The Story Behind the 'Dead Island' Viral Trailer

By Hector Cortez Feb 23, 2011, 3:41 GMT

Dead Island is a survival horror game coming to PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2011.

UK based animation studio Axis worked closely with publisher Deep Silver to create the Dead Island trailer that quickly went viral, amassing millions of views overnight. The trailer was directed by Axis owner and director Stuart Aitken.

Dead Island, developed by Techland, is a survival horror game coming to PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2011 and is set in a tropical paradise gone wrong.

“When we were initially approached by Deep Silver about Dead Island we were really excited about the idea of getting to grips with zombies.” said Axis Executive Producer Richard Scott. “As we started to collaborate with the Deep Silver team on the story ideas and creative treatments we felt that there was something else special about this opportunity.”

“Deep Silver were really keen to create something different, something that would really stand out and when they put forward the initial idea for the ‘reverse’ sequence I saw the seed of something great there.” said Axis director Stuart Aitken.

That seed blossomed into the emotional trailer below:

Click here to view in-game screenshots.

“Working with the Deep Silver team has been fantastic.” continued Aitken. They put a huge amount of faith and trust in me and the rest of the team and it has paid off for everyone.”

Technology and sound also play a big part in the trailers success. The Axis team brought in motion capture experts Audiomotion and Dimensional Imaging to capture the character performances and Savalas for music composition and sound design.