Ben Campbell Leads a Globe Spanning Edit for EA SPORTS’ ‘Match Day’
‘Match Day’, the official launch trailer for EA SPORTS FIFA 23, is the ultimate love letter to football. It features iconic players - both past and present - international locations, and, of course, swarms of fans. It’s quite a challenge to make something so sprawling and ambitious seem so true to life and authentic, but, directing duo Jungle (from Blink Productions) wanted “to approach it differently to create something more real, raw, and immersive” in comparison to other football spots that preceded it.
“This was a behemoth right from the word go,” says Ben Campbell, lead editor on the project. “Multiple shoot dates in multiple countries, with footage coming in dribs and drabs from Paris, Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester and London. Two editors in London, and an editor in LA to watch over on LA time, and the agency is based in Portland of course.” That’s a lot of moving parts, but every part is necessary in a project as labyrinthine as this.
Ben also notes that his second baby was due just a week before he was to start overseeing ‘Match Day’. “Not much pressure then,” he says.
Editor Sam Jones was also heavily involved in the production and editing process, spending time on location in Madrid to work on the film, giving Ben the opportunity to spend time at home in London. Sam was grateful to be able to chat to Jungle in person during the shoot, “This gave me some foundation to begin the edits and I was able to feed back to Ben on the discussions we had, so we were both up to date.” For Sam and assistant editor Lawrence Lakshmanan, the film actually ended up overlapping with the real world, “While we were cutting in the Madrid hotel we watched the Lionesses’ Euro victory, then barely a week later we were selecting the rushes featuring winning goal scorer Chloe Kelly,” a testament to how on the pulse the concept actually is.
In a fairly unique situation, three shorter cuts of the trailer were required before the final long cut was due - according to Sam, “The process of crafting the 30 second edits needed to be handled carefully, with an eye to the longform edit that Ben was creating, but they also had to be their own films.” Usually these would be cut-downs from the final piece, making it a “bit of a head f**k” for Ben and Sam, but as Ben continues “they managed it smoothly, thanks in part to the confidence in our shared history, and trust in each other’s skills and processes.”
Despite the majority of the visuals being live action, the folks at EA SPORTS, quite rightly, looked to show off their state of the art gameplay, which led Ben to find aspects of the edit similar to cutting animation: “There were some elements you had to imagine were there. It was a constant back and forth with using temporary game and live footage to coax out the great stuff from the game.”
The music in the spot is ‘Burning’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which was actually a suggestion that came from the team at EA SPORTS. Ben remarks that they went through a lot of options, “from dark and filmic to more fun/pop, to hip hop, soundtracks and many composed and augmented tracks”, but ultimately landed on ‘Burning’ - “Sam Ashwell at 750mph had the stems for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs track, so he worked some magic to bring the build up back in line with the structure we’d built in the offline.” When watching the spot, it’s clear that the right choice was made - the song has a plethora of dynamic highs and lows, making it perfect for the spot’s rising atmosphere, which ultimately ends in a euphoric crescendo that’s felt worldwide.
Of course, even the thought of preparing for such a large shoot must be migraine-inducing, but the folks over at Blink proved utterly invaluable. With producer Corin Taylor, and executive producers Paul Weston and Patrick Craig at the helm, the management of international locales, different time zones, and a bevy of talent on both sides of the camera (and the Atlantic) was absolutely flawless.
Alongside EA SPORTS internal creative and production teams, a through-line throughout the whole process was teamwork and collaboration – with the creative ideator Wieden+Kennedy being based in Portland, the project was run through The Quarry’s stateside collaborators at Cut+Run, Brian Mulvey produced the editorial process along with further editing from Moss Eletreby who cut from Cut+Run’s LA office, seeing the US and UK teams inextricably entwined throughout the project.
Aside from working with his team of trusted editors, this was Ben’s first time working with Jungle, whom he got to meet face to face for the first time in London before they had to fly back out to Rio, (continuing communication remotely in order to shape the long cut of the spot). Regarding working with Ben, Jungle said that "The process of editing was superb. Ben was fantastic and worked as a real partner- defending the creative qualities of the piece and always considering our vision - even if we were not present. This is an excellent quality for a director - especially in the American process - where it is essential to have someone with that eye to add creatively and absorb the information from all the different parts, acting as an idea catalyser - to create a cohesive piece."
‘Match Day’ marks the second collaboration between Ben and creative director Sara Phillips at Wieden+Kennedy, whose team, including producers Danielle Magee and Chloe Jarnac, and creative Jason Scott, stayed in London for the edit, “camping out in our rooms and offering all the help, support and good humour possible.” The team remained in contact with creative Nate Nowinowski, who remained state-side for the process, making for a collaborative atmosphere, quite essential for a spot about community, celebration, and support. Sara has nothing but praise for Ben’s process - “The edits have a visceral grit that takes you on an emotional journey through the piece. You emote all the feelings watching the work, falling in love with the characters and excited for each story beat. The first edit of ‘Match Day’ gave me actual chills. There's so much craft and care built into each edit and the intention can be felt throughout.” Despite the hard work that clearly went into ‘Match Day’, that didn’t stop the editing process being enjoyable, with Sara adding “I leave every edit day with Ben with my stomach sore from laughing. He's the best.”
Accounting for different aspect ratios, over 70 final cuts were delivered for ‘Match Day’, cementing the hard work put into the project by a globe-spanning network of editors that communicated flawlessly through busy shoots, opposing time-zones, football finals, and a two month production from first cut to final edit.
On the face of it, and even in the details, such an ambitious project might seem intimidating, but in Ben’s words: “With friends and collaborators of this calibre; Jungle, W+K, EA SPORTS and my edit team, it’s no wonder it was a total blast!”
You can find Ben Campbell’s reel here
You can find Sam Jones’ reel here
