A high-impact campaign for Apex Legends

Lisha’s background is in fine art and animation, having previously directed high-profile projects including Jay-Z ‘The Story of O.J’ and Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation ‘Losing Your Hair’. David’s legacy is in award-winning and complex CG includes co-directing the recent Marvel ‘Strike Force’ campaign. This project sees the coming together of these two distinct styles and approaches.

The ‘Moving Concept Art’ look was inspired by archive gaming concepts and the existing Titanfall universe concepts. The Mill applied a fresh new aesthetic, blending both the director’s creative visions and resulting in the illustrative painted effect.

The performances of the lead-characters Mirage and Wraith, directed by Lisha and David were shot using motion-capture technology. The design and CG teams worked with a vast number of independent elements to create the stylized world. The Mill’s Creative Technology department developed a complex texturing process, experimenting with neural networks and algorithmic solutions, to give all the CG assets a hand-painted and paint brushed look.

To define flashback content, present-day narrative and maintain a holistic vision, Mill Co-Directors David Lawson and Lisha Tan took the unusual step of developing a colour script, setting a palette for each scene. Mill Colourist, Matt Osbourne, took this script and applied a final grade that separated the colours and elevated the look.

Lisha Tan, Director, comments, “It was a privilege to immerse myself in a world that I already found creatively inspiring, to showcase the backstory and personality of these characters for this huge launch. The seamless creative collaboration with an extraordinary team, my background in design and illustration, and David’s award-winning CG experience enabled us to create a new way of telling the complex characters’ stories, whilst honoring the legacy of the Titanfall universe.”

We also joined forces with Respawn Entertainment on the launch of the new Apex Legends ‘Assimilation Launch Trailer’. Directors Lisha Tan and David Lawson crafted an action-packed journey to promote the new season. The film introduces Apex Legend’s most sinister character yet, Revenant, and the cinematic world of Apex Legends takes a dark turn as the trailer explores an all-new environment. Working once again with motion capture technology, the team was able to obtain choreographed, long-form stunts that translated seamlessly into the world of Apex Legends.

Mill Director David Lawson comments: “Focusing heavily on pre-production allowed us the time to work with a world-class stunt coordinator. We were able to prep for five days to execute such high levels of stunt work. Utilizing motion-captured enabled us to translate the raw intensity from the stunt performance into the final film. We tried to focus on longer takes that would portray the full actors’ performance in order to deliver the narrative, as opposed to the shorter trailer shots we had done in previous work.”

Most recently, we worked with Respawn Entertainment on the launch of the new ‘Fortune’s Favor Launch Trailer’, the latest installment of their record-breaking battle-royale shooter game Apex Legends. Following the dark events of Apex’s ‘Assimilation Launch Trailer’, we are reintroduced to a familiar face, Loba, a victim of the merciless Revenant, who is out for revenge. The Mill Directors, Lisha Tan and David Lawson, crafted an action-packed film to promote the expansion pack.