MEET THE ARTIST
Sam Passmore
We chat to Fire Without Smoke’s creative director about working on a range of exciting projects, including the trailer for Watch Dogs: Legion
The Watch Dogs: Legiontrailer provided a unique creative and technical challenge for the FWS team
S
am Passmore is creative director at Fire Without Smoke. His team loves games so much, they built a creative studio specifically to deliver the best content possible for the industry, from trailers to in-game cinematics and beyond. Recent projects worked on include
Tomb
Raider
Reloaded,
Assassin’s
Creed
Valhalla,
Rainbow
Six
Siege,
Death
Stranding,
Outriders,
Watch
Dogs:
Legion
and much more. Fire Without Smoke is also part of Keywords Studios – the games tech giant that provides everything from art to audio, animation, development and other vital services, with 60+ facilities in 21 countries.
Now, Sam Passmore talks through his entry into the games industry, offers advice on how to create the perfect trailer and reveals how Fire Without Smoke pulled together stand-out content for Watch Dogs: Legion, Ubisoft’s latest addition to the hit dystopian action-adventure series.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I joined Fire Without Smoke when it was just a few passionate gamers and creatives in a tiny shared office in the heart of Soho. I was primarily bought onboard to help with capture – we had just won some exciting work with Ubisoft and the very small team needed to grow. It was a thrill to be able to work with some of the biggest names in games from the get-go and I feel very fortunate. In a small team like that, you obviously find yourself doing multiple jobs, and I soon started working more closely with the creative side of things. Writing scripts, concepting ideas, putting together pitches. I have a background in screenwriting so it felt like a perfect fit for me. Fast forward some years, I’m now creative director.