PLAY IS EVERYWHERE
PlayStation PS5
£2.2M Global Campaign, AV & SOCIAL.
Shot in Mexico City
Role: Lead Senior Producer, accountable for the end-to-end production of the global campaign. Produced AV bran films while leading a production team, directly managing a Junior Producer.
Production Timeline: 7 months, from initial brief and triple bidding through pre-production, production, post-production and final delivery.
Director: Frederic Planchon @ Academy Films
Play Is Everywhere was PlayStation's global 2025 brand campaign for PS5, transforming Mexico City into a playground where the ordinary became extraordinary. Packed with subtle PlayStation Easter eggs, the film blurred the line between reality and illusion, combining ambitious practical effects with seamless VFX to create a city that appeared to come alive.
Filmed over five days across multiple locations in Mexico City, the production featured a series of complex practical stunts. World-class aerial performers were brought in from Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, with many of the film's most memorable moments captured entirely in-camera—including the backwards dive through the doorway, parkour sequences performed on the side of a building, and a large rotating platform that created the illusion of the city shifting around its characters. These practical effects were enhanced by exceptional work from The Assembly Rooms and Framestore, seamlessly blending invisible VFX with live action.
The final campaign delivered over 60 assets including bespoke social and cut downs, cinema as part of a global campaign toolkit, spanning broadcast, digital and social across multiple international markets.
Production Challenges
Filming took place during Mexico City's rainy season to meet PlayStation's global launch deadline, meaning every shooting day was a race against the weather. Constant monitoring, rapid decision-making and flexible scheduling were essential to maximise every break in the rain while keeping the production on schedule.
One of the biggest production challenges came just before filming a key scene. During rehearsals, the large rotating platform supplied by a third-party contractor suffered a critical failure and couldn't be repaired in time for the shoot. With one of the film's hero moments suddenly impossible to capture, I had to quickly develop an alternative plan.
I presented the solution to the PlayStation client and informed our senior agency partners. We agreed to continue the shoot before returning to London to begin the edit without the missing scene, while a replacement platform was built in Mexico City by a newly approved contractor. Once complete, a reduced key unit returned to capture the sequence, which was seamlessly integrated into the final film.
Throughout the process, I worked closely with the production company and insurers to mitigate the additional costs, keeping the financial impact to the client as low as possible. The replacement costs were successfully recovered through an insurance claim against the third-party supplier, ensuring the creative vision was realised while protecting the production budget.
The result was a technically ambitious campaign that relied on practical filmmaking, world-class craft and meticulous production planning to make the impossible feel effortlessly real.