KILT

CULVER CITY, CA - KILT Studios delivers the seminal Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3 for 72 and Sunny and Pony Show Entertainment with director Peter Berg. The ninety second commercial titled “The Vet and The n00b” stars Sam Worthington (Avatar) and Jonah Hill (Superbad) is more small feature than commercial. The film combines very large live action elements with explosive VFX to create a live action game environment that rivals none. In the first 4 days of the commercial’s release, the spot was viewed by 4.6 million viewers on YouTube.

The Vet, Sam Worthington, and the n00b, Jonah Hill, star as gamers entering the live action world of Call of Duty. In the classic genre set of the ‘buddy film’, Mr. Worthington sets off expertly downing his competition while Mr. Hill, at first, fumbles his way through having to ‘re-spawn’ in different environments. As the two continue on their journey through the game, the commercial takes them from the burned out streets of New York, to Berlin, Paris and Russia. In each successive stage, the n00b begins to find his footing in becoming ‘a soldier.’ In the end, the n00b becomes The Vet and jests, “Go Get ‘em n00b” as the new n00b, NBA All-Star Dwight Howard enters frame firing his gun into the air about to earn his soldier stripes.

The concept of the spot was giant and the delivery date was looming. The deadline on the project to meet the release of the game on November 8th was a challenge from the outset for production and post. Pony Show Entertainment in under three weeks delivered a massive set for New York, Paris and Berlin on the backlot of Universal Studios. “It was so well done and big, it was hard to believe we were on a commercial shoot. It really felt like a feature,” remarked KILT founder and executive producer, Matthew McManus.

When KILT received the call about the project, the parameters of the job necessitated that the work be approached like a feature. “Given the time frame and the amount of work, we knew as a company, we would have to split the work among different post production houses.”

KILT then managed and split out sequences of the project between Digital Domain and Ring of Fire. Each house was designated sequences of the commercial rather than just shots. KILT also found Academy Award nominated VFX Supervisor Dan Kaufman (District 9) to oversee all the vfx work. “Having someone that was neutral to the houses involved was key to the success of the piece,” said Mr. McManus. With the combination of houses and support from Spatial Harmonics for some CG destruction support, the VFX team was able to produce over 70 shots in less than two weeks.

“It was a massive undertaking,” said Mr. McManus. “Under any circumstances the creative for the project was a huge process, regardless of the timeline. There was some blood left in getting it done. But the reward is watching the advert among the other ads in context. It’s shock and awe. In the world of DVR, viewers will press play to watch the ad.”