Ubisoft's dystopian film for 'Watch Dogs: Legion' is a nightmarish visual feast
DDB Paris worked with 'Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse' concept artist Alberto Mielgo to craft trailer for upcoming game
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For the the first time in three years, videogame giant Ubisoft is releasing a new installment of its “Watch Dog” franchise. To promote it, DDB Paris teamed with Alberto Mielgo, the artist behind the stunning visual concepts of the Oscar-winning film “Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse” on a head-spinning trailer.
Since the outset the franchise has centered on themes of surveillance, privacy and hacking. The upcoming third game, “Watch Dogs: Legion,” is set in a post-Brexit, dystopian London and invites players to join a hacker group, DedSec, in their efforts to liberate the city from a surveillance state that has all of the U.K. in its clutches.
The film follows the exploits of a masked artist, whose murals serve as weapons against the city’s oppressors. She eventually finds an unlikely ally in a taxi driver, who ultimately gets recruited into the DedSec quest. The new short promoting the game leverages Mielgo’s dazzling visual sensibility, but applies it to a sinister world even darker than that of "Spiderverse."
Along with the wild imagery, a voiceover recites a soliloquy inspired by Martin Niemöller’s famous poem, “First they came ...” The tagline reads, “Reclaim your future.”
To accompany the film, Ubisoft also released a fascinating behind-the-scenes video in which Mielgo breaks down his process on directing the trailer, including character development, design, visual and fashion inspiration, music, storyboarding and more.
The film will be running for a month on TV, social and cinema from July to August and will also work alongside Ubisoft’s Forward online gaming event ahead of the game’s official launch on October 29.
The new work drops just as Ubisoft reported a record quarter while it also grapples with turmoil in its ranks, sparked by allegations of executives' racist behavior and sexual harassment of other employees.