RAGNARÖK

RAGNARÖK: A MYTHOLOGICAL SCI-FI EXPERIMENT

Created in 2009 during my time at the Grupo Estudio production company, Ragnarök was a highly experimental passion project developed entirely in my free time. Heavily influenced by the apocalyptic cinematic aesthetics of the era, the narrative weaves an esoteric blend of biblical themes and futuristic sci-fi action. It tells the story of a demonic, masked entity that crashes to Earth like a meteor, triggering a catastrophic battle where high-tech special forces and guardian angels must join forces to save humanity.

THE PRE-AI PIPELINE: DAZ STUDIO & MANUAL RENDERING

This 60-second trailer is a testament to the brutal, manual labor required in the pre-AI era of 3D animation. Unlike today's rapid generation tools, every single shot required a full day of preparation. I utilized Daz Studio to meticulously assemble and rig the characters—from the ethereal angels to the futuristic soldiers clad in high-tech armor—using marketplace assets. Each scene demanded custom camera setups, intensive lighting design, and prolonged rendering times to achieve the desired cinematic look.

COMPOSITING & ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

The heavy lifting of post-production took place in After Effects. I relied heavily on manual masking, tracking layers, and complex compositing to integrate the 3D renders with the backgrounds. To unify the disparate elements into a cohesive aesthetic, I applied aggressive color grading using plugins like Magic Bullet Film Looks before finalizing the cut in Premiere Pro. As a fun production anecdote, some of the space backgrounds featured were actually 3D digital recreations from an ESA/NASA Hubble Creative Commons gallery.

MUSICAL SYNDICATION

Beyond the visual effects, the trailer's auditory landscape is entirely original. I composed the dramatic, percussive score from scratch using FL Studio, complementing it with open-license choral elements from Ensemble Sreteniye. The resulting track, titled Dark Fury, was actually composed a year prior and successfully licensed on the Renderosity marketplace as the leading track in the commercial Trailer Music 2008 album package, finding its perfect cinematic home in this 2009 project.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSING

ESA/Hubble 3D Footage:
Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)

Choral Music (Ensemble Sreteniye):
Licensed under Creative Commons (by-nc-sa) via Magnatune.