Rebellion, one of Europe’s most successful independent entertainment studios, has today released ZOMBIE ARMY, a short film from Rebellion VFX. The new dedicated VFX Studio utilized the company’s existing popular gaming IP and assets to create a bespoke animated film, leveraging game engine technology and Virtual Production techniques to exploit real-time rendering and achieve incredibly fast iteration and content creation.
Based at Rebellion Film Studios in Didcot, Rebellion VFX offers high-quality VFX, CGI and animation services. Formed from industry-leading visual effects supervisors, artists and developers, Rebellion VFX is an expansion of Rebellion’s creative content capabilities. The team specializes in full CG environment builds, FX, Compositing, Environment Set Extension and Virtual Production set builds with projects utilizing both offline rendered and real-time rendered, game engine methodology. The on-site capability is further enhanced by Rebellion’s award-winning motion capture and full performance capture facilities.
Set in the same dystopian world as the Zombie Army video game franchise, the ground-breaking short film takes you deep into the heart of the action as Shola and Boris from the Alpha Squad set out on a mission that runs parallel to the storyline of the game.
He Sun, Head of Rebellion VFX, said: “We are extremely proud of the ZOMBIE ARMY short film. It showcases a unique way of working, utilizing existing assets and powering the creation with video game engines to empower a new kind of storytelling. We hope that fans of the Zombie Army franchise enjoy the new short film.”
“How creatives use these tools is completely up to them. They can create a vision that sits alongside the existing storylines or create something completely unique and separate,” continued He Sun. “The truly incredible thing as a creative is the immediacy of the process. Traditionally you would be waiting hours, perhaps days, to see your renders, but the beauty of working in game engine is that you are able to do everything on the fly, in real time. This allows you to constantly change and iterate to ensure you get the perfect result.”
Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, commented, “Rebellion VFX has created and showcased an incredible tool, not only for creating final releasable content, but also for pre-visualization and pitching. The process is so quick and cost-effective when compared to the traditional methods.
“The team at Rebellion VFX is already working on several projects, both in video games and in film and TV, using this technology. This is not only on Rebellion-owned IP and licenses but also for third parties in all strands of the entertainment industry. The possibilities are endless and the quality is only going to improve over time.”
Zombie Army Short:
Return to Hell DLC Trailer:
