Worlds 2020 / League of Legends

2020 is the 10th anniversary of League of Legends esports and we couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this historic moment. To mark the event we teamed up with Riot Games to create a dynamic music video that celebrates the rich history of esports with one eye firmly on its future.

/ Behind the line

Director
Sam Taylor Tim McCourt
Client
Riot Games

3:46

THE LINE © MMXXIV

Play

/ OVERVIEW

Our film tells the story of two young players, who travel to a fantasy realm to battle a series of iconic tournament winners from years gone by. With each consecutive battle our players learn and grow, as they realise that they themselves can become the pros of the future. The video weaves together snappy hand-drawn animation, with rich, immersive environments and 3D camerawork, to create a tightly-choreographed cinematic action spectacle.

/ MODELSHEETS

Character Design

We are suckers for Sakuga-style 2D action animation, and the team at Riot gave us an epic canvas to play with. Our talented team of animation maniacs wheeled out all the tricks in the book, using animated backgrounds and swoopy impossible camera movements that spin the viewer in and out of the action. Flash frames, speed lines, and graphic patterns all accent the movement at key points, building to a thunderous crescendo with each new battle.

Immersive atmospheres are the holy grail of good art direction. Story and character aside, atmosphere is often what stays with you long after a film is over. With this video we wanted viewers to feel the sunrise on their face as our hero clambers over a hilltop, we want them to smell the moisture in the air as he battles an enemy beneath the dense canopy of the birch forest. Our incredibly talented team of painters and concept artists were able to realise this sense of mood and colour in a way that went beyond anything we’d imagined.

/ ARTDIRECTION

Colour Keys

/ BGPAINT

Background Paint

/ Behind the curtain

The Crew

● Production / The Line in collaboration with Riot Games ● Director / Tim McCourt / Sam Taylor ● Art Director / Antoine Perez ● Executive Producer / James Duveen ● Producer / Hanae Seida ● Production Managers / Samia Ahmed / Lisa A. Smith / Isobel Stenhouse ● Designer / Jonathan Djob Nkondo ● Storyboards / Louis Kynd / Alexis Mercille-Perrault (Picompo) / Lou Victor Karnas (Picompo) / Jonathan Djob Nkondo ● Edit / Peter Baynton / John Holloway / Sam Taylor ● Concept Artist / Bjorn-Erik Aschim / Henrik Evensen / Agathe Leroux / Antoine Perez / Mike Shorten / Samuel Smith / Matt Vince ● Character Designs / James Castillo / Damian Fernandez / Vincent Gallut / Amanda Holm / Jess Lackey / Jonathan Djob Nkondo / Ramon Nunez ● Character Design Cleanup / Joanna Boyle ● 3D Layout / Ian Beresford / Antoine Birot / Freddie Lewis-Wall / Alexis Mercille-Perrault (Picompo) / Antoine Perez ● 3D Generalist / Klaas-Harm de Boer ● Background Layout / Antoine Birot / Jonny Hutton / Kévin Roualland / Mike Shorten ● Backgrounds / Daniel Clarke / Lorenzo Lanfranconi / Antoine Perez / Igor Piwowarczyk / Matt Vince ● Character Layout / Amanda Holm / Jonathan Djob Nkondo ● Animation / Mehdi Aouichaoui / Jeremie Becquer / Ludivine Berthouloux / Giovani Braggio / Simone Cirillo / Amanda Holm / Lou Victor Karnas (Picompo) / Venla Linna / Pierre Rutz / Mourad Elias Seddiki / Jong Ha Yoon ● FX Animation / Matt Timms / Naoki Araiza Tokumasu ● Animation Assist / Paola Costigliola / Jessica Leslau / Elio Lischetti / Francisco Magalhães / Tatiana Mazzei / Alison Oxborrow / Eleonora Quario ● Cleanup & Colour / Amix ● Colour Assist / Daisy Evans / Wayne Maslin / Merlin Voss / Skye van der Walt ● Compositing Lead / Freddie Lewis-Wall ● Compositing / Ian Beresford / Guillaume Cassuto / Vincent E Sousa / Valérie Guichard / Adam Jackson / Victoria Jardine / Elliott Kajdan / Vincent Meunier / Max Taylor ● Compositing Assist / Skye van der Walt ● Graphic Design / Juancho Crespo ● Production Assistant / Cristina Bojesen ● Studio Manager / Sophie Bhutta ● Studio Runner / Laurence Moss ● IT Support / Rob Riley (Gal Consultancy) ● Pipeline Developer / Ian Wootten ● Social Media Manager / Roxana Hooti ● Special Thanks / Spencer Sibley