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Platige Image Creates ‘Company of Heroes 3 – North Africa’ Trailer

Relic Entertainment taps the creative studio team once again, this time for a cinematic trailer showcasing the latest addition to its popular real-time strategy game, released by Sega; check out the trailer – the game drops in November.

In 2021, Platige Image produced a full CGI trailer for Relic Entertainment’s real-time strategy game Company of Heroes, released by SEGA. Fast forward to the newest franchise addition, Company of Heroes 3 – North Africa; the studio was once again tasked with producing the trailer’s CGI, but this time, it was also responsible for most aspects of the production, from casting and filming to digital VFX work and fully CG scenes.

One of Poland’s leading production studios, Platige Image has broad experience in developing cinematic video game trailers, with the studio’s client roster including many big triple-A video game publishers, including Ubisoft, Activision, Smilegate, and CD Projekt Red.

Set in WWII, the latest installment of the real-time strategy game, Company of Heroes 3 – North Africa, was introduced to players via a four-minute cinematic trailer produced by Platige Image and directed by Tomek Suwalski, winner of the Young Director Award at Cannes. The trailer blends live-action footage with VFX to offer an interpretation of real-life events in the 1940s during the North African campaign.

“The project was truly a unique opportunity for us because we could draw on our core competencies in animation and direction and our broad experience in film production,” explained producer Hanna Drewek. “It ought to be noted that our live-action film was a complex undertaking, unfolding across the realms of traditional cinematography, post-production and VFX, and CGI and animation. Each of these aspects had its own discrete requirements.”

Platige was responsible for pre-production, post-production, storyboarding, previsualization, and casting. In addition, the studio led location scouting and principal photography in collaboration with Tango Production Dubai. Relic handled sound design and music production. Platige received extensive documentation to draft a preliminary list of prospective shooting locations in Dubai - later used to quickly identify appropriate settings for the shots envisioned in the script.

“In the CGI trailer, we showcased a heroic military action, but this time we’re focusing on the civilian aspect of the war,” noted Suwalski. “We witness a Berber Jewish woman getting caught in the crossfire while carrying a gift back to her hometown. Company of Heroes is a strategy war game, yet the brand is exceptionally aware, and talking about the devastating aspects of war is part of the story, especially with what’s happening in the world today.”

Unpredictable desert weather created production challenges. The Platige production team drafted a shortlist to enable the crew to move swiftly and effectively around each location. Filming involved various textbook cinematography techniques, with cameras mounted on Steadicam rigs, drones, cranes, and sand buggies.

“The desert landscapes and the female lead were filmed in a traditional manner, while 3D assets such as the Panzer IV and Churchill tanks, in operational and destroyed versions, were developed by our animation department,” shared Paweł Orzechowski, VFX Supervisor on the project. “Additional digital assets include the Opel Blitz trucks, P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, the notorious German Flak 88 gun, and background assets such as bullets, explosions, smoke, sparks, and dust.”

Drewek added, “It was a great project and a field test for Platige Image’s production and filmmaking capacities. Entrusting us with producing the announcement for a flagship title and then allowing us to pursue the production in such an unconventional manner is a testament to the confidence that SEGA, one of the biggest video game publishers in the world, has in our abilities.”

The live-action trailer dropped on July 12. Company of Heroes 3 is coming in November.

Source: Platige Image

Debbie Diamond Sarto's picture

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.