“Epic Night Out,” the splashy new 90-second Call of Duty: Ghosts spot from 72andSunny for Activision, is indeed epic, and easily riffs on the four-guys-who-have-fun-in-danger motif made popular by The Hangover. There are a few celebrity cameos, a crumbling Las Vegas set, and classic music, Sinatra’s “Live Until I Die.” Very epic. But no baby, though. Instead, the four heroes and their dog travel from desert wasteland, to cityscape, to outer space, and then to a frozen tundra. With the music and quick editing, it’s hard to pay attention to anything else.
I’m all for first-person shooters, and I don’t think they are ruining kids. If this spot were for the U.S. Armed Forces, that would be different. But, it’s worth pointing out that guns, explosions, apocalyptic Vegas, Frank Sinatra, and Megan Fox is way past the boiling point of glorying violence for a TV spot. That’s sensory overload for all of the juiced up gamer-guys who are going to sit in the basements and pretend not to pee in empty soda bottles. It’s also brilliant misdirection. And if not for the Grand Theft Auto V ads, this would be the best video game spot I’ve ever seen. Credits after the jump.
CEO: Eric Hirshberg
EVP, Chief Marketing Officer: Tim Ellis
SVP, Consumer Marketing: Todd Harvey
Sr. Director, Consumer Marketing: Matt Small
Director, Consumer Marketing: Carolyn Wang
Consumer Marketing Manager: Karen Starr
Associate Consumer Marketing Manager: Andrew Drake
Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Executive Creative Director: Frank Hahn
Creative Director, Writer: Josh Fell
Creative Director, Designer: Rey Andrade
Lead Writer: Jed Cohen
Lead Designer: Jeremy Wirth
Writer: Matt Spicer
Designer: Will Lindberg
Jr. Designer – Drew Vaughn
Lead Strategist – John Graham
Chief Production Officer: Tom Dunlap
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Producer: Dan Ruth
Senior Producer: Eric Rasco
Director of Business Affairs: Christine Claussen
Business Affairs manager: Jennifer Jahinian
Group Brand Director: Mike Parseghian
Brand Director: Luke Lamson
Brand Manager: John Moloney
Brand Coordinator: Justin Gonzaga
Production Company: Aero Film
Director: James Mangold
DP: Kramer Morgenthau
Executive Producer: Lance O’Connor
Line Producer: Mary Church
Editorial: Union Editorial
Editor: Jono Griffith
Jr. Editor: Jason Lucas
Executive Producer/President: Michael Raimondi
Senior Producer: Joe Ross
Visual Effects: The Mill Los Angeles
Exec Producer Sue Troyan
Producer Leighton Greer
Coordinator Antonio Hardy
Creative Director Robert Sethi
2D Lead Artists Chris Knight / Daniel Thuresson
3D Lead Artists Felix Urquiza – Assets / Chris Bayol – Lighting / Jacob
Bergman – Animation / Ashraf Ghoniem – FX / Thom
Price – Matte Painting
Colourist Adam Scott
Mix: Lime Audio post
Mixer: Rohan Young
Assistant: Jeff Malen
Sound Design: The Formosa Group
Supervising Sound Designer: Per Hallberg