We Found Makarov. His Executive Producer, at Least…
By David Bucur | May 23, 2011 | Interviews | No comments | Share
If you’re a fan of Call of Duty or just a fan of video games in general, there’s a very slim chance you missed the short live action movie entitled Find Makarov based on events from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. We contacted David Fradkin from We Can Pretend to get a bit of insight on the purpose of the video, how it all started, how it was made and what the future may hold.
(Disclaimer: Aside from style, all answers are left unedited)
DeltaGamer: To start off, care to introduce yourself to the readers? Who are you and what was your role in the creation of this movie?
David Fradkin: My name’s David, I’m one of the founders of We Can Pretend, a creative collaborative based out of Toronto. I was the producer of the film “Find Makarov”, guiding it to life from development to distribution.
DeltaGamer: Do you play video games? If so, what are your favorites? I’m guessing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are among them. Gaming platform of choice?
David Fradkin: I played through the entire Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game in the span of a week in preparation for the shooting of Find Makarov, since then I haven’t stopped. PS3 is definitely the platform of choice.
The loss of Gaz, as portrayed in Find Makarov.
DeltaGamer: Care to explain what WCP Toronto is, what it does and how it all started?
David Fradkin: We Can Pretend (aka WCP Toronto) is a creative ideation and execution company focusing on online content. The company was founded in March 2010. The day we were moving in we decided to shoot a viral spot for a Doritos contest online, and within 72 hours we had written, shot and edited a minute long commerical that ended up receiving over a million views and winning us the contest.
“It’s the F.N.G., sir”
Since then We Can Pretend has brought to life numerous campaigns integrating video, web, interactive and marketing to execute rewarding and viral advertising strategies for numerous brands.
At this point We Can Pretend is working on some of our own original brands, you’ll have to stay tuned for that.
DeltaGamer: Is WCP affiliated to Activision in any way, given that Find Makarov is labeled as a Modern Warfare 3 live action trailer?
David Fradkin: WCP is not affiliated with Activision, although we all play their games regularly in the office. Activision officially endorsed the Find Makarov film on their Twitter, which was a great boost coming from the original creators. We couldn’t have asked for more.
DeltaGamer: Who had the idea of making this live action short? How did it all start? Are you and the crew fans of Call of Duty or was it an overnight idea, like “Hey let’s make a live action video” and it eventually became CoD-related?
David Fradkin: The idea came after a realization that FPS portrayals in film always seem juxtaposed. We wanted to make a first person film that looked gritty stayed true to the movements. Jeff Chan, our director, had worked with Justin Lovell (the DOP) to come up with a first person camera rig that would as closely as possible mi mic the eye line of the operator.
We decided to choose Call of Duty because we were all fans of the franchise. The COD franchise had marked such a revolutionary change in FPS, and we knew that there was a large audience out there that would love to see moments from the game in live-action.
The Final Countdown…
DeltaGamer: The gaming world went crazy when the countdown timer to Find Makarov’s launch appeared and thought it was a countdown to MW3’s reveal. Whose idea was the countdown? Were you expecting such a great deal of attention?
David Fradkin: From early on we decided we wanted to try something bigger than just release the video online, we wanted to build suspense, and get people really excited about something in a positive way. The countdown timer was an idea we came up with, but we never expected it to get as much attention as it did. We were still putting the finishing touches on the film when the site went up, so in many ways the countdown was just as much a deadline for us as it was for the audience.
DeltaGamer: Did you get the reaction you wanted from the public?
David Fradkin: We couldn’t have asked for a better reaction. It’s difficult recreating such iconic characters and moments, and staying true to such a large audience of the game, so we weren’t sure how people would react. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re really happy that people were as excited about the film as we were.
The death of a beloved character is already a cliché in a Call of Duty game. Task Force 141 operative Simon “Ghost” Riley is no exception.
DeltaGamer: A lot of hard work was put into that trailer, everything is spot-on and the effects are amazing. I especially love the breaching scene. How much time did it take to shoot the whole video and how much time was it in post-production?
David Fradkin: We had such an amazing crew both on production and post that made this film possible. The production happened during the summer over 7 shoot days, with a lot of time that went into finding the perfect locations, actors, and equipment.
The post production happened over the span of a couple of months during the winter with a lot of talented people donating their time and skills towards the project.
DeltaGamer: Where was Find Makarov shot at? The fight scene between Shepherd and Price for example looks like a genuine industrial complex. How much of what we can see, in terms of locations and backdrop is CG?
David Fradkin: The entire film was shot in and around Toronto. The final fight scene for example was located in a decommissioned refinery up in Barrie, about an hour north of the city, and that entire scene is the location, there was no CGI. Composited background were used strictly for scenes that we could not replicate practically. For a better idea of whats practical and what’s VFX we’ll be launching more behind the scenes from the making of Find Makarov.
S.S.D.D.
DeltaGamer: What about the firing range scene, inspired probably from MW2’s “S.S.D.D.” mission? Was that a training course built by your team just for the shooting of Find Makarov?
David Fradkin: That scene was shot at a local paintball arena called CQB Paintball, located in Toronto. The area itself closely resembled the S.S.D.D. location, and the targets were custom built by our production design team based on the game.
DeltaGamer: Did you ever consider making any similar videos based on other video games, such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Medal of Honor or the more recent Homefront?
David Fradkin: Find Makarov was produced to allow us to stretch the limits on production, make an integrated marketing campaign and create a calling card in the genre of gaming. If we were to do a similar project based on another game franchise it would have to fulfill and exceed what we did for Find Makarov, but as of now there are no plans to do a similar project.
…we’re not ruling out the idea of a continuation sometime in the future.
DeltaGamer: Any chance you’ll make another video, a sequel perhaps, maybe even a full-on movie?
David Fradkin: There is a large fan base asking if there is more to the Find Makarov series, and although there is nothing in the plans as of yet, we’re not ruling out the idea of a continuation sometime in the future.
DeltaGamer: Excited for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3?
David Fradkin: Very simply, yes!
DeltaGamer: What are your thoughts about the video game industry, and especially the FPS genre? Do you think FPS games will stay this popular for a long time? Why?
David Fradkin: Games are quickly becoming more narrative forms of entertainment, so I see closer ties between the film and video game industry. I think there’s a lot of innovation still in the way they tell stories, and allow players to build a narrative interactively, so as film makers that’s what really excites us about the future of gaming.
DeltaGamer: I just have to ask this, since it’s an age old question among Call of Duty fans: Ghost or Gaz?
David Fradkin: Ghost for me, although I can’t speak for the rest of the team.
This concludes the interview with David Fradkin, Executive Producer at WCP. Remember to check DeltaGamer to stay up to date more info on the third installment of CoD‘s Modern Warfare series, and maybe another interview with David Fradkin; next time, hopefully, with a new gaming-related video under his belt.
