Madwell, Director Doug Liman, MPC Lag Behind To Reach Gamers For Verizon 5G
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Robert Goldrich2514 views
Verizon’s video game-style ad takes you on a seemingly normal journey through a totally abnormal world. MPC teams, led by Alvin Cruz, David Piombino and Chris Bernier, worked in close collaboration with director Doug Liman of Independent Media and ad agency Madwell to show gamers the benefits of 5G by building a world rife with ominous and unsettling lag-induced glitches--before teasing a seamless 5G future ahead.
Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband will change connectivity as we know it—particularly when it comes to the world of gaming. In this spot, MPC transposes common gaming lags into real-life scenarios, and shows the potential of a better 5G experience on Verizon’s network.
MPC’s creative director Cruz talked about the immense scale of VFX within the film and the importance of capturing data on-set: “Having the synergy of Doug (Liman) and Hoyte (DP van Hoytema) on set was amazing; they dissected and directed the camera to move in exactly the same way as a video game. The combination of an extensive survey of the principal photography with the previsualization created a natural way to jump into the 250 CG assets build.”
The spot begins as we find ourselves dropped in a nondescript neighborhood in the early morning. The houses are nearly identical--it’s almost a little too perfect--and as we see people starting their days, we begin to get a strange feeling.
By coupling a familiar world with unnatural digital distortions, the type we see on our devices, the film shows glitches that gamers will instantly recognize. At the end of the spot, all our technical difficulties are resolved, and we get a taste of life as usual.
Madwell’s co-founder and chief creative officer Chris Sojka commented: “It’s never easy to create an alternative reality, but this spot required one. Our goal was to depict life in the style of the omniscient wandering camera you might experience in a video game, then completely and successively subvert it until everything was falling into pieces. Quite literally. We used cameras in ways you don’t, we did effects in ways you otherwise wouldn’t, all to complete the illusion of a universe slowly and steadily degrading, unable to find the power necessary to render its own reality. The result needed to be confounding and captivating. Between Doug’s vision and MPC’s tireless attention to detail we merged a broken video game into a broken “reality.”
Madwell’s creative director Ryan Howard added, “We knew from the start this was an ambitious project. We needed to run a safe shoot during a pandemic and complete post-production remotely, and despite those challenges we had to create something that felt extremely authentic to a varied and diverse audience of gamers.”
Client Verizon Gaming 5G Agency Madwell Chris Sojka, co-founder/chief creative officer; Ryan Howard, creative director; David Salisbury, copy director; Micky Treutlein, Matt Fry, Alex Kaufman, associate creative directors; Jacquelyn Maloney, sr. producer; Hilary Krishman, creative producer; Ben X Trinh, strategy director. Production Independent Media Doug Liman, director; Susanne Preissler, exec producer/managing director; Liam Ahern, exec producer; Hoyte van Hoytema, DP. Editorial Lost Planet Editorial Saar Klein, editor; Danny Conner, Steven San Miguel, assistant editor; Krystn Wagenberg, editorial exec producer; Casey Cayko, editorial producer. Postproduction/VFX Moving Picture Company (MPC) Alvin Cruz, creative director, on-set VFX supervisor; David Piombino, 2D lead; Chris Bernier, 3D lead; Kristopher Smale, colorist; Gwen Frey, Nicole Melius, producers; Angela Lupo, managing director; Matthew Loranger, exec producer; Stephen Dierks, production coordinator; Brandon Thomas, on-set VFX supervisor; Tim Crean, Chris Green, Esther Song, Renato Carone, Todd Sarsfield, Mazyar Sharifian, Dylan Nett, Kyle Andal, Gerard Andal, Michael Glen, Chris Gereg, Jeen Lee, Dan Giraldo, Mayank Shekar Tiwari, Satya Narina, Dilipan J, George Gijo Peter, Hanuma Hanumath Prasad, Malligeswaran K, Manideep Sanisetty, Shalwin Shaiju, Vipin Tripathi, 2D team; Rashabh Ramesh Butani, Bangalore compositing supervisor; Rajesh Kumar Kaushik, Bangalore compositing lead; Chris Wachter, Roberto Maki, Andrew Boccio, Lucy Choi, Jessie Amadio, Jemmy Molero, Ash Yee, Brandon Thomas, Mirelle Underwood, Andrew Ortiz, Jean Choi, Maximilian Mallmann, Bibin Balin, Richard Morton, Arun Ramkrishna Sharma, Kuntal Kanti Bera, 3D team; Jacob T Oommen, Kunal Sarkar, Bangalore 3D supervisors; Bibin Balan P, Bangalore assets lead; Jyoti Prakash Panda, Sandeep B K, Sandeep Grover, Ullas Thunga k, Gangadhar Durga Molleti, Bangalore assets team; Roger Hom, concept art; Daniel Bayona, lead DMP artist; Radhakrishnan R, Bangalore DMP lead; Joyett Granfred Fernandes, Sachin Dhapudkar S, Shanmugavel V, Bangalore DMP team; Stéphane Rodriguez, Farid Ghanbari, Gianna Yarull Urena, design; Simon Halpern, previs artist; Patrick Smith, head of visualization; Kristen Aasen, production manager; Mary Loibl, previs producer; Max Read, visualization coordinator; Caitlin Forrest, color producer; Phoebe Torsilieri, color associate producer; Megan Lang Bice, color EP; Chanakya Chander, Bangalore line producer; Sahil Sunil Wadhwani, Bangalore production coordinator; Elangovan Ganeshan, matchmove lead; Ankit Dheraj Toppo, Konduru Achiraju, Rais Pinjari, Shakti Jadhav, Smijumon Viswanathan, matchmove team; Silambarasan RP, roto & prep supervisor; Anand Prakash Singh, Anilkumar Madhavan, Guthikonda Venkateswara Rao, Irshad Abdulla, Jagadeesh Dasari, Putta Mahesh, prep team; Abhijith Sekhar, Dibin Dharmendran, Gurram Srinivasulu, Hemanth Munithimma Reddy, Manjunatha Narasimmaiya, Noti Malakondareddy, Saloni Mehta, Selvakumar Somasundaram, Thota Ramaseshu, Vadiraj Kupaneshi, Raghvendra Singh, roto team. Sound Design Machine Head Stephen Dewey, sound designer. Audio Post Lime Studios Jeff Malen, Matt Miller, mixers; Meg Ochs, Ian Connie, mix assistants; Susie Boyajan, exec producer; Kayla Phungglan, sr. producer. Music Track “A Life of Illusion,” performed by Joe Walsh, written by Kenny Passarelli & Joe Walsh; courtesy of Ralip Music, Wow and Flutter Music and Sony Music Publishing