The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft Preview
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The storyboard artists began their work on Wrath of the Lich King in the middle of 2007. They knew that Arthas, the central and tragic character of the game release, would be featured in the cinematic. As in previous cinematics, they also knew they wanted to introduce viewers to the new environments included in the expansion. In the case of Wrath of the Lich King, this goal meant depicting Northrend and some of the key features of the new continent. Other than that, no other details had been formally established when they began developing the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic. The sky was the limit. At first, drawing upon their experience with their previous releases, their approach was to try to put together a montage that topped their previous releases. They set about generating scores of ideas that could then be knitted together in a three-minute piece that would explain Arthas' return and the rise of the Lich King.
What ensued in the initial planning stage was a flurry of creative expression that served the team well in later stages, although many concepts were discarded. Veteran storyboarders understand that a large portion of the stuff they create will be thrown away; only a small percentage of the content they create survives the intensive review process. This is especially true in the case of montages, with their largely unconnected scenes. No one knows which scenes will be saved and which will be put aside. Yet, the more storyboard artists draw, the more they begin to see something cohesive emerge through their illustrations. Most of their storyboards were drawn in black and white and featured a variety of detail, ranging from primitive, basic depictions of events to highly stylized, detailed illustrations.
