Nexus Studios revealed the teaser for their new animated production in development: This Tape Deck Is a Time Machine, from Oscar and Emmy-winning director Patrick Osborne, known for his beloved shorts Feast, Pearl, Drawn Closer. The teaser showcases a distinctive graphic 2D style created entirely with real-time technology.
Directed and conceived by Osborne and produced at Nexus Studios using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, this coming-of-age adventure follows a time-jumping teen who is transported into moments of other people’s lives by songs played on an old tape deck. At its heart, This Tape Deck is a Time Machine is an impossible tale of friendship and love centered around soulmates born generations apart. The cast are a diverse group of misfits, inspired by Patrick’s band of friends through his adolescent years.
Osborne led a team of expert real-time artists and creators at Nexus Studios, who embraced the unique challenge of crafting the Tape Deck world with a refined 2D aesthetic, created entirely in the Unreal Engine with no compositing. The team developed bespoke shading techniques to achieve the painterly and naturalistic quality, leveraging the visual potential of the engine to make high quality stylized animation.
“This is a project that breaks new ground both creatively and technically. It’s an animated production with music at its core, told with a strong graphic sensibility, pushing animation to new audiences while simultaneously innovating the very way it’s made,” said Nexus Studios co-founder and executive creative director Chris O’Reilly.
Added Epic Games executive producer of content partnerships Karen Dufilho, “What Patrick and Nexus Studios have achieved exemplifies the way modern storytellers want to work – collaboratively, spontaneously, and quickly – combining their existing expertise in animation with the real-time power of Unreal to craft new worlds and stories that will engage audiences for years to come.”
