The opening ceremonies are a highlight of every year's League of Legends World Championship. Developer Riot has had the opportunity to put on a live show before the big game. This has included everything from holographic musical performances, to an appearance by an augmented reality Kpop group. However, in 2021 things changed.
Riot opted to use a series of pre-produced music videos instead. These featured huge sets from real life, interspersed with scenes from the Arcane animated series. Although it wasn't a live performance, it was impressive. This is what feature films are all about, and what Marvel does. Matt Kauth, head production at London Alley Entertainment, worked with Riot to create the piece.
The short film, which was 13 minutes long, combined animation, music videos and physical sets. It premiered just before the Worlds championship match. The film featured performances by Imagine Dragons and Bea, as well as animated vignettes by Arcane. It premiered on Netflix tonight. Although the idea of mixing live-action with CG is not new, the Worlds event works well because of the large-scale real-world sets that were created to look like Zaun or Piltover from League. These two cities are prominently featured in the Netflix series.
These sets are probably the largest we've ever done and it isn't even close," says Kauth, whose studio worked on music videos for The Weeknd and Lil Nas X. This entire piece was shot in three days in Los Angeles, and three in Birmingham, UK. It's also one of the busiest pieces in the current production landscape. We are coming from the other side, and also because of all the streaming. Crews are hard to find and it's never been busier. On the LA shoot, construction workers were literally being taken off to other TV shows. To meet the deadline, we were adding crew members each day.
The plan included music videos. Riot initially hoped to include a live element. This changed when Riot was forced to relocate the event from Shenzhen in China to Reykjavk in Iceland because of covid concerns. Nick Troop, Riot's executive producer, said that we had always planned for this integration of music videos as well as more cinematic performances. These videos were planned even when Worlds was still in Shenzhen. This was the plan. This was part of the magic of the stadium shows.
This contrasts with past Worlds where mixed reality was on full display and new technologies were displayed. The choice was made partly because it was practical. The physical sets were easier to produce because they took less time. For example, if the videos were shot on a green screen it would have taken longer because the artists would have to create the backgrounds from scratch. Kauth explains that our goal was to capture as much footage in-camera, so that the VFX teams had enough material to work with. (Five different studios and 230 workers worked together to wrap the post-production effects.
Riot also chose the IRL sets because Riot believed it would make the opening ceremonies stand out from all the other virtual performances taking place, especially during the pandemic. It was also cool. Troop says that you can feel the realness of it. League of Legends allows you to live in a rendered world. This is just one of the few opportunities you have to bring it to life.
Large-scale productions like Marvel's use large sets and multiple effects partners. Kauth said that this is rare for smaller projects. He says it helped to make the opening ceremonies look spectacular. It also made it more sustainable, which allowed teams to avoid financial crunch. He explains that it was a film-and-TV approach to meet the deadline without burning any company to the ground.
The 2021 ceremony was impressive, but there is something missing without an actual audience. Without the sound of a crowd in a stadium, it is difficult for the team of judges to determine if viewers are interested. They will be searching elsewhere this year for the initial rush of feedback in place of it. Troop says that I'm curious. I'll be watching Twitch and Twitter chat.
