ADVERTISING
I’ve made all kinds of ads for aLL KINDS of products
AT FWS, we focused on games.
You can invent worlds, thrill fans, define trends, and become part of the cultural conversation.
You sell great products that people love.
You don’t get that selling toothpaste.
Below are a few favourites from my time as Executive Creative Director of FWS,
I wrote, directed, and edited most of them; squeezed into long days and nights around other management duties.
But I had a blast doing it - and hopefully you’ll find them as much fun to watch as they were to make.
For more on the above Ads:
RAINBOW SIX SIEGE: LAUNCH TRAILER (Writer, Editor, Director)
LAST OF US: REMASTERED (Writer, Editor, Director)
HITMAN: SEASON FINALE (Writer, Editor, Director)
Watchdogs: Character Trailer (Writer, Editor, Director)
ASSASSINS’S CREED UNITY: CO-OP TRAILER (Writer, Editor, Director)
ASSASSINS’S CREED UNITY: Story TRAILER (Writer, Director)
ASSASSINS’S CREED Syndicate: The Twins TRAILER (Writer, Editor, Director)
ASSASSIN’S CREED ODYSSEY: REVEAL (Writer, Editor, Director)
Assassin’s Creed Origins: Game of Power (Writer, Editor, Director)
EVE VALKYRIE: PSVR LAUNCH (Writer, Director)
EVE VALKYRIE: HTC VIVE LAUNCH (Writer, Director)
Far Cry New Dawn: Teaser (CREATIVE DIRECTOR, WRITER, EDITOR)
The Order 1886: Join Up! (CREATIVE DIRECTOR, PRODUCER)
Steep: E3 Reveal (Writer, Editor, Director)
Just Cause 3: Reveal (Writer, Editor, Director)
The Crew: Calling All Units (Writer, Editor, Director)
Trailers are usually shot in real time, on a virtual set - it is very similar to virtual production - sometimes with the same software..
We light and camera operate, while our actors are puppeteers who play out each action in the virtual world. But unlike a studio volume, our virtual world has AI… and environments sometimes act like a real world set - you might have to wait for the weather to clear. Or the animals to move…
The worlds largest, wildest, wondrous sets are available to conjure grand stories and vast universes.
The audience seeks out these trailers: expectations can be very high. So unlike most ads, you get immediate feedback.
When it works you can see likes, pre-orders and sales tick up in real time… maybe breaking $300m in the first week.
When it doesn’t work, the internet is brutal.
But we started the agency to work on products that were fun, not products that were easy.
At FWS we helped clients with everything from strategy and key art, to point of sale and video content. Then there was the unique video games needs including constructing esports stadiums, in-game narrative consulting, UX/UI, asset creation and more...
Everyone talks about making great work, but good products and helpful clients make it a lot easier. Video games offer this; and huge creative freedom.
CAMPAIGNS AND MORE
All my work as creative director — from 30 seconds of TV to weird stunts in VR, one-sheets to feature documentaries — is a collaboration between myself, our team and the client, with the purpose of producing the best asset for their needs.
Creative work is never made in isolation. The quality of the output is down to the hard work and long hours of the great people that I have had the good fortune of working with.