As soon as the Chinese Room told us that this game was a Scottish “The Thing” set on an oil rig, we knew exactly what trailer we wanted to make for their showcase debut. Moody, confident and foreboding. We worked with their team and decided that an unusually long opener across the ocean was striking enough to captivate an audience and build anticipation. We deliberately weren’t going to show the monster but it was important to us that everything felt eerie to create that fear of the unknown. So, drawing on the style of A24 trailers, we chose a series of shots that left you feeling uncomfortable followed by a few shots of action to leave you wanting more.
For this project, we were working directly in the game's Unreal build so during the pre-production process we discovered they had some cutscene sequences already in a decent state. Taking these and adding lights, cameras and set dressing elements meant that we were able to get a good amount of relatively low-cost cinematics into the trailer.
During pre-production, the game's Creative Director found an eerie track on Youtube sung by a Scottish folk singer. While tracking her down for licensing we found out that she had unfortunately passed on but that her daughter was also a singer. Daan, the game's audio director then commissioned her to recreate her mother's piece for this trailer and the result is the haunting melody you hear drifting over the North Sea.
Global Entertainment Awards 2024