Gamesugar

One of the more interesting bits to come out of Call of Duty XP this weekend was Operation Kingfish, the successor to the fan film Find Makarov from earlier this year.

Operation Kingfish is something of a success story; after many mistook Find Makarov for a part of Activision’s MW3 marketing campaign, the publisher hunted down the men and women behind it—but not to shut them down. Instead, they wanted to put the team to work crafting a sequel.

It turns out members of The Junction VFX, the visual effects team behind the films (based right here in Toronto, no less), were on the plane to LA with me—though they couldn’t say as much at that time. In fact, the actor portraying Soap was right across the aisle from my seat. Side note: he is large.

After the short screened, I met up with them again, and the group gave me a sense of the work that went into making this project a reality, on what was roughly a two month schedule.

Virtually every shot in the six-and-a-half minute film is a visual effects shot, from backgrounds right down to the spent shell casings flying through the air—and the fruits of The Junction’s labor is easy to spot.

Operation Kingfish is characterized by an impressive level of fidelity capturing the visual style and atmosphere of the Modern Warfare games, with the iconic AC-130 seemingly ripped directly from the games, alongside stealth moments, tactical entries, and even a large scale battle that does the series proud.

With shorts like these becoming an increasingly common component in the videogame marketing scene, and Activision’s Elite subscription service including exclusive video content in the form of Elite TV, one wonders if the team behind Operation Kingfish will have further opportunities to work with the franchise.