NFL came to us once again to rebrand Total Access, their flagship show that we branded back in 2012. This time they around they wanted something brighter and cleaner than the previous package. It was a great development process, we threw a ton of ideas at them and they ended up going with a combination of our concepts. We turned the NFL logo into a high tech facility, with information flowing along LED screens on the walls and different objects flying throught the hallways. This 3D heavy world was spliced together with 2D graphic elements and a bold editing approach. We not only created the graphic components, but established the overall tone and style of the show as well. We created a Adobe Premiere toolkit that their editors could use when cutting the daily footage pieces which included editing techniques and transitional elements. All of these are included in the montage above, so you can get an idea of the end result.
Working closely with our Creative Director, Ellerey Gave (who created the custom typeface and designed the intricate floor details), Jonathan Larson and I designed the package from the ground up. We designed styleframes and developed a concept that would drive the entire package. Once we had an approved concept, we divided and conquered the elements, creating storyboards and rough animatics for each one. Brett Morris worked his magic and created the whole NFL logo world in C4D, making it easy for us to just drop in our cameras and animated elements, and Mitsuka Thiem modeled the hero football. The whole studio came together for the production phase, and the crew at NFL Network were really helpful and fun to work with. As usual, Echolab came through with awesome sound design and a custom music track.
PROCESS:
These were styleframes I created for two of the three concepts that we pitched to NFL Network. The first, more graphic batch combined a very graphic approach with 3D elements. The 45° slices were an homage to our 2011 package, where we used diagonal slabs as a primary element in the package. A graphic representation of these slabs would slice up the footage, type, and graphics creating very dynamic compositions that capture the movement and hard-hitting nature of football.
The final package ended up being a hybrid of the first concept seen here and a third concept that used the NFL shield as a physical environment. The more graphic elements were used primarily in the show's 'tease' that they play before every show, but they also existed on the LED screens that populated the 3D NFL shield.
The second concept was spearheaded by Jonathan Larson, I helped out by creating a couple other sequences to flesh out the concept. This concept used the 3D slabs from the original show package, but we brought them into a much brighter, cleaner world.
EARLY SKETCHES & STORYBOARDS
Client: NFL Network
Studio: Capacity
Creative Direction: Ellerey Gave
Art Direction: Stephen Panicara, Jonathan Larson
Design: Stephen Panicara, Jonathan Larson, Ellerey Gave, Benji Thiem
2D Animation: Stephen Panicara
2D Texture Animation: Melissa Oakley, Conor Scully
3D Modelling/Rigs: Brett Morris, Mitsuka Thiem, Benji Thiem
3D Animation: Brett Morris, Jonathan Larson, Stephen Panicara, Blake Fawley, Benji Thiem
Compositing: Brett Morris, Benji Thiem, Stephen Panicara, Jonathan Larson
Studio: Capacity
Creative Direction: Ellerey Gave
Art Direction: Stephen Panicara, Jonathan Larson
Design: Stephen Panicara, Jonathan Larson, Ellerey Gave, Benji Thiem
2D Animation: Stephen Panicara
2D Texture Animation: Melissa Oakley, Conor Scully
3D Modelling/Rigs: Brett Morris, Mitsuka Thiem, Benji Thiem
3D Animation: Brett Morris, Jonathan Larson, Stephen Panicara, Blake Fawley, Benji Thiem
Compositing: Brett Morris, Benji Thiem, Stephen Panicara, Jonathan Larson
Sound Design/Music: Echolab