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But until next week's Blizzard anniversary event let us erect our first idol with the "inspirational standard" title hanging on it. This means that you can hardly do anything better than this. Of course we always keep the 0.2 points to state that this is possibly only the second best video. As they say, "always know that you are the second best since the first can't be better."
This video is about Ezio's quest for finding his origin and in this interpretation it is Altair and ancient castle of the assassin's creed where Altair began his first adventures centuries ago. And again this video is about Life!. Yes I admit that you could think that I went mad. But in this video you see a person on a journey looking for himself. This obsession leads him to the origin of the story. For personal cases this is usually represented as the childhood where people find memories and their past. In this case this is the childhood and again the golden age of the assassin's creed where they ruled a big portion of Europe. The twist in the story is that Ezio finds out that the sacred place of the past has been occupied by his enemies. In life we usually find out that our childhood was not the place as we remember it. And it is certainly not that place now. The garden which seemed to be a great jungle now is just a small green spot in the city, or the people we admired are just simple people like us. So broadly the story is quite epic in this trailer. And if you consider that Ezio and Altair belong to the same family and we all see this through the eyes of Desmond, you might give my interpretation some credit.
So we find out that the past is occupied with enemies. But what happens when the ghost of Altair appears on the scene? Does he want Ezio to fail? Or to die? Or to attack the templar on the tower? I don't think so. Maybe there is some ambiguity in this for it turns out to be good at the end.
I think Ezio is lead by an obsession for the past. And when the templar puts the rope on his neck he realizes that this ghost, this obsessive desire to find Altair is a wrong one, and will kill him. If I am right than the part where Ezio loses the battle against the soldiers fits in nicely. Ezio cannot concentrate because his obsession distracts him. He follows the ghost again to the tower (and actually he did for the whole journey if the ghost represents the obsessive desire). But when the rope falls to his neck he does not look for the ghost for advice any more. He regains himself and starts to fight no matter what ghost says what.
So in a concise I think that in this trailer a middle aged man who is obsessed with his past finds out that he needs to live and fight in the present no matter what past he has. I think this fits in well with the clip and the story of the game as well. But I am not here to interpret the game, only the trailer.
Character animation seems to be perfect for me. There is proper motion capture credited to Digic's new motion capture system Digic Motion. It apparently works well.
Lighting is again a perfect thing, however I do not understand it everywhere. At 0.32 you see some very bright white lights on the top of the soldiers helmet. I think this is a little bit too much. The snow is a nice thing even on the holy land. Well this castle can be in the mountains but we know that this is not exactly the case. But that does not harm the integrity or the consistency of the trailer it is a matter for the whole franchise. I have the same problem with the nordic sky. These lights are way too cold for the Holy Land. Lights should be a little bit warmer even if it is winter. Maybe it would have been an easier choice to set up a cloudy weather instead of this semi-cloudy one.
For the first Journey picture there is a much warmer sky. I think that could have been better. The one they use for the beginning is just too nordic I think.
Those sailing lights are beautiful. The water is rendered perfectly. Watch those heavy waves. They crawl towards the ship. And it is in accordance with the weather which is semi-stormy. I think though that this small ship is just too small for a cross-Mediterranean journey. There is only one person beside Ezio on the ship. And in such a weather the crew must be alarmed so there needs to be more than one up, but none handles the equipment of it. And it appears that more people would overcrowd the ship which shows that the ship is just too small for a proper crew. And in such a wind, one would need to be at the steer constantly.
Now the part I want to emphasize very much is when Ezio climbs a rock (after the ruin scene). Check that he jumps onto the rock with his full body and arrives at his stomach. Very natural, nice animation (or motion capture). It is very short and half of the movement is takes place during the transition but still very detailed. When he steps on the rock, he supports on his weight on his right hand and grabs the rock with his left. I think this small nuance makes the movement very natural and believable and for its briefness you maybe don't notice it but it still works. The only thing I miss from that picture is the creasing of the skin on the back of the right hand. I think this is the reason why it looks unrealistic if you freeze the video there (0:54-5).
In the part when Ezio arrives at the castle we have snow. It is very nice that it only starts to fall when the scene begins. This very tender snow gives so much realism to the scene for it is not excessive but clearly noticeable. Ok for this part I do not understand one thing again, but this is a problem for me for the whole franchise. Ezio has his hood which is cool. But to have the dark face effect for a daylight scene you need to pull it into his face. If someone looks up with a hood in his face that looks funny. Why couldn't they cut it somehow else to keep the hood effect and the templar and Ezio's pride in the same time? If the shot it from the back or anywhere else that Ezio looks up, we would not see him being so gawky. He clearly cannot see in his big hood at 1:05-1:11.
