Assassin's Creed: Lineage

Assassin's Creed: Lineage is an upcoming series of three short films based on the universe of the video game Assassin's Creed. The films are made by Ubisoft, the game company itself, and the first episode will be released on October 27, 2009 on YouTube.

The films are directed by the canadian film director: Yves Simoneau. .

Plot
The story is a prequel to the upcoming video game Assassin's Creed II. It centers around the father of the game's main character (Ezio): Giovanni Auditore da Firenze.

Giovanni is an Assassin living during the Renaissance in Italy (15th century). The story introduces the situation before Assassin's Creed II, and the enemies of both characters.

Cast
The films and the game share a common cast. The actors have been mo-capped (for narrative sequences), their faces have been scanned and their voices have been recorded for the video game.

Production
Both film makers and game makers worked very closely to link the two titles.

Live actors were filmed on green screen (just like Hybride Technologies participating in the production, did with 300 and Sin City) which was then replaced by the game's environment extracted from the engine to XSI (half of those assets were re-worked on the texture and geometrical levels before being exported to be used in the film).

For the costumes, historians researched and concept artists from the game made illustrations of each costume which was then, made real by a costume maker from the film team. Those costumes eventually influenced the 3D models in the game.

Corey May the writer from Assassin’s Creed II worked closely with the Assassin's Creed: Lineage scriptwriter, William Raymond, in order to make sure both stories were linked to the original story.

Soundtrack
The score of the films is composed by George S. Clinton (unlike Assassin's Creed II's soundtrack scored by Jesper Kyd).

Promotion and release
Ubisoft acquired on July 7, 2008 the post-production VFX studio Hybride Technologies based in Montreal as part of the game company's strategy to extend its brands to other medias, and to converge gaming and filming entertainment.

A year later, during a press conference held at the E3 2009, Ubisoft revealed the making of short films based on the universe of Assassin's Creed II using the game's engine with the participation of Hybride and Ubisoft Digital Arts.

Ubisoft then released more details about the project during the 2009's Comic-Con, revealing some behind the scenes shots at the same period.

The first episode was shown to the press during a premiere at a theater in the Champs-Élysées on October 19, 2009 and a public trailer was released on the same day.

The first episode will be released on YouTube on October 27, 2009.