Warframe promotional stunt brings a video game gun to the real streets of New York

To promote the free-to-play console game <a href="https://www.warframe.com/game">Warframe</a>, director Michael Krivicka brought a little taste of video game mayhem to New York City. In the video above, you can see bystanders asked to pose for photos with a model of the Opticor, an elaborate gun from the game. They’re warned not to pull the trigger — but what they don’t know is that a nearby police car and mailbox have been rigged to explode. That’s exactly what happens on-camera, leading to shock and embarrassment from participants and bystanders. I spoke Krivicka earlier this week to learn more about how the video was staged. He explained that the props, created by custom design and fabrication firm <a href="http://www.a2zfx.com">A2ZFX</a>, were all synchronized, with a remote control that could set off the gun, car and mailbox at the same time. The exploding effects use compressed air, with a small team taking about 15 minutes to reset everything between each take — which also provided the time needed for bystanders to move on, so that there’s always a fresh set of eyes who have “no idea what’s going to happen.” <div id="attachment_1852912" style="width: 690px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img alt="Director Michael Krivicka, Producer Chris Yoon" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1852912" class="size-large wp-image-1852912" height="454" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Director_Producer.jpg?w=680" srcset="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Director_Producer.jpg 1024w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Director_Producer.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Director_Producer.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Director_Producer.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Director_Producer.jpg?resize=680,454 680w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Director_Producer.jpg?resize=50,33 50w" title="Director Michael Krivicka, Producer Chris Yoon" width="680" /> Director Michael Krivicka, Producer Chris Yoon </div> He also noted that this was a “very controlled environment,” with New York City police officers off-camera: “I suggest through editing that it was a lot more rogue than it really is.” Although this is Krivicka’s first game-related video, he’s made a number of other viral marketing videos in the past, including ones where <a href="https://vimeo.com/202789336">the spooky girl from the “Ring” movies actually crawls out of a TV</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2055906981289703">a “Cobra Kai” video where casual karate moves can split motorcycles in half</a>. The common goal, he said, is to “always bring the sci-fi to life in the real world.” This is also the first major video produced by Krivicka’s new agency <a href="https://whoisthebaldguy.com">WhoIsTheBaldGuy</a>, but he said his aims haven’t changed: “I want to really create things where people are going, ‘Oh my God, what the fuck!’ I just want to go bigger and bolder. That’s the stuff that performs really well online.” <div class="embed breakout"> <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="2alQuasPhk"> <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/22/what-not-to-do-in-your-startup-promo-video/">What Not To Do In Your Startup Promo Video</a> </blockquote> <iframe title="“What Not To Do In Your Startup Promo Video” — TechCrunch" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);" src="https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/22/what-not-to-do-in-your-startup-promo-video/embed/#?secret=2alQuasPhk" data-secret="2alQuasPhk" width="800" height="450" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no">