The world’s most intense hacking competition deserved more than beige

Pwn2Own is one of cybersecurity’s most legendary events, a live hacking tournament created by Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), part of Trend Micro.

Every year, the world’s best security researchers gather to exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities in real devices: browsers, OSes, IoT, industrial gear, even a Tesla. If they succeed, they pwn it — and they own it.

The prize pool often reaches $1 million, and the bugs uncovered help Trend Micro protect its customers before vendors even patch.

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Before we ever touched the project, Pwn2Own was already one of the most important hacking competitions in the world — but you’d never know it from the outside. After ZDI moved from HP to Trend Micro, the event was still being held in a beige, windowless conference room, staged with all the visual ambition of a corporate training workshop.

The competition deserved drama.

The researchers deserved recognition.

The stakes deserved storytelling.

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That's why Trend Micro called Black Rabbit!

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This is one of the first assets we created... a teaser trailer.

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Our Insight:

These researchers aren’t just participants; they’re athletes

Behind every attempt, there are:

• months of research
• nerves of steel
• massive financial rewards
• and a career-defining moment on the line

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These hackers weren’t “just submitting bugs.”

They were competing, performing, fighting the clock, and risking failure in front of the entire community.

That intensity is what we wanted to capture.

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Our Approach:

Transform the room, elevate the emotion, build a spectacle

We brought years of filmmaking experience to a traditionally dry technical event.

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The goal:

Make Pwn2Own feel like an eSport arena, not a corporate conference.

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Check out these before and after shots of the venues.

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Every year since 2016, we’ve continued to push this aesthetic:

‍1. Cinematic lighting inside a "default room"

We gelled existing lights, added our own fixtures, used filters, diffusion, and color theory to create drama and depth - even when the venue didn’t allow us to turn off house lights.

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2. Rapid-fire documentary crew

Two to three camera operators, one on-site editor, and a cinematic shooting style.

Close-ups on hands, faces, monitors, reactions - capturing tension in real time.

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3. Instant turnaround

We film during each competition round and cut video the same day, uploading winners’ highlight reels within hours.

After the final day, we deliver a 6–7 minute mini-documentary within 24 hours, showcasing the entire story arc of the event.

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Production Process:

Built for speed, pressure, and precision

Pwn2Own is chaotic by design. There is almost no pre-production.

Almost everything is improvised, reactive, and fast.

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We prepare:

• opening animations
• title cards
• social teasers
• event trailers

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But once the competition starts, everything is live:

• film → edit → upload → repeat
• 12–16 hour days
• constant coordination with ZDI team, Trend social media team, and researchers
• building the story as it unfolds

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This hybrid of documentary instinct, sports broadcasting energy, and film-level craft is what makes the Pwn2Own films so distinctive.

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Outcome: A decade-long partnership and a global brand identity

Because we’ve been embedded with ZDI since 2016, the team and the researchers trust us.

They let us film sensitive reactions, personal moments, and high-pressure setups.

ZDI trusts us with unreleased bugs, private test runs, and behind-the-scenes intelligence.

That trust gives us access nobody else gets - and the footage shows it.

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“Their videos are very personal. They effectively convey our events' drama, intense pressure, and essence. They liven up our events and capture the mood and emotions of contestants.”

Brian Gorenc, VP of Threat Research, Trend Micro

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The impact:

• Pwn2Own gained a unique visual identity in the cybersecurity world
• ZDI’s brand grew stronger through consistently high-quality storytelling
• The audience sees the drama, the stakes, and the human side of hacking
• Trend Micro uses our content across marketing, PR, social, recruiting, and investor relations

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And from an operational side:

We deliver a full cinematic documentary within 24 hours of the event closing. Every time.

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Closing Thought: At Pwn2Own, hacking becomes human

Anyone can film an event.

But telling the emotional story behind a zero-day competition, the tension, the triumphs, the rivalry, the brilliance - requires trust, intuition, and creative risk-taking.

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Pwn2Own is one of the purest examples of what Black Rabbit does best:

turning a complex technical moment into a cinematic human experience.

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