A new trailer for the Activision record-setting game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, has the look and feel of a blockbuster movie with spectacular action, an all-star cast and a big screen soundtrack created by two-time Academy Award-winner and Soundelux Supervising Sound Editor, Per Hallberg.
Press Release by CSS Studios
HOLLYWOOD—A new trailer for the Activision record-setting game, Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3, has the look and feel of a blockbuster movie with spectacular action, an all-star cast and a big screen soundtrack created by two-time Academy Award-winner and Soundelux Supervising Sound Editor, Per Hallberg.
Conceived by Los Angeles advertising agency, 72andSunny, and directed by Peter Berg, the live action trailer (whose web version runs 90 seconds) casts Sam Worthington as “The Vet” and Jonah Hill as “The N00b” in an urban combat scenario. As they fight their way through burned out versions of New York, Berlin and Paris, Worthington schools Hill in battlefield technique—and the latter responds with gusto. The trailer has caused a sensation among gamers, attracting nearly 21 million hits on YouTube.
Hallberg was brought into the project to do what he has done for films such as Bourne Ultimatum, Green Lantern, G.I. Joe and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. “It looks like a movie and it needed to sound like a movie,” Hallberg recalls. “It has an intensity and sense of reality that goes far beyond other trailers of its kind.”
Hallberg assembled a team of editors, sound designers and Foley artists, who helped him in building a bed of sound elements that is richly detailed and authentic. All of the weapon sounds, for example, are accurate for the guns and artillery pieces seen in the trailer.
“We approached it just like a feature film,” Hallberg recalls. “We cleaned up the production dialogue, we shot Foley with cut backgrounds and we cut sound effects and sound design.” Foley elements were created by Todd-AO’s Gary Hecker, whose credits include Unstoppable, Spider-Man 3 and The Hunger Games.
Getting all of the hyper-kinetic sound elements to work within the trailer’s relatively short time-span was a challenge for Hallberg. “A lot happens in a short time,” he says. “You have to tell the story, create a high level of intensity and make it work with the dialogue and music—but that’s one reason we were attracted to the project. It was fun and invigorating.
Hallberg noted that he enjoyed the opportunity to work in a new medium with a different aesthetic and a different creative process. “It was a big plus to work with a group of people with whom we normally don’t work,” he says. “That made it a very satisfying experience.”
About CSS STUDIOS, LLC
Hollywood, California-based CSS Studios® is a wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the world’s number one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 180 countries. CSS Studios provides creative post production sound services to major motion picture studios, independent producers, broadcast networks, cable channels, advertising agencies and interactive producers. The services of CSS Studios are marketed under the brand names Todd-AO®, Sound One, Soundelux®, POP Sound®, Modern Music, Soundelux Design Music Group and The Hollywood Edge, with facilities in Los Angeles and New York. With more than 50 years of experience in providing creative sound services and technical solutions, the companies, collectively, have garnered more than 50 Academy Award nominations and won 26 Academy Awards®.
