Mass Effect 3

Summary
Credits

Summary

We have helped launch one of the most hotly anticipated computer games of 2012 with this dark, gritty and dramatic new promo for EA Games'/ Bioware's Mass Effect 3.

Created by Draft FCB San Francisco and directed by Caviar's Reynald Gresset, the spot welcomes the Reapers back to Earth for one final epic outing in the games trilogy's series. The film opens with a child playing peacefully before the descendants are unleashed, wreaking havoc and mass destruction.

Our VFX team had their work cut out creating everything from matte paintings of the destroyed cities, CG buildings collapsing and space ships - all whilst trying to stay true to the look and feel of the game itself. "Director Reynald Gresset's brief was to create a Blade Runner-esque future world but within the context of the game," explains Will Cohen who Exec Produced the VFX work. "He also needed us to add scope and scale beyond what was possible to shoot in-camera on set."

The whole project was turned around in just 2 months with many eager Mill gamers naturally keen to get involved. The biggest challenge however, was the dramatic Golden Gate Bridge collapse sequence. "This was the last shot we completed," added Will. "The simulation took a long time and the shot was started at turnover of the cut - no one saw it until literally days before delivery and the final version on the day of the grade so that in itself was a real adventure."

LA-based Colourist Adam Scott enjoyed working closely with director Reynald and the creative team from DraftFCB, Eric and Alissa on the final grade. "The brief was to make the finished project look moody and filmic with low levels of contrast whilst maintaining differences between the various scenes," Adam explains. "I reduced and softened specific highlights especially on skin tones and added grain to help create their desired look. I also used mattes to enable control of the 3D characters separately."

The game is scheduled for release on March 6^th and will be available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Credits

Agency

Agency: Draftfcb San Francisco
Senior Producer: Jeremy Arth
Group Creative Director: Tony Vazquez, Colin McRae
Chief Creative Officer: Chris Ford
Associate Creative Director: Derrick Ho, Jake Slody
Art Director: Alyssa Collis
Copywriter: Will Decher

Production

Production Company: Caviar Content
Director: Reynald Gresset
Executive Producer: Michael Sagol, Jaspar Thomlinson
Producer: Louis Saint-Calbre (Line Producer)

Editorial

Editing Company: The Whitehouse
Editor: Russell Icke
Edit Assist: Alessandra Milani, Brandon Porter

Post-Production / VFX

Post-Production / VFX Company: The Mill
Mill Office: London
Executive Producer: Will Cohen
Shoot Supervisor: Jean Claude Deguara
2D Lead Artists: Sara Bennett
3D Lead Artists: Nicolas Hernandez (CG Supervisor), David Bennett (Animation Supervisor)
2D Artists: Compositors: Adriano Cirulli, Bryan Bartlett, Clement Hingrai, Henning Glabbart, Rosemary Chester, Theajodharan Nagarajan, Dan Pearce, Murray Barber, Frank Hanna, Iyi Tubi Roto: Angelo Dewitt, Eleanor Sutton, Valentina Ambartsumov
3D Artists: TD: Darren Byford, Sam Lucas, Nick Webber, Jason Brown, Christian Waite, Ruben Mayor, Matthew McKinney, Andy Guest, Ruben Bautista Animatiors: David Bennett, Rob Byrne, Ruth Bailey, Thibault Pansiot, Martin Lanzinger, Neil Glasby Riggers: Neil Roche, Max Mallman, Will Pryor, David Jones Trackers: Amy Cuthbertson (Supervisor), Kwai Ip, Daniel Newlands, Jacob Flint, Tony Landais, Andreas Schulz
Matte Painting: Simon Wicker (Supervisor), Christoph Unger, Lyndall Spagnoletti, Ron Bowman, Turlo Griffin
Colourist: Adam Scott
VFX Shoot Production Manager: Kevin Cahill
VFX Co-Ordinator: Natalie Reid
Editorial Team at The Mill: Tristan Fisher, Matthew 'Wispy' Clarke
Sound Design: Ren Klyce / Mit Out Sound
Audio Mix: Michael Semanick / Skywalker Sound / Rohan Young / Lime Studios
Music: Human Worldwide