Following the success of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Crimson Vow is our second gothic cinematic instalment for Wizards of the Coast directed by Jon Yeo. With deception at its core, the ceremonial cinematic follows two unfortunate souls as their apparent wedding day becomes a sacrificial bloodbath, set for a secret society of ravenous vampires. 

Creating an atmosphere that reflects the new card deck was key to the cinematic, which manages to exude elegance and opulence through crafted design and CG.  The team focussed on facial performance to provide a sense of intimacy that creeps into suffocation, as well character animation and FX. An intricate level of detail was employed including the queen’s Spirit Veil, a smoky veil of lost souls of her victims. This is such a complex part of the cinematic that every department is involved in its creation - it is a character in itself.

Overall Crimson Vow is a hugely nuanced piece: performance, camera language, lighting and visual clues all feed into building the mood in the final trailer.