Burberry's 'Night Creatures' turned a monstrous commuter encounter into street ballet

After Festive 2020 (resilience and facing adversity) and Open Spaces (the joy of freedom), Burberry and its repeat collaborators Megaforce wanted to express the bold attitude it takes to dive into the unknown: the fearless and playful spirit of adventure.

Set up a sci-fi encounter, then subvert it: the faceless creature's limbs become routes, platforms and trapezes for a freerunning-ballet dance through night-time London.

Three people travelling home after dark discuss a sci-fi movie; their bus is intercepted and a faceless, many-legged creature appears. Instead of horror, its arrival gives way to a dance through the streets of London — freerunning, ballet and experimental movement choreographed by La(Horde), the creature's architectural limbs doubling as routes, platforms and trapezes, to touching instrumental music. Produced through Riff Raff Films with editing by Work Editorial.

No performance figures in the material; the film carried the third chapter of Burberry's dance-led experiment with Megaforce, expressing the brand's fearless, playful spirit of adventure for the year.

Burberry's film opens with three people travelling home after dark, engaged in a discussion about a sci-fi movie. When their bus is intercepted, genre conventions suggest the sci-fi scene is about to play out in front of them — especially when a faceless, many-legged creature appears.

Instead, its arrival gives way to a dance through the streets of London, veering between freerunning, ballet and experimental movement, all choreographed by repeat collaborators La(Horde). Almost architectural in appearance, the creature's limbs become routes, platforms and trapezes for the dancers to explore in the sky, to the sound of touching instrumental music.

The film was directed by Megaforce, the French collective that has worked with Burberry throughout its experiments with choreography and VFX, beginning with the brand's Christmas 2020 campaign. 'The Festive campaign was about resilience and facing adversity, Open Spaces was about the joy of freedom,' the directors said. 'This year we wanted to express the bold attitude that it takes to dive into the unknown: the fearless and playful spirit of adventure.' Burberry creative-directed, with production by Riff Raff Films and editing by Work Editorial.

The horror-film setup gives the viewer a reflex (brace) that the dance then flips (play), making the brand's attitude felt rather than stated.

Designing the creature as architecture means the VFX showpiece is also the choreography's stage — one asset serving both spectacle and movement.

It kept a two-year system coherent: each Megaforce film is a distinct emotion (resilience, freedom, daring), so the partnership builds a brand language instead of one-off ads.

Genre misdirection is a gift to choreography: promise horror, deliver dance, and the surprise itself becomes the brand attitude you're selling.

Night Creatures continued the Burberry x Megaforce partnership begun with the 2020 Christmas campaign; the material records no further milestones.