The arrow hit scene otherwise is very very nice. Great motion capture again, and it is a great concept for the music to match with the action. The cut is a little bit late. I think this is made by intention. Again a subliminal animation sequence. You do not notice it very well and remember only the moment where Ezio is shown from the side and hit by the arrow. What makes you believe the hit and creates dynamism is that the arrow hits Ezio just a little before the music engages to a new part. If they have cut it properly the movement would have become either too "danceish" or they would have lost some dynamism and realism.
The fight scene is very intense and I love that they do not have any king-fu in it. The choreography and the cut are very classic as well as the camera. It is the same technique they used for the first time in Gladiator I think. They constantly change the speed of the fight. The only thing they could have done otherwise is to not only slow it down for some nice movements but accelerate it up as well as Ridley Scott has done for Maximus.
One thing about the uniforms of the soldiers is that their face protector I think is supposed to be made of steel but it seems to me that it is pure textil and clearly not a cheap type. I think it is a good concept to have them to be faceless and it is economical as well for such amount of faces could make the production time way longer or decrease the overall quality. But still the texture of it is not really metalish.Maybe some of you has some ideas about that but I cannot see any story behind that "mask".
I think when Ezio hits two soldiers on their helmeted heads with his own head he proves a little bit too much about his qualities. I mean what is a helmet for if someone else's head could harm you underneath? I am sure there are other ways to knock out someone.
The materials are way ahead of everyone (except that little thing with the masks). Ezio's beautiful shoulder armour and the nicely textured hood are great pieces of art. The fur on the other shoulder balances his gear so it is less uniform-like. So is the neck of the templar.
The skins are perfect for both faces and they shine just perfectly. This material make us believe the whole thing.
The small wind at the tower makes nice pace by the waving of Ezio's and the templar's clothes. The building and the mountains around it are very nicely done. It is a little bit too snowy but well it is winter anyway even on the Holy Land.
Oh yes, and I forgot... the blood. At 1:36-7 you can see a very nice cut in the shoulder. The blood splits out from that soldier and paints the halberd. All the dynamic systems are great in this trailer but this is "real". Very good work of fluids and cuts. I think it is very unique and innovative. It is a close cut and it is slowed down. No tricks of psychology, no hiding behind editing. This is REAL! I think this bravery is why we all really love Digic Pictures. Nice job guys...
Story: 10/10 (Poetic, monumental allegory remaining implicit for the whole clip during the believable surface story.)
Director: 10/10 (The story is rich in twists while still remains a continuous flow.)
Director: 10/10 (The story is rich in twists while still remains a continuous flow.)
Modelling: 10/10 (A level of modelling of the highest standards.)
Animation: 10/10 (Great particle systems, live motion capture, elegant dynamic systems and the Blood!!!)
Render and lights: 10/10 (Lights are all real and believable they only hang out of the story sometimes.)
Material/textures: 9/10 (Only those masks miss some life or I don't recognize the material. Everything else is real.)
Photography: 10/10 (Nice renaissance sets with some taste of Victorian romanticism.)
Editing/effects: 10/10 (Very clever use of psychology and dynamism.)
Music: 10/10 (I have that track on my phone. Go and get it somewhere.)
Visual concept: 9/10 (Realistic set with proper historic costumes. Complex and consistent Assassin's Creed illustration. I still think those nordic lights are not for the middle east. A little less winter would have improved it a lot. Since we see he is arriving at the southern region of the Mediterranean where Egypt lies. If you think of the Christmas eve story you can't see the snow there).
____________________Render and lights: 10/10 (Lights are all real and believable they only hang out of the story sometimes.)
Material/textures: 9/10 (Only those masks miss some life or I don't recognize the material. Everything else is real.)
Photography: 10/10 (Nice renaissance sets with some taste of Victorian romanticism.)
Editing/effects: 10/10 (Very clever use of psychology and dynamism.)
Music: 10/10 (I have that track on my phone. Go and get it somewhere.)
Visual concept: 9/10 (Realistic set with proper historic costumes. Complex and consistent Assassin's Creed illustration. I still think those nordic lights are not for the middle east. A little less winter would have improved it a lot. Since we see he is arriving at the southern region of the Mediterranean where Egypt lies. If you think of the Christmas eve story you can't see the snow there).
Overall: 9.8
Copyright Notice: The video is made available by Digic Picture on youtube by leaving the embed option open for everyone. This video is found at the Youtube channel of Digic Pictures (TheDigicPictures). All intellectual rights for the video are reserved for Digic Pictures. I only claim the copyright of its interpretation and evaluation.
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