From Script to Screen: Behind the scenes of Sandbox Interactive's 'Coming to Asia' Trailer

Berlin-based Sandbox Interactive joined Stillfront Group in 2020. This month, Sandbox takes its next major step into the global market by launching a second server, Albion East, based in Singapore. To announce the new server, SBI created a live-action trailer called "Coming to Asia", filmed on location in Malaysia.

From Spark to Reality: The Story of Bringing an Idea to Life

We asked Albion's Game Director, Robin Henkys , to describe the production process.

“For our official mobile launch in 2021, we worked with the production company Watchmen to create a big live-action trailer, filmed in numerous locations around Berlin, to get people hyped about the launch. The community's response was overwhelmingly positive, so for the launch of our Asia server, we decided to work with the same company on an all-new trailer. The "Coming to Asia" trailer would take a similar approach – hyping the launch through a funny, somewhat over-the-top mix of characters and settings – but take it to the next level in terms of having a wild mix of characters, cities, situations, and languages, all unified by a love of gaming.”

Can you capture the essence of this experience and share with us?

“Filming was a whirlwind experience, with each day in a totally different setting, and many of them outdoors. Even with the proper location permits, time for shooting was very limited, particularly with the weather changing so frequently. This meant we had to move quickly and communicate effectively across many languages to keep the actors, crew, and other parties up to speed.”

“To keep things moving and make it as comfortable as possible for the actors, we used a semi-improvisational structure, where actors were given notes on their characters and could create their own lines, in order to make them as natural as possible. So in many cases you would have the crew speaking a combination of English, Malay, Indonesian, and other languages, and the actors speaking yet different languages such as Japanese and Cantonese. It could get a bit chaotic on set due to this multilingual process, but the performances it resulted in were great, and feel very natural to watch even if you don't speak the language.”

“The whole process was quite challenging but we're really pleased with the result. Special thanks to fellow Stillfront studios who helped us out with this launch through their valuable advice and insights about the Asian market - in particular Moonfrog Labs and 6waves . We hope you enjoy the trailer as much as we do!”?