number of classy, high-profile trailers like those for Assassin's Creed Unity, Watch Dogs, Hitman: Sniper and Assassin's Creed IV, along with a number of smaller indie titles as well (some of which they've also done the in-game cinematics).
In a nice touch, they've also posted a few clips showing how the proverbial sausage is made, with this one probably being the most useful:
You can see some samples of REZ's work below, with more available at their studio site.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner.
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!