Many respected Hollywood filmmakers love games so much that they are not afraid to invest their creative power in promotion, marketing and trailers for large game franchises, including Halo, Dead Space, Resident Evil and many others. In this article, we will talk about some of the most striking game trailers, which were directed by seven famous directors.
George Romero is the godfather of zombie horror. If he had not directed the cult classics «Dawn of the Dead» and «Night of the Living Dead», we would not have seen zombies in popular culture: there would have been no series «The Walking Dead» and the Resident Evil game series.
In the 90s, Romero was entrusted with filming the trailer for Resident Evil 2 — this was a more than logical step for Capcom. Now the video may not amaze with its inventiveness, but it was exciting at the time. In it, Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield find a shotgun and prepare to fight a horde of zombies. The video looks better in places than the RE film adaptation starring Milla Jovovich.
Interesting fact: Capcom liked working with Romero so much that they even invited him to write a script and direct a feature-length film based on the game. But the Hollywood adaptation of RE ended up being directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. And in July, another Resident Evil series awaits us, this time from Netflix.
In the 90s, David Lynch with his Twin Peaks turned the idea of TV series, and his films «Lost Highway», «Mulholland Drive», «Eraserhead» and others — forever changed the «game» on the field of commercial and art-house filmmakers. He was even admired by the great Stanley Kubrick, and George Lucas offered Lynch to direct the sixth episode of Star Wars.
In the early 2000s, Sony invited Lynch to make several short films dedicated to the PlayStation 2, which supposedly should visually convey the feeling of playing on the console.
It's not certain that Lynch ever played a PS2 game, but when the master developed his short films to promote the platform, he claimed that «the gaming experience on Sony's new console will allow gamers to push the limits of human capabilities». According to him, PlayStation 2 is a new layer of sensations and an open world of dreams.
If seasoned action director Michael Bay took on the task of creating a video game, he would definitely create something bright and memorable. It's strange that the author of the film adaptation of «Transformers» and the acclaimed action films «The Rock» and «Bad Boys» shot only one trailer for a video game, and never even participated in the creation of the next plot for the next Call of Duty.
His trailer for Need for Speed: The Run is like a video for another blockbuster in the spirit of the «The Fast and the Furious» series — it consists of adrenaline-pumping chases from an avalanche and a combat helicopter, as well as crazy car stunts, fights, signature angles, camera passes and installation.
Oblivion and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski has directed several video game trailers. His portfolio includes advertisements for the shooter Halo 3, Gears of War, Destiny and DOOM.
His work on the video for Gears of War especially stands out — in it, the protagonist Marcus Fenix runs through the destroyed streets, fighting locusts to the familiar song Mad World performed by Gary Jules, the original authors of which were the synth-pop duo Tears for Fears.
Kosinski released an equally dramatic trailer for Halo 3, which shows a little of the Master Chief's childhood and the moment when he puts on his helmet again to rush into battle with his enemies.
Kosinski's Doom cinematic trailer can hardly be called dramatic, but the author accurately conveyed the spirit of the cult shooter series. The video proves that the film adaptation of Doom should have been entrusted to Joseph.
With the live action trailer for Destiny, Joseph showed how much he understands the spirit of the Bungie gaming universe. In his video, guards fight with enemies to the famous upbeat song Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin.
By the way, Kosinski directed the sequel «Top Gun: Maverick», where Tom Cruise again plays the main role. The film received extremely rave reviews from critics, and Hideo Kojima thanked Cruise for this blockbuster. The famous game designer has already watched the film three times. He also recently appreciated Batman with Robert Pattinson. He liked the picture.
Dead Space is one of the most important action-horror games in history, set in space. The games in this series competently combine the gameplay of Resident Evil 4 with carefully designed locations and terrifying monsters.
It is not surprising that the director of the trailer for the first part of Dead Space for E3 2008 was entrusted to the master of horror James Wan, who became famous for the films of the Saw and The Conjuring series. By the way, a few years ago Wang directed the superhero film Aquaman, and now he is working on its sequel.
Dead Space's trailer, titled «Beloved» by Wang, is all about atmosphere, shock, and awe. The video unobtrusively introduces the viewer to what awaits Isaac Clarke on the Ishimura spaceship.
By the way, a year ago they announced a full-fledged remake of Dead Space, which all fans of the series are waiting for.
Do you like creative advertising or does advertising infuriate you in any form?
Take the pollTim Miller became famous for bringing the madcap Deadpool to the big screen in 2016. He also directed the science fiction action film «Terminator: Dark Fate» and contributed to the anthology «Love, Death & Robots», which consists of film adaptations of stories by famous science fiction writers.
Before becoming popular, in 2010, Miller directed the trailer for DC Universe Online — it was thanks to this work that he was offered to direct «Deadpool». The six-minute video features an epic battle between the antagonists and protagonists of the DC Universe.
A couple of years after the DC Universe Online trailer, Miller directed a promo for Halo 4 called Scanned, which was produced by the director of «The Social Network», «Fight Club» and the recent «Mank» by David Fincher.
The video shows the past of the Master Chief — his time in the Spartan program and inventive action.
And again we're talking about Halo! In 2009, South African director Neill Blomkamp made «District 9», one of the best sci-fi social satires, where there was a place for humor, inventive action, and good drama.
Blomkamp can be called a pioneer in Halo advertising. He directed the short film «Halo: Landfall», which clearly showed the bigwigs at Microsoft, Universal and FOX what potential lay in a full-fledged Halo adaptation. As we know, then the transfer of the game to big screens was eventually canceled, it was supposed to be produced by Blomkamp.
Blomkamp's Halo: Landfall depicts the brutality of war realistically. Ultimately, Landfall was used as promotional material for Halo 3. This short film is a kind of prologue to the game, showing from afar how the Master Chief's ship crashes in the jungle, in Halo 3 he is already met by a squad led by Sergeant Johnson.
***
We have not remembered all the work of Hollywood directors on advertising video games and consoles. What similar examples do you remember? Tell us in the comments.
Which of the directors mentioned in the article shot the most ingenious game trailer?
Take the poll