Case study · Motion design
Publishing · Video games & pop culture
Third Éditions.
Third Éditions is a publishing house dedicated to the video-gaming world, founded by Mehdi El Kanafi and Nicolas Courcier. Since 2015, it has analysed major video game sagas – and, beyond them, landmarks of animation and cinema.
The project: producing animations to promote the books published by Third Éditions, each one adapted to the universe of its subject.
01 — The approach
One book, one universe.
Each saga has its own aesthetic, its own fans and its own codes. Every animation borrows the visual language of its subject – from J-RPG illustration to film noir – while keeping the publisher’s signature.
Before
Founders with a track record
In 2010, Mehdi and Nicolas co-founded Console Syndrome, bought a year later by a major publisher of video game books and magazines. They then edited and co-wrote twenty books, including Zelda. Chronicles of a Legendary Series and The Legend of Final Fantasy VII.
Since 2015
Third Éditions
A new publishing house analysing major video game sagas – and extending to anime and animation cinema – with books written by specialist journalists and authors.
02 — The books
Six titles, six styles.
Book trailers and Kickstarter videos, each built to make fans want to open the book.
- i.
Dragon Quest
Square Enix’s historic Japanese role-playing saga, seen by journalist Daniel Andreyev as a major social phenomenon that has influenced several generations of Japanese players.
- ii.
Cowboy Bebop
Film noir, blues, cigarettes, whisky and spaceships: an event book for the 20th anniversary of the series, deciphering each episode.
- iii.
The Witcher
The Ascension of The Witcher: A New King of RPG – Benoît ‘ExServ’ Reinier goes behind the scenes at CD Projekt RED.
- iv.
Hayao Miyazaki
The personality of an atypical auteur and, film by film, the themes that make him a humanist and essential filmmaker. Cover design by Atelier Sento.
- v.
Uncharted
Naughty Dog’s action-adventure saga – “a modern Indiana Jones” – its universe, secrets and gameplay mechanics.
- vi.
Diablo
The PC legend that created hack ’n’ slash, told from first-hand sources by Benoît Reinier.
03 — The films
Motion for fans.
Illustration, typography and atmosphere brought to life – short formats designed for social media and crowdfunding campaigns.
04 — In context
Made for readers.
Books to be read, collected and shared – the animations extend them onto screens.
