IMAX – Suicide Squad custom countdown trailer

There is something special about producing visual effects and animation projects for the “large screen.” It feels even more extraordinary when it’s for an IMAX screen.

OneNinth Media — an El Segundo, CA based creative agency and production company — was honored to create a customized countdown as a pre-feature trailer for IMAX last year. But, when their rep Maria Elgar called to say that they had been asked to concept and create another countdown, this time for the release of Warner Brothers / DC Comics’ Suicide Squad, the team got really excited!

Given a tight schedule, but a ton of creative latitude and some assets provided by the studios, OneNinth flew into action. With the help of Hectic Digital in San Francisco, the team constructed an entire 3D environment, with multiple sets, and broke free of the traditional linear camera movement to create a rollercoaster feel as the viewer, in first person POV, breaks out of the Arkham Asylum and into the city.

For the tech-geeks out there, this new countdown features nearly nine million polygons and literally thousands of texture maps — over 20 times that of any previous countdown. Add on top of that the most diverse color palette, and fully modified fonts and numbers to match the Suicide Squad marketing campaign, and you get some pretty gnarly render times. Bring all the visuals together and crank it up a notch with the sonic stylings of Jay Nierenberg, of Sublime Sound, and you have something epic!

As OneNinth executive producer Jason Haffley commented, “We believe that this is one of the best IMAX trailers to date, and we hope the audiences love it.”