Creating DOOM with AKQA

With the latest incarnation of hit video game franchise DOOM due for release, fans were given a sneak peek as to what to expect in AKQA’s action-packed spot last week.

To find out more about the film and the challenges of creating interesting and engaging work for the video gaming market, shots speaks to AKQA account director, Ed Davis, and creative director, Jefferson Liu.

What were the challenges of producing the film for DOOM?

ED: We had two big audiences to cater to. For the fans of DOOM, this had to feel like a celebration of the brand they know and love. A fist-pumping return to form. But beyond them, particularly on TV, we’re talking to an audience that might not yet be familiar with DOOM.

It’s not enough anymore to go make a big-budget live-action spot with superb special effects. It was essential that we create a story that can help someone who has never even heard of DOOM perk up and pay attention, while making the life-long DOOM fan howl with joy. 

On the production side, we knew that it was important to capture as much action in-camera as possible. This was a vision shared by our director, Joe Kosinski, and the great team he put together. As a result, we went to great lengths to build practical sets, costumes and props. Obviously the demons were VFX (no real demons were harmed in the making of the spot). 

How much input did AKQA have on the game/game design and Bethesda in the trailer creation?

JL: AKQA provided some design input to the game developers [id Software] on the user interface, but had little influence on the game itself. On the other side, AKQA worked with the brand team at Bethesda Softworks throughout the trailer creation, as well as the team at id Software to make sure we were accurate on every little detail. 

With the game having a violent nature, was censorship an issue in producing the film while keeping it true to the title? 

ED: It’s obviously a very bloody, violent game if you watch the gameplay. We wanted to capture that feeling but can’t show almost any of that on TV. So, we spent a lot of time in pre-viz designing the combat and camera work to imply violence without showing it. 

With DOOM being a title with so much history behind it, how did you modernise the look and feel to make it relevant to a modern audience?

JL: The development team at id Software had already done a fantastic job of reimagining the classic elements of DOOM into the modern era. Then we had to take that and put it through the lens of a live-action piece. How would that demon move? How would its particular kind of fireball explode? How would someone run, jump and shoot in a suit that’s more tank than armour?

We had to walk the line of believable and fantastical. And of course we assembled an amazing team to make it happen, from the shoot crew to the post production process. These are the folks making the movies and TV shows that the fans love, so we wanted their particular eye and expertise to make it happen.   

AKQA has done a lot of video game trailers recently; how does this process differ from traditional spots and trailers?

JL: In many ways it is very similar. It starts with creating a great brief and understanding the product. The biggest difference comes in the product itself. Games, and entertainment in general, come with a ton of material. They have story, tone, lore, feel, vibe and so on. Our goal isn’t to fabricate a story to differentiate one game from another, our mission is to find the perfect way of conveying that story to the right audience.

So, for DOOM, that was a matter of consolidating the breakneck, non-stop action of the game with the pillars that make it great: relentless combat, terrifying demons, and badass guns all wrapped up in this concept of 'push forward action'; there is no reload, there is no cover, there is no retreat.

Games are bigger business than films these days; how much pressure is there when you’re working on a game trailer?

ED: The pressure is pretty huge. A piece like this acts as the centrepiece for a huge launch campaign that is the culmination of years of work by both the publisher and developer. And the biggest thing we’re always asked ourselves is are we doing right by the game and the product?