By now, I’m sure you’ve caught the God of War: Ascension “From Ashes” live action trailer we debuted last Friday, and if you haven’t, you need to go watch it right now! You may have even caught the 60-second version air during the online live stream of the Super Bowl this past Sunday.
This trailer has been a labor of love for all of us here, and based on the comments and feedback on YouTube and elsewhere, all of the effort was well worth it. I’m very excited to share with you a couple of behind-the-scenes videos that show a glimpse of what went into bringing the world of Kratos to life.
Kratos is not an easy man to replicate in the flesh. This first video shows how we transformed our talented, and extremely buff, actor Brandon White, into the legendary Spartan General. A lot of work went into making sure his tattoo, armor, costume and ash make-up looked just right. Add this to an amazing performance, and the Ghost of Sparta is no longer just an angry, rage filled monster, but a full embodiment of the humanity of Kratos.
This second video shows how we transformed 10 men into the massive army you see in the trailer — special attention went into making sure their armor was as realistic and accurate as possible.
I hope you enjoy this inside look. We have another deeper look at the making of the “From Ashes” trailer, including interviews with Game Director Todd Papy and more, coming later this month, so watch this space for more.
Stay tuned here on PS.Blog, and on the God of War Facebook page to stay up to date with the latest news, updates and trailers coming for God of War: Ascension as we get closer to March 12th, when you’ll finally get to take home the latest installment of God of War. I hope you have your standard or Collector’s Edition pre-ordered already, because this game is going to be epic.
My most anticipated ps3 title this year!!! i’m getting Ascension, Beyond Two Souls, Puppeteer, Until Dawn. I really think Santa Monica should take a break from the franchise and bring a new IP on the ps4, an action/adventure/platformer/rpg would be great lol.
I have to agree with the Beyond crew saying people who don’t know God of War will not be sold on this trailer. Same with PS All-stars. Yes live action is great…for fans. But to those who don’t know how the game looks like and how it plays, then this live-action ads are useless unless mixed in with in-game footage.
oh and God of War vita must happen, hopefully sony stop mistreating the system and announce new games on their “see the future” event and please stop with the third party awful developers like Nihilistic, Tin Midget bring Sanzaru, Bend, Tarsier and other capable developers into the mix.
Man, thank for showing us this trailers. Very talented people worked for this Live-action trailer. Personally I liked all the careful details. I loved the trailer!
I think it looks awesome! really excited to finally play it :D just got the platinum for the original GoW now I gotta buckle down and get the rest.
I’ve watched that ad like 100 times. And love these making of videos. Any more coming? :)
I love it :-D
How long did it take to put all that makeup on Brandon? With such detail, must’ve taken forever! It was well worth it though, excellent job!
=)
It still amazes me how all the different people and talents mesh together to create a final vision. From movies to games to even commercials. So much work for a few minutes of awesomeness.
Great job Quantum Creation FX and everyone involved! You exceeded expectations in bringing Kratos to life.
Great insight into the making of the commercial…. Any news on whether or not there will be a single player demo (other than the one that came with Total Recall) coming before the game is released?
@2
I can’t say I fully agree, although I understand what you are saying.
I’ve worked in marketing for 15 years, and this ad was about generating hype. There aren’t many things much more important, when leading up to an event like this, then generating huge hype.
A title like God of War is directed towards a very specific audience. It’s not like a Mario game, which can cross numerous age brackets and generation.
If you’re a gamer who’s been gaming for quite a while, then you pretty much know who Kratos is. That doesn’t mean you’ve ever played a God of War game, but you know of the franchise. And this ad was meant to get the fans hyped up… but also to draw in those who haven’t played the franchise yet, or never owned n PS3… hence the red PS3 bundle.
I’ve been seeing many comments on the YouTube vid saying,”That’s it. I’m getting a PS3.” Or gamers stressing interest in the series now simply because of the emotion portrayed in the piece.
Believe me…my wife loathes Kratos…but even she got a little choked up when she watched this and wants to watch me play through it. If this ad can actually get my wife to sit down and view the game… then something was done right. Very right :)
@ D_R_O_Z
There will be a new single player demo different from the Total Recall one later in February. I think you get early access to the demo for taking part in that Way of the Warrior online game, and then it will be available to everyone shortly after.
https://blog.playstation.com/2013/01/19/god-of-war-ascension-single-player-demo-in-february-collectors-edition-revealed/
@2 The Beyond Crew never said that about this commercial. Colin himself said that this GOW commercial is “Great and deserves to be on TV” . This trailer is far more relatable, emotional and powerful than the PS AllStars Ad by miles and leaps. Anyone who saw this on tv would instantly feel sympathy for this Ash-White Warrior who has memories of a lost daughter. This commercial is such a DIRECT representation of the GOW world and character that it doesn’t matter in this case if INGAME- Footage isn’t shown, because this trailer is THAT EFFECTIVE. (Also Halo 4 Live Action Trailer helped that game to sell millions so you’re argument is moot)
@10 Sony Santa Monica confirmed that there will be a Single Player Demo before release, more info coming this month.
This is a fantastic ad, I wish they put that level of details into Kratos for the PS All-stars commerials, I thought the representation of that character was poor in those ads.
Great job to the team that did this. Fans are indeed pleased.
awesome work god of war team.
okay I am a little disappointed on the second video. In the description it says that they will show how they took 10 men and made them into a massive army? I didn’t get to see how they did that? They just talk about the armor and clothing. That doesn’t really explain how the 10 turn into an massive army? And what is up with only two minutes? Really? I think they need to reedit the video and add the content that explains how the 10 men turn into a massive Army.
I’m guessing you guys canned 3d support because I haven’t heard it mentioned in a while…hope you guys change your mind on that because it would be a day one for me.
Glad we got some insight into the video.
@tomatodragon if this was for hype then yes it was worth the marketing budget, sucks that they couldn’t have ad space on the actual Super Bowl on TV, but if it was to garner new fans then no.
@pabloo1010 go ahead and listen to this weeks again if you haven’t already, where the heck would I even get that then? really you’re going to compare this to Halo4 live-action where Master Chief was killing and blowing enemies to pieces? where as you just see a guy remembering his dead family then him kneeling down? ha. if Sony created this for fans alone then man that was good! but for selling buckloads of copies then nope.
@19 I repeat. The Beyond Crew never said that about this GOW commercial. They were criticising the PS All Stars and COV Vita Commercials. This GOW commercial was only mentioned briefly when Greg asked Colin what he thought of the GOW commercial and Colin said it was “Great”. All Colin said about this was it should be on tv.
Also the entire purpose of this commercial was to portray the Human Side of Kratos, and it was accomplished in a very tasteful manner without using any ‘Violence’ or ‘Blood’. This commercial challenges the idea that Violent Commercials are necessary to sell games. It’s GOW, it will sell more than bucket loads.
Very cool.
Is the god of war theme dualshock controller coming to the US? PLEASE BRING IT
Im waiting for sony to bring Kratos to the big screen.And maybe vin diesle can play him.
Wow, I just can’t wait for the game release.Those trailers are amazing, great project now give me a full lenght movie.
Great job team :) can’t wait to dive head first into god of war ascension
Cool. o;
awesome!!! cant wait to buy this cool game =D
Kratos is a Greek mythology fanfic Mary Sue and his popularity is a sad commentary on the intellectual void America’s public school systems are creating of the nation’s youth.