Meta’s artful ‘Batman: Arkham Shadow’ spot lets viewers become the Caped Crusader
Alto’s shadowy, high-octane spot was directed by Johan Renck with music by the Prodigy’s Liam Howlett
Editor's Pick
“Batman: Arkham Shadow,” the new VR game for the Meta Quest 3/3S, is getting strong reviews in its first days on the market—and also got a stylish, high-energy launch spot to match, created by agency Alto.
The 60-second ad, directed by Johan Renck, immerses the viewer in Gotham City with striking black-and-white cinematography and a pumping soundtrack—a new cut of The Prodigy’s 1995 track “Poison,” arranged by Liam Howlett. Chaos reigns in Gotham, as the Rat King—the villain in the game—inspires a cult of followers to violence. Only Batman can restore a semblance of order.
Alto and Renck worked from a limitation that was also an opportunity: that “Arkham Shadow” players play as Batman, and thus don’t see him—so, he couldn’t appear in the spot, either. But his presence as shadows adds to the tension and artful flair of the piece. (Erik Messerschmidt, Oscar winner for David Fincher’s black-and-white biopic “Mank,” was the cinematographer.)
The spot incorporates other elements of the game, but also stands alone as a content piece with its own unique vibe.
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“We wanted to go back to this tradition of making people feel what the game is, versus showing them what the game is,” Hannes Ciatti, Alto’s chief creative officer, said in an interview. “We created this canvas of darkness and then painted everything on that canvas in shadows. We wanted to throw you right into this world, to soak in the atmosphere of visiting Gotham.”
“There are elements [in the film] from the game—the rat goons, the weapons Batman is using. But we took a lot of artistic license as well,” said Ed Rogers, managing partner at Alto. “There’s a boldness to that. It harkens back to some of the great [game] launches from a decade ago, where it wasn’t a literal like-for-like pulling out parts of the game. It’s more about creating an emotive feeling.”
Renck told Ad Age that project “completely restored my faith in advertising,” saying it felt like a return “to the halcyon days of the past, when we were adventurous, irreverent and filled with big ideas to deepen brand connection and prompt thought.”
He added: “On my end, it was easy to connect to this particular piece, as it is so much my bag: dark, intense and different. Finally, the fact that we got the man who is The Prodigy—Liam Howlett himself—intrigued enough to jump in to remaster and cut ‘Poison’ proves we were not just making a piece of disposable content.”
There is also OOH advertising that shows the Caped Crusader and “Batman: Arkham Shadow” players back to back, merging to become one.
“Never have you ever had the opportunity to be the hero as in ‘Batman: Arkham Shadow,’” said Jorge Calleja Acuña, head of creative at Meta Reality Labs. “We wanted the campaign to reflect that feeling, to capture the emotion of you defeating Gotham.” (Along with Meta, other stakeholders in the project included Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, DC Comics and game developer Camouflaj.)
The film will run in cinemas and on connected TV, online video, and paid social.
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Credits
- Date
- Oct 29, 2024
- Client :
- Meta
- Client :
- DC Comics
- Client :
- Camouflaj
- Agency :
- Alto
- Founder & CCO :
- Hannes Ciatti
- ECD & Partner :
- Dan Kroeger
- ECD & Partner :
- Pierre Janneau Houllier
- ECD :
- Jason Bagley
- Creative Director :
- Ryan Snyder
- Creative Director :
- Fil Nogueira
- Creative Director :
- Riccardo Rachello
- Creative Director :
- Erik Fahrenkopf
- Creative Director :
- Sara Phillips
- Partner & Head of Strategy :
- Tara Fray
- Strategy Director :
- Drew Phillips
- Comms Planning Director :
- Josh Chang
- Comms Planning Director :
- Charles Lee
- Managing Partner :
- Matt Bonin
- Executive Producer Film :
- Victoria Bennett
- Executive Producer Film :
- Mark Johnson
- Director of Art Production :
- Julia Menassa Panev
- Integrated Producer :
- Marvin Cassell
- Managing Partner :
- Ed Rogers
- Head of Brand :
- Shannon Coletti
- Brand Lead :
- Meredith Parsia
- Sr. Brand Director :
- Erandika Weerasinghe
- Design :
- Studio Herrstrom
- Creative Director :
- Erik Herrstrom
- Creative Director :
- Lukas Haider
- Senior Designer :
- Jon Marsh
- Motion Designer :
- Marcell Gulyas
- Designer :
- Martin Carlsson
- Designer :
- Dennis Johansson
- Operations & Production :
- Kara Griffin Cushman
- Production Company :
- RESET
- Director :
- Johan Renck
- Executive Producer :
- Laura Macauley
- Director of Photography :
- Erik Messerschmidt
- Production Designer :
- Jan Houllevigue
- Line Producer :
- Kevin Comer
- Music :
- Premier Music Group
- Music Supervisor :
- Winslow Bright
- Music Supervisor :
- Ian Herbert
- Music Editor :
- Dylan Nowik
- Music Artist :
- The Prodigy
- Editorial :
- Trim
- Editorial :
- Cosmo Street
- Editor :
- Tim Lindsay
- Offline Producer :
- Polly Kemp
- Offline Producer :
- Anne Lai
- Assistant Editor :
- Josh Mannox
- Assistant Editor :
- Milo Bennett
- VFX :
- Light VFX
- VFX Supervisor :
- Antoine Moulineau
- Executive Producer :
- Guillaume Raffi
- Color Grade :
- Company3
- Colorist :
- Jean-Clement Soret
- Producer :
- Ellora Soret
- Sound Design & Mix :
- 750 MPH
- Sound Designer :
- Sam Ashwell
- Mix Engineer :
- Sam Ashwell
- EP :
- Olivia Ray
- Photographer :
- Sophy Holland
- Photographer's Agent :
- Levine Leavitt
- Photo Producer :
- Tess Hogan
- Retouching :
- Sophy Holland
- Retouching :
- Mary Spencer
- Assets :
- Buck
- Executive Producer :
- Ryan McGrath
- Producer :
- Pablo Martinez-Arasey
- Executive Director of Design :
- Brian Won
- Concept Design Director :
- Dae-Han Yi
- Concept Designer :
- Arron Ingold
- Concept Designer :
- Fernando Utreras
- Concept Designer :
- Jack Usephot
- Compositor :
- Jim Lind
- Storyboard Artist :
- Tristyn Pease
- 2D Lead :
- Yussef Cole
- 2D Animator :
- Dan Cantelm
- 2D Animator :
- Kyle Snider
- Print/Digital Post :
- Pure Production
- Co-Founder :
- Scott Truffa
- Co-Founder :
- Virginia Kornfeld
- Digital Studio Lead :
- Fred Ehrhart
- Senior Production Manager :
- Mai Armstrong
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