BRIAN HORN

This piece was done in the Diablo IV engine, leveraging all the guts and gore possible to showcase the darkest of Diablo’s classes: The Necromancer.

This sequence was the opening salvo of dramatic game narrative moments for World of Warcraft’s big new trilogy: The World Soul Saga. My team and I made sure these moments were epic and dangerous and set the stakes for the storytelling to come. I can’t be more proud of what we accomplished using a combination of traditional CG rendering techniques and in-game assets from a proprietary engine that has been in use for over 20 years.

An exciting cliffhanger to the events of WoW: Midnight’s first raid. We used WoW’s in-game assets and combined them with custom animation, lighting, and compositing to bring this piece to life.

Europa was a side project with friends done in Unreal Engine that ultimately released on Steam and Nintendo Switch. I directed and crafted several real time in-engine cinematics using Unreal’s Sequencer. I also cast and directed voice talent, and created many marketing trailers leading up to the game’s launch.

I directed this announcement piece for World of Warcraft’s unveiling of the Shadowlands expansion to a live audience of 30,000 players at Blizzcon and a stream to millions worldwide. My team and I knew we had to craft some unforgettable moments and visual cues that would immediately energize players.

Directing this piece was a unique challenge, working with a VERY limited character count and exploring a new look and run time constraints for Overwatch’s beloved shorts. Working with Brazilian animation studio Lightfarm, we landed with a unique emotional piece that introduced the world to Overwatch’s first Martian character: Juno.

I directed this Hearthstone short with the intention of capturing Hearthstone’s whimsy and humor along with a real sense of heart. My own experiences getting owned in Hearthstone pvp was what inspired this idea of a player having so much fun playing that they don’t even concern themselves with winning! What we did win, though, was Spark Animation’s “Best Cinematic” Award for this piece.

A challenging scene to bring to life, Zul’Jan dies in his sister’s (Zul’Jara) arms. Through careful blocking, shooting live action reference, and intentional camera choices, our team was able to carve out an emotional conclusion to Zul’Jan’s storyline.

I acted as Show Runner on this series of anime shorts for Overwatch that told the backstory of the creation of Overwatch and directed episode #2. Created initial proof of concepts for a “documentary” style anime and achieved internal alignment and greenlight. Worked with Korean 2D Studio DR Movie as well as a swat team of creatives internally to bring it all home.

This was a delightfully fun piece to direct. From kit bashing together the set to animating Gallywix the goblin, our team really made players an offer they couldn’t refuse.

This was an exciting opportunity to tell the backstory of a character whose life crossed many big events in WoW’s long timeline. Collaborating with Andrew Robinson (writer) and Sean Copeland (Lore Historian), we lovingly threaded the needle of old lore and new to create this personal and emotional journey for Arator. Partnering up with UK animation studio Sun Creature was also a blast.

This was an amazing opportunity to explore “what if” scenarios in Warcraft Lore, with other powerful heroes becoming Death Knights, rather than just the iconic Arthas. Plus, directing Laura Bailey’s haunting voice work never gets old.

Directing this one checked several bucket list items...
Directing Matthew Mercer while singing a song about our silly riff on pen & paper games? Check.
Creating an anaglyph 3D (blue and red) version that works with actual old school 3D glasses? Check.
Working with a host of talented illustrators and 3d generalists? Check.
I’ll always have a soft spot for this one.

I directed this Motion Story piece that became one of Hearthstone’s most beloved songs. Crafted with illustrations from artists all over the globe, we were able to capture the fun and chaos of this particular Hearthstone expansion.

This was an illustrated “Motion Story” cinematic that told the story of Drakka and her time in the Shadowlands after her untimely death in the Warcraft Lore. Illustrations by the amazing Laurel Austin. These pieces are always a fun challenge where the medium offers only limited animation and camera movement, allowing the art to take center stage.

Starring Jillian Bell and Chris Sullivan
I directed a series of ‘run and gun’ PSA spoofs for The Society for Game Cinematic’s 1st Annual Cinematic Awards held during GDC. We wrote five pieces in one night and shot those five pieces in one day for less than a thousand bucks!

Starring Chris Sullivan
I directed a series of ‘run and gun’ PSA spoofs for The Society for Game Cinematic’s 1st Annual Cinematic Awards held during GDC. We wrote five pieces in one night and shot those five pieces in one day for less than a thousand bucks!

Starring Jillian Bell
I directed a series of ‘run and gun’ PSA spoofs for The Society for Game Cinematic’s 1st Annual Cinematic Awards held during GDC. We wrote five pieces in one night and shot those five pieces in one day for less than a thousand bucks!

A fun project made with friends that earned us a screening at Screamfest L.A.