General:Daggerfall CES Cinematic

Daggerfall CES Cinematic
Medium/Format	Live Video
Date	January 1995
Creator(s)	Don Nalezyty; Julian Jensen; Mark Jones; Ted Peterson
Location	Las Vegas Convention Center
Hosted By	Consumer Electronics Show

The Daggerfall CES Cinematic is a live action cinematic trailer for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall which was played at the 1995 Winter CES trade show. The runtime is one minute.

The original footage does not survive online. A recording of the trailer was filmed by the French magazine Gén4 and distributed via CD (Gén4 CD 75). This recording is available to view on YouTube. Two stills from the footage were also published by Bethesda prior to the game's release: ARMY.GIF, showing "the army of Daggerfall meeting the army of Sentinel at the Battle of Cryngaine Field", and CAMERON.GIF, showing "Cameron, the late king of Sentinel, preparing for battle at his castle in Hammerfell".^[1] These images are displayed below.

Summary and Transcript[edit]

The footage is a mix of green screen live action, 3D animation, and gameplay footage, with narration and dramatic music overtop. The narration is as follows:

"After the days of Tiber and the traitor Jagar Tharn, when the Septim dynasty has ruled the land of Tamriel for four hundred and five winter moons, then the White Moon, Camaron, King of Sentinel, will shine dark on his mortal enemy, King Lysandus, the Dragon of Daggerfall. Though the Dragon shall combat with the Moon, there will be no victory at Cryngaine Field. For it is written that dark sorcery, war, and forbidden acts shall bring terror to the errants in the courtroom of Daggerfall."

The trailer begins with a sweeping shot of a 3D chamber filled with many potions. It transitions to a live action sequence of King Camaron receiving a letter before drawing his sword and rallying his men, beginning the War of Betony. The scene changes to show King Lysandus on a balcony being comforted by Queen Mynisera, but he shrugs her off and looks out over the battlement forlornly. The scene changes to an iris sequence showing the black outline of warriors charging into battle on a red background. The following scene is a mix of 3D animation and live action, showing the Battle of Cryngaine Field: two lines of mounted knights face each other, and the general gives the order to charge. Just as the lances are about to collide, the scene changes to an animated view of a city, with an ominous cloud forming in the distance (possibly representing the dense mist that formed on the battlefield at Cryngaine Field). The remainder of the trailer is gameplay footage, concluding with the same shot of the city as the cloud overhead continues to fill the sky. Box art for the game is then displayed.

The actors featured in the live action segments were Bethesda employees. King Camaron is portrayed by Julian Lefay, King Lysandus was played by Don Nalezty,^[2] and Ted Peterson played the knight lowering his visor on the battlefield. The 3D animation was created by Mark Jones, who remained in possession of the prop sword used by Julian.^[3]

Pronunciations[edit]

The cinematic narration is a rare source of pronunciations for various terms presented in Daggerfall and The Elder Scrolls, the following are fan deductions of these terms:

Jagar: "JAY-gar"
Camaron: "KAM-a-ran"
Cryngaine: "KREE-gain"