WoW Mountain Dew ad was directed by Tarsem Singh
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 30th 2009 at 7:00PM
A number of sites have done a post-mortem on the Mountain Dew WoW Game Fuel ad (featuring two ladies battling it out through their WoW characters in a live-action supermarket), and they've uncovered a really interesting fact: the ad was actually directed by Indian director Tarsem Singh, one of my favorites -- he not only did the visually stunning sci-fi/horror flick The Cell a few years ago, but more recently made The Fall, which is an very well-done kind of mirror-life fairy tale. He's directed a number of commercials before, including some for Nike and Levi's, and teamed up with a company called Zoic Studios (they've done a few other spots for video games already) for this WoW commercial.The original CGI models for the ad did come from Blizzard (I'd guess that they're the original models from the WoW CGI trailer), though they were spruced up quite a bit by Zoic to add facial expressions and dynamic costumes and hair. They were then connected to motion captures from stunt artists (which were probably also tweaked to seem a little more than human, and then composited all together in the supermarket scene.
Very cool stuff. This isn't the first time WoW characters have been used to sell soda, but hopefully we'll see more fun sequences like this come out of the deals between Blizzard and their partners.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, NPCs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Crescent Jun 30th 2009 7:04PM
I personally thought the ad was uninspired and juvenile. I still can not decide who it was aimed at outside of people who already play WoW already.
kozom Jun 30th 2009 7:30PM
I would have much preferred something to do with the Blood of Mannoroth for orcs and the Great Sundering for the night elves. (red and blue I thought would represent those in the beginning, not a catfight.)
sooper Jun 30th 2009 10:19PM
If you had an audience of 11.5 million people that would recognize your product immediately on it's first commercial run, it wouldn't be wise to make its scope much larger imo. Given the places where the ad will be run, the audience numbers are significantly less until you bring the internet into play.
In either case, the feedback from this video will be exactly what they need to "test the waters". I expect better details and effort in the future. See, now they know that we're watching even if we don't care for it. The odds of us watching the next are incredibly high. Our curiosity concerning how this all might pan out leaves them open to make a an incredible impact.
If they don't follow up with a solid production within the first few videos then I can see this fading out by the end of the fall.
In other news, I had the blue one and it's pretty good. I'm not a big mountain due fan but it's alright. The 'Fuel' part of it is misleading. It's just blue Mtn Dew with a chick on the front. There's nothing really 'energizing' about it. They're going to have a hard time topping my gamer drink of choice: RUM. It's not energizing either but it at least makes things interesting.
Artificial Jun 30th 2009 10:33PM
"I still can not decide who it was aimed at outside of people who already play WoW already."
lolwut?
It's a commercial for soda, not a commercial for WoW. It's aimed precisely at people who play WoW, trying to sell them soda. Where is the mystery here?
Mailia Jun 30th 2009 7:06PM
I don't really care who directed it, as it was still quite cheesy and.. Well, bad.
SixTwoSixFour Jun 30th 2009 7:48PM
See, MY idea for a Game Fuel ad is far superior. Basically, it opens with a supermarket, or something like that, and a guy is buying a bunch of Horde Cherry. Cashier asks him for money, and he realizes in a panic he's a little short on money- an embarrassing moment that's happened to us all from time to time. Another guy, nearby, stops, and flicks something through the air. The guy buying the soda catches it, looks down- it's a quarter, or a dollar coin, or something like that. And he looks up at the other guy, who gives him a solemn nod, says, "Lok'tar ogar," then walks off.
Alliance would have a separate, similar ad- not sure of exactly how it would vary. We'll get to that when MD gives me a contract, eh?
Rylka Jun 30th 2009 8:11PM
@6264 Nice idea. I like yours. Great for those who already play and a teaser for those who don't play yet about the potential for making bonds and friends with other players they can find by joining the game.
Lemons Jul 1st 2009 1:42AM
"Lok'tar ogar"? Nah it should either be "Lok'tar my brother" or just a good ol' "for the Horde."
Komorado Jun 30th 2009 7:08PM
That ad made me cringe...its terrible.Go see the halo 3 ads if you want to real effort.
Eraj Jun 30th 2009 7:20PM
I agree, terrible ad.
papermoonshine Jun 30th 2009 7:22PM
Coming from someone who's VERY pessimistic about anything Blizzard does to their game, I really don't see what the big problem everyone has with the Mountain Dew ads are.
Pudie Jun 30th 2009 7:22PM
Who knew such a talented director could make such a horrible commerical?
Fausts Jun 30th 2009 10:45PM
He must have been really busy and gave the job to his least busiest intern.
snifit Jun 30th 2009 7:50PM
Testing. This is just a test.
kdeselms Jun 30th 2009 7:56PM
The commercial is rivaled in its stupidity by Mountain Dew renaming their product "MTN Dew." Because abbreviations are COOL, man! WTF...MTN...LOL.
Amaxe Jun 30th 2009 8:27PM
I first saw that "MTN Dew" when I was working in a WalMart to pay the bills when I got laid off for the holidays. My first thought was it was a generic brand trying to rip them off
cd Jun 30th 2009 8:00PM
Man you guys complain too much , look im an avid WoW player at 32 and thoroughly enjoyed the commercial i felt like it was talking to me, it IS speaking to people already playing wow how is that not obvious its trying to get us wow players to drink mnt dew, not get new people to play wow. (swoosh over you head i guess) everything doesn't have to be a cinematic award winner sometimes its just the 'omg that was cool' aspect and that is not always to visual effect but to sensibilities.
Im no blizz lover for some of the things they have been doing to the game but come on, take it for what it is and that nothing more than a soda pushing add placed in a mainstream venue directed at people like us. 5stars.
Northstar Jun 30th 2009 8:01PM
I also thought the commercial was terrible, and it was very embarrassing for Blizzard in mu opinion.
Considering the production value of the Chinese Coke-a-Cola wow commercial, this was awful.
Shame.
Fausts Jun 30th 2009 11:00PM
Here the link to that commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOSrapbPrzU
To be fair, the coca-cola commercial was much more elaborate in splicing it's CGI/live action because the faces of the actors were used though the entire sequence. So it would really be hard for this commercial to capture the same awe the coke one did.
The CGI fight was sill pretty good. It is a shame the creator could not have put a little more effort putting together a decent first 12 seconds of live action. Pretty surprising it got past the test showing.
Fausts Jun 30th 2009 11:02PM
Here the link to that commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOSrapbPrzU
To be fair, the coca-cola commercial was much more elaborate in splicing it's CGI/live action because the faces of the actors were used though the entire sequence. So it would really be hard for this commercial to capture the same awe the coke one did.
The CGI fight was sill pretty good. It is a shame the creator could not have put a little more effort putting together a decent first 12 seconds of live action. Pretty surprising it got past the test showing.