Worlds Finals 2022 & 2023
The League of Legends World Championship (commonly abbreviated as Worlds) is the annual professional League of Legends world championship tournament hosted by Riot Games and is the culmination of each season. Teams compete for the champion title, the 44-pound (20-kilogram) Summoner's Cup, and a multi-million-dollar championship prize. In 2018, the final was watched by 99.6 million people
Zachary Dripps at the Chase Bank Arena filming Worlds 2022 coverage with his Nikon Z6 and Ronin RS2
While working as a content producer at Riot Games, I was able to travel to Worlds 2022 in San Francisco, CA at the Chase Bank Center. I worked on 3 major projects: fan fest player interviews, activations around San Francisco, and rehearsal footage of international celebrity musician Jackson Wang. I first filmed his visit to the Riot Games office in Los Angeles, and then filmed his rehearsal, wardrobe fitting, and preparation the days leading to his performance for the Worlds opening ceremony.
Excerpts from Jackson wang visiting Riot Games and preparing for the opening performance at Worlds. Filmed by Zachary Dripps
Jackson Wang - Fire to the Fuse
In April 2023, in preparation for the Worlds finals in Korea in November 2023, I traveled to Korea and filmed preemptive content to be released in the lead-up to finals. I developed a brief with my team at Riot Games and the best strategy to capture footage that would resonate with players while also showcasing the extraordinary work being done at the Riot Games Korea office. This video series also educated players that Riot Games is a global company and has offices worldwide.
Zachary Dripps and the head of Riot Games comms Korea Karen Koo
Korea - The Epicenter of Esports
I hired a Korean translator throughout the 4-day film shoot. As a non-Korean speaker, it was instrumental to have a translator there to help ask questions and interpret answers for me on set. We also asked questions to players at the LCK arena, and she was at the arena with me as well helping me shoulder tap fans and ask them if they were interested in being in a video. I kept each shot rolling through the translator’s translations and used those to edit the Korean interviews without speaking or understanding Korean. I edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. I then met with someone at Riot Games who worked as a Korean game translator. They went through the edit and helped tweak any mistakes I had made or cultural subtleties I did not pick up on throughout the videos.
Zachary Dripps interviewing Karen Koo
Zachary Dripps filming at the Incheon Airport Riot Games lounge