Guest blog - Nelson at Games Workshop

It’s all in the detail…

Here in the Licensing department at Games Workshop, we work closely with our partners on the various licensed projects we undertake - and I’m the one lucky enough to be working on the Ultramarines movie with the crew at Codex Pictures. We’re a small, dedicated team here in Licensing, with over 40 years of combined Games Workshop experience between the four of us (!). But there’s one thing we all agree on: whatever the latest licensed project is, be it a computer game, role play game or feature length movie, attention to detail is key with the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Take the artwork, for example. Typically with a licensed project, there are a lot of variant designs and concept sketches early on. There’s much going back and forth over the direction and options we have before we narrow down the assets and get started on the actualisation.

As you’ll notice from the latest concept pieces revealed, what Codex Pictures have managed to do with the movie assets, very quickly, is get the form and feel of the weapons and equipment right (or ‘props’ as I now have to remember to call them!), and then go to town on additional details to add an extra layer of realism. Reference has been drawn from the whole of the Warhammer 40,000 background. Every single asset in the movie goes through the various stages of design, and at each stage we have to think about how to make that individual item as ‘40k’ as we can make it, whether it’s a simple Bolt Shell or a Strike Cruiser.

The process is actually very similar to the other projects I’ve worked on, such as the Dawn of War series of computer games. Each asset comes through as an image, animation or suchlike, with an approval form for sign off. Concepts become 3D models, which then get animated and textured, special effects added and so on. Everything was, in one sense, quite familiar. However, what became apparent very quickly was that the movie needed much more focus on detail compared to a computer game. In the movie, you will be seeing Space Marines and the like through a precision lens: so how they walk, talk and interact with the environment and equipment around them needs very careful consideration. Coupled with the speed at which Codex Pictures work, this makes it an entirely different project for us.

I’m looking forward to seeing how it all turns out just as much as the next person, but from what I’ve seen so far, and drawing on my past experiences, I think it’s going to be awesome.