Awakening
Jar of Sparks . Septemver 2023
We aren’t showing a moment, we’re capturing an act of god.
In October 2022, I began working with old colleagues at a new first-party NetEase studio, Jar of Sparks. As Game Experience Director, I direct the levels and story experience to ensure the game feels cohesive and engaging. In June 2023, we created a studio announcement video to coincide with the launch of the Jar of Sparks website.
Territory Studios made this short film in their London office with creative lead Ryan Jefferson Hays. I was in charge of its development and creation at Jar of Sparks.
The goal was to create something elegant and unique that could live on the Jar of Sparks website while the game is in development. We aimed to highlight the power of an idea on a macro and micro scale to create universes. This video captures the tension of creation and reinforces the studio’s logo while embracing concepts we find creatively timeless and enduring.
Aural Journey
When conceiving this piece, we didn't have a score that aligned with our game. We knew that music and sound design would do much of the heavy emotional lifting while also creating cohesion across disparate cuts.
Different music was created. I've made a lot of trailers and worked with many composers, but I was thoroughly impressed by how Territory used an in-house art director to create the music in this piece. The goal was elegant and simple. We talked a lot about how Trent Reznor has done this in various pieces for Apple, but I wanted to recall an old John Hillcoat ad for Levi's "To Work."
The sound design and music builds and intensifies in a lyrical (Phil Spector wall of sound) way, then cuts out, leaving an indelible impression in the reverb. It harkens to a mixture of Shepard’s tone and orchestral tuning mixing both anticipatory escalation and coalescing harmony.
From Creative Lead Ryan Jefferson Hays
‘Close your eyes and imagine being next to a fire in a cave. A siren goes off outside… You go to the sound. It’s getting louder. Your head is right next to it. Your ears are bleeding. Then everything shuts off and the world is dark.’ – Dan Chosich, Game Experience Director, Jar of Sparks
The music for the film was created in-house – allowing us further creative control and a closer, more fluid relationship with the visuals. Initial drafts were refined from complex symphonies to a simple, three note theme – allowing Jar of Sparks’ to have their creative avenues unbeholden to a distinctive sense of sound.
Dan Turner, art director and musician for this project, used a Roli Seaboard for the tool of choice: a pressure sensitive, five-dimensional synthesiser that is perfect for creating slow strings and gestural music with the ability to use the keys as effective faders. With each of the shots for the film standing at four seconds long, the BPM remains at a steady sixty with the only other musical instrument seeing a drum beat actioned on the changing of each on the shot.
- Site
“What does it look like to be inside an idea as it is born?
What lies on the other side of everything we know?
What kind of energy does it take to reconfigure the world?
What does it feel like break a barrier?
How do you visualize a force that refuses to be contained?”
Excerpts from the Initial Brief
“This studio will become the birthplace of strong ideas and remarkable execution. Jar of Sparks needs to become a destination that stands for where good ideas go to thrive.
After this video there will be a period of “dark” as we produce our first game title. This video, our website, and our social media presence will be the only artifacts that present what we are stand for in the marketplace.”