Making the Moment
Xbox . Xbox Programming and Entertainment . May 2025
The Power of the Unifying Moment
Making the Moment is a 53 minute documentary that pulls back the curtain on Xbox’s most iconic programming moments—from the adrenaline of Showcase to the craft of Developer Direct, the curation of Partner Preview, and the emotional weight behind documentaries like Power On and War Game. Through intimate interviews and cinematic storytelling, it explores how these productions evolved from corporate announcements into unifying experiences that fans around the world anticipate together.
Director: Dan Chosich
Editor: Dan Chosich
VFX & Motion: Dan Chosich
Producer: Brina Hatcher
VP of Xbox Programming: Tina Summerford
Shot on 3x - Sony Venice 8K
Overview
Making the Moment is a creative initiative designed to reimagine Xbox Programming—not as a collection of content, but as a point of view. It challenges the traditional marketing playbook by asking: How do you build something that earns devotion, not just attention?
This documentary was made specifically for Xbox Marketing. It came from a belief that the way to reach audience’s is through authentic content that illuminates and fosters anticipation.
At its core, Making the Moment is about forging emotional connections, capturing moments of anticipation, and reframing the way Xbox presents its stories to the world. The project isn’t about more content—it’s about more meaningful content.
Connect the audience to stories that make them care.
Broaden the frame of reference.
Reinforce devotion and reawaken belief.
Invite you to discover something you didn’t know you wanted.
Leave a mark when the brand is no longer in view.
Philosophy
Make Fans, Not Customers.
The most powerful brands evoke feeling. Whether it's Disney’s emotional transference, Apple’s seamless osmosis into your life, or HBO’s artful recontextualization—true impact happens when you inspire identity, not just transactions.
What if Xbox did the same?
Transference (Disney)
Craft stories that mirror life. Evoke real emotion. Allow the audience to see their own experiences reflected back through Xbox content.
Osmosis (Apple)
Create with such simplicity and conviction that audiences absorb meaning without effort. Let the story disappear into the experience.
Recontextualization (HBO)
Transform Xbox from a platform to a cultural voice. Elevate what might be seen as “corporate programming” into something with taste, trust, and timeless appeal.
Execution
Making the Moment was created over 2 months. The shoot lasted 3 days and features 10 subjects. It was shot at Xbox Studios on their immersive backlit stage. The editing process lasted about 4 weeks. Graphics took about 4 weeks.
It’s a story that covers 9 topics and then leads into the world premiere of an animated short. The animated short isn’t included in the 53-minute runtime.
It was edited in Adobe Premiere. The 3D graphics were created in Cinema 4D and rendered in Octane. From a 3D perspective: I rebuilt the Xbox Studios stage and elements of the interview shoot to match and project 2D video. The 2D graphics, roto, and compositing were done in Adobe After Effects.
Sound design and mixing were a mixture of Adobe Premiere and Adobe Audition.
Editorial
I had spent a lot of years at Xbox. I grew up with it. I grew up and spent 12 years of my life working at and on Halo. It was a joy to come back and tell this story. I think I was uniquely primed to be able to figure it out and put it together.
The process flowed naturally and it felt like a joy to put together. It felt like a labor of love and I’m grateful to the folks I got to work with on it. This is 100% due to Tina Summerford and her team. I ended up being the ‘Creative Director’ hands who understood the assignment and wanted everyone who spoke to shine as brightly as possible.
A.I.
This was the first project where I used AI extensively but predominately in one use-case scenario: I didn’t have B-Roll, but I had hundreds and hundreds of still images from 2000 to the present. I took those images and I used Runway to move them. I figured out that it’s not great on human beings but to punch into shots and show what something was like it’s fantastic. Nearly all of the B-Roll is AI manipulated if I didn’t say that no one would know.
There’s also a section that is almost completely edited in Ukrainian. The challenge there was that I couldn’t keep the interview subject on screen for the length of the subtitle. Therefore, I used ElevenLabs to English dub the entirely of that section. Again, if I didn’t expose this no one would know. I made sure the English dub sounded like it came from a Ukrainian translator.