Battlefield 2042 Creative Director Randy Evans shares his thoughts on the making of the Battlefield 2042 reveal trailer and the risks they had to take to complete the video.
Creative Director at DICE Randy Evans is a veteran when it comes down to creating trailers, and has done so for some time now for games such as Battlefield, Star Wars and Mirrors Edge but explains the risks they took to get a perfect trailer:
Randy Evans – @killat0n_
When I had the idea of doing the cinematic Rendezook almost 10 months ago now, never did I dream it would have such a powerful effect. It’s incredibly humbling to see all the reaction videos. There’s a lot that went into pulling this off technically.
At first, the idea seemed risky and complex from an animation and look perspective. If we are going to do this, we have to do it right. If it doesn’t come off feeling believable, it could break the flow of the entire trailer and fall flat. This was quite the challenge. I really wanted to make sure it’s a celebration of the community and Battlefield in general but also, hopefully, get non Battlefield fans to feel a huge sense of excitement and question if it’s something that can actually be done in game.
To pull all this off, it must feel grounded. The Rendezook is the opposite of real and grounded but if the timing of it is spot on, and the weight of the jets is believable, it should work. Most importantly is landing back onto the jet. That must feel heavy and painful. We did 3 days of covid safe motion capture that I directed over Zoom from home. We spent good time using wire setups to get a lot of the animations. Skydive, tornado, jumping from tuktuk and also the Rendezook. This is not the take from the trailer but gives you the idea.
After we had most of the animations in place, Cameron Scott @kletterget Senior Lead Animator on my team began to stitch our mocap for the Rendezook scene together and do some rough cameras. Initial reaction was positive. I put it in the edit, watched it as a team and it was clear, this just might actually work. As BF fans ourselves, we poured our hearts into this trailer and it’s been a highlight of my career to see all of the love back from the community. But, there is a lot more to come!
Note: You must go here and check out the reaction gif it is a classic! https://twitter.com/killat0n_/status/1403683143186591744
You can check out more Battlefield videos in our Video Gallery or our YouTube channel.
