The title card proposed by Oddfellows.
The Last of Us is a cancelled animated short film adaptation of the video game of the same name. Ahead of the release of The Last of Us Part II, Sony asked content agency Oddfellows to "create a compelling short film depicting the main characters Joel and Ellie as they retell their dramatic story chronicled in the original game." The film was to be 20 minutes in length and would serve as a "Previously on" to bring viewers up to speed on the events of the first game and help bridge the gap between the first and second game. For reasons unspecified, Sony ultimately cancelled the project.[1]
Synopsis[]
| “ | We catch up with Joel and Ellie on a woodland trail, somewhere between Jackson County and their next adventure. Along the way they’ll stumble upon artifacts that stir important memories. These memories will retell the story of The Last of Us, one flashback at a time.
―Oddfellows[1]
|
” |
Development[]
Oddfellows sought to create the film with a distinct animation style that would distinguish it from the games; citing the Blade Runner animated films and The Animatrix as inspiration. They presented Sony with a proposal to reinterpret each of the game's chapters with a unique visual style. Concept art, stylized frames, and short animated sequences were developed, but Sony decided not to move forward with the project.[1][2]
In January 2020, Oddfellows published details and images of the project to a portfolio page on their website.[1] This portfolio page was also linked to on the websites home page as the first entry under "Featured Work".[3] However, the portfolio page was removed later in the month; it has been suggested that Oddfellows violated a non-disclosure agreement in publishing the materials, but an official reason has never been given.[4]
Metadata from the images on the portfolio page reveal limited information about the project's development timeline. The earliest creation dates recorded are from October 2018[5] with the latest, and most numerus, date being November 13, 2019.[6] Although the November 2019 date may simply indicate when the materials were being prepared for publication on the website. This is coroberated by the fact that all of the images have a file path that begins with "oddfellows.tv/app/uploads/2019/11/", with 2019 being the year and 11 being the month of November.
Gallery[]
Style A[]
Style B[]
Style C[]
Style D[]
Style E[]
Trivia[]
- As of June 2022, despite removing the portfolio page from their website, Oddfellows never removed or restricted access to the images they uploaded. They can still be accessed by entering the URLs into a web browser.[7]
- Oddfellow uploaded a number of images from the project to their website that were never used on any of the pages of the website or intentionally shown to the public.[7]
External links[]
- Oddfellows portfolio page (Archived from the original on January 20, 2020.)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "The Last of Us". Oddfellows. Archived from the original on January 20, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ↑ "TLOUS_02.mp4". Oddfellows. November 20, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ↑ "Home Page". Oddfellows. Archived from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ↑ Beckwith, Michael (January 24, 2020). "Cancelled The Last Of Us animated short film revealed online". Metro Entertainment. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ↑ "Value_01.jpg", "Sketch_01_Gray.jpg", "PitchCover_02.jpg". Oddfellows. October 12-19, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ↑ "A_01.jpg", "A_02.jpg", "A_03.jpg", "A_04.jpg", "A_05.jpg", "B_01.jpg", "B_02.jpg", "B_03.jpg", "B_04.jpg", "C_01.jpg", "C_02.jpg", "C_03.jpg", "C_04.jpg", "D_01.jpg", "D_02.jpg", "D_03.jpg", "D_04.jpg", "E_01.jpg", "E_02.jpg", "E_03.jpg", "E_05.jpg". Oddfellows. November 13, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 jgmortim (June 6, 2022). "Finding Unreleased Material from TLOU Animated Short Film". The Last of Us Wiki. Retrieved June 6, 2022.