The brief:
Deliver realistic and believable character animation in the style of cyberpunk and sci-fi movie classics.
I was tasked with animating characters on this teaser trailer for the unannounced game "Project Threshold", which sadly never got to see the light of day. It was animated on Metahuman rigs inside of Unreal Engine 5 using a mix of keyframe animation and Motorica mocap that was cleaned up and stitched together into sequences. I worked on both body and facial animations, to sell the gritty and dystopian future in which the game takes place.
IRIS
The protagonist of both the trailer and the game, Iris relentlessly fights the corruption of Threshold with the help of her time-manipulating device, and a gun or two, as she struggles to break free from its oppressive forces.
When working on her animation, I took inspiration from action heroes like Ripley from Alien. I wanted Iris to feel capable and determined without ever becoming invincible. She might get riddled with bullets by a gang of thugs on a bridge, but every time she falls, she gets back up; more determined, and this time a little smarter.
In the early stages, her animation leaned toward a more stylized approach, with exaggerated poses and dramatic movement. As the project evolved, however, I shifted toward a more grounded performance. Since the story takes place in an alternate future of our own world, a realistic animation style felt like a better fit. The goal was to make Iris feel less like a superhero and more like an ordinary person who never chose this life but was forced into it.
THE THUGS
A group of thugs from a local gang. They thought they had our hero pinned down but... well, little did they know she's got a certain trick up her sleeve.
To establish a grounded animation style, I began by studying reference footage of people firing the same weapons featured in the trailer. This helped capture believable poses while staying consistent with the realistic style of the project.
From there, I deliberately broke away from perfect technique. These aren't trained soldiers; they're reckless, overconfident thugs. By introducing rougher, less disciplined body mechanics and looser weapon handling, I aimed to give each pose more personality while reinforcing who these characters are.
They may not be the most efficient killers, but they'll bloody well make sure they look cool while doing it.
THE CLIMAX
Every death animation was hand-crafted to suit the individual character, their pose, and the exact moment they were hit. While the overall animation style remained grounded and realistic, the wide camera angle meant the performances needed a touch of exaggeration to keep the action readable from a distance.
A key focus was preserving each character's momentum. Since some of them are charging toward Iris, I wanted the bullet impacts to interrupt their movement rather than completely overpower it. The hits add energy, but the underlying motion still carries through, making the reactions feel more believable.
I also paid close attention to body weight. Muldi, the heavy-set thug closest to the camera, absorbs the impact differently from the others. His larger frame carries more inertia, resulting in less immediate knockback and a heavier, more deliberate fall.
These guys don't just kill with style, they die with style as well.
