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Filmmakers share the story behind Find Makarov and Operation Kingfish
Among the festivities this weekend at Call of Duty XP in Los Angeles was the premiere of the second "Find Makarov" short film, subtitled "Operation Kingfish." In case you missed it on the live stream, you can watch the short above -- it's a segment set in between Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2, featuring part of the origin story for soldiers Soap and Price. The filmmakers from digital agency We Can Pretend and visual effects company The Junction sat down with me here at the convention to chat about how Find Makarov originally came about, how Activision contributed to this Operation Kingfish followup, and what's next for these creatives and the Call of Duty brand on film.
Call of Duty XP attendees get free 'Hardened' edition of MW3, teaming with We Can Pretend
Beyond chomping (hopefully) real burgers at the faux fast-food establishment, Burgertown, Call of Duty XP attendees get a "special redemption code" for Modern Warfare 3's Hardened Edition, for use "when it becomes available worldwide on November 8." Included in the price of admission is also the chance to run through "a life-size replica" of MW2's "Scrapyard" level, so bring an extra extra pair of running shoes (one of the extra pairs will already have been used after heading through "The Pit"). And tucked away in a variety of details about a new comedy series for Call of Duty Elite members (being put together by Jason Bateman and Will Arnett's production company "dumbdumb" and Ben Silverman's Electus Studio, no less) was news that Activision is collaborating with We Can Pretend on a "Modern Warfare-inspired live-action short." We Can Pretend are the folks who put together the "Find Makarov" campaign back in March, misleading many game news outlets to believe that it was a Modern Warfare 3-based ARG due to its high production value. If the aforementioned amenities weren't enough, Activision is upping the physicality of things with "Juggernaut Sumo" (just what it sounds like) and "a military-style zip-line plunge across the Call of Duty XP compound." Say it with us now: "HOO-AH!"
FindMakarov.com is an unofficial Call of Duty film project
The countdown on FindMakarov.com has ended to reveal ... a fan film? Self-funded "for fun," according to creative director Jeff Chan, of Toronto-based viral marketing company We Can Pretend, this live-action trailer is meant as an example of how Activision's Call of Duty game franchise could be expanded to film. "We definitely wouldn't wanna just call ourselves fans," said Chan, who would not say whether the filmmakers had talked to Activision about their project yet. "We gave a statement on Friday," an Activision representative said in response to the trailer going live. "No further comment." The "Find Makarov" trailer, which Chan compared to the live-action ODST short in spirit, was scripted by We Can Pretend design director Patrick Lo, who also created the website. David Fradkin produced the film, and Nir Zahavi directed the extensive viral marketing campaign. Visual effects were handled by Junction VFX, also based out of Toronto. Chan declined to elaborate on the company's long-term intention. Watch the so-called "Live Action Modern Warfare" trailer after the break.
FindMakarov.com teasing Toronto group's 'Call of Duty-inspired' project [update]
Some times, some crimes go slipping through the cracks, and when that happens there's one gumshoe we can count on to pick up the slack: Dean (Hon.) Geoff Keighley. The Spike TV personality says he's unearthed the source of the FindMakarov.com teaser site and it couldn't be further from a Modern Warfare 3 announcement as we and many others assumed. Keighley says the countdown was created by We Can Pretend, a Toronto-based group that's supposedly working on a Call of Duty-inspired project of some sort. Keighley added "production sources who worked on the self-funded project call it visually spectacular." We Can Pretend appears to be closely tied to VVO Media, the group that mailed out the mysterious dog tags that got this whole train rolling. On VVO's now-defunct portfolio page, it takes credit for marketing two We Can Pretend-created videos, "Doritos Tablet" and "Wateraid." As Activision stated previously, the megapublisher doesn't appear to be involived, though we'll hopefully have all the details when the countdown ends on March 2. Update: The creators of the project sent us a teaser image of the finished product, which we've posted after the jump. If we were the guessing type, we'd say it's a still from a short film. Or an advertisement for super, super untrustworthy riot shields. Update 2: The project has been revealed. [Thanks, Morey]
