VOTD: The Making Of 'Portal: No Escape'

Dan Trachtenberg's short film Portal: No Escape made quite a splash when it hit the internet a couple weeks back. The short is set in the world of Valve's Portal video games — a world noted for not quite ethical corporate experimentation on human subjects and advanced technology such as the 'gun' that can open two physically disconnected portals in space.

Today Trachtenberg released a 'making-0f' short, which essentially speed-runs through the entirety of No Escape, revealing many of the CGI tricks that went into making the short work. It's a bit too much of a speed run at times, but in three minutes you'll see most of the tricks of the short film exposed.

I like this because it is all too easy to forget the efforts of the people who make an effects-heavy film work. And while Portal: No Escape might look as if it doesn't feature a huge amount of CGI beyond the obvious portal gun effects, there is a lot more than is immediately apparent. So consider this as a salute to all the digital artists who contributed to the success of No Escape.