Set in a modern day war zone, the incredibly fast paced action in Call of Duty's live-action spot is experienced from the first person point of view of a soldier. Partnered with actor Taylor Kitsch, both soldiers are equipped and armed with highly enhanced army suits, weaponry and flying mini-jets. The advanced arsenal and hi-tech gear turns them into super soldiers, giving them the upper hand against the enemy. They maneuver across abandoned environments while constantly battling off a non-stop barrage of futuristic robot soldiers, machines and weaponry.

Giving viewers a visceral sense of what it would be like to play the game for real, the visual effects served a critical role in the narrative. This was done so that all the elements would integrate seamlessly to look like a single take and feel utterly realistic.

The approach was to capture as much live action as possible, with VFX seamlessly combined to enhance the non-stop action filled narrative. Artists created a colossal amount of complex VFX including body suits, hover bikes, vehicles, and a drone swarm to blend full CG cut between live action.

One of the main challenges was creating the full CG photoreal environments due to the extreme camera moves. The scene of the protagonist falling out of a building was filmed entirely on blue screen with only a static truck as a practical build. The environments and roads were created in full CG, with each sequence flawlessy bridged into the following environment.

In the grand finale where the only practical elements were the small bridge and the second player, full CG photo-real scenes were crafted to match the bombastic set pieces. The actor was composited from eight camera takes morphed together, which places him at the center of the fully CG shot.

Our unique visual effects pipeline handled some of the most demanding effects - typically seen in a large-scale blockbuster - creating visuals that would stand alongside Activision's impressive game graphics and blur the lines between live action and visual effects.