SAMURAI: Perhaps the greatest fucking short I’ve seen today!

by Chris Eaton-

The other day, that Mortal Combat Rebirth proof of concept teaser was put up on the net. (See it here)  It was done by Kevin Tancharoen, the guy who did the remake to Fame. Weird huh?  Anyway, the point is, that trailer probably cost a little penny. While I found it to be kinda awesome, it seemed that the marriage of video games and film still had a ways to go.  That was until a few minutes ago.  When I looked over at Twitch.

Turns out, Jerry O’Flaherty, the man responsible for the cut scenes and all the pretty images for a little game called Gears of War (I’ve never played it…seriously..  Never did..) decided to kinda go in the opposite direction.  He’s making a movie using video game technology.

This little trailer, called Samurai, was made on the fly, literally.

This proof of concept trailer was created by Jerry O’Flaherty, the Gears of War art director.  We’re developing a samurai vs ninja action movie in a 300 style using the Unreal 3 game engine to render the props and environments.   This was a no-budget piece shot in two days with a volunteer cast of five people against a white background. The background plates were created in Unreal with the intent of sharing all of the environment assets (rendered at higher res for the film) between the movie and the game. The project is being produced by Blacklight Transmedia and State Street Pictures.


He’s using the UNREAL ENGINE to CREATE A FUCKING MOVIE! My mind is blown. Why?  Take a look.

[vodpod id=Video.3818303&w=425&h=350&fv=]

That, was shot in 2 days, with no real actors, and using a fucking video game engine to create the surroundings!  And, it was all done under a $1000 bucks. It’s not polished, and looks a bit edgy in a few spots, but this guy boldly went were no bothered to go.  More power to him too!  If this really proves to be something substantial, I see alot more video game companies making their own indy big budget films in the future.  OH WHAT A MARVELOUS AGE WE LIVE IN!