In August we were approached to do, what turned out to be, a grand total of 88 commercials for Academy Sports and Outdoors. That number alone guaranteed that this project was going to be an exercise in discipline. Aired in over 30 states, featuring over 60 products, shot over 7 days, and consisting of multiple languages; this project was no easy task.
I began to wrap my head around this project by approaching it not as a commercial campaign but an exercise in branding. The numbers involved proved that this was a good opportunity to rebrand Academy. I began studying network rebranding. I then broke the design down into two issues.
One) The super grapic design. Academy has all of this information they mandate onto each product. Things such as price, item, description, comparison prices, logos, disclaimers. All of these elements needed to be streamlined into a consistent motion and design format. I created a sleek, interactive feel featuring clicks and drags for all animation design. I wanted the animation to feel like it was being driven by someone. Television is such a passive medium and in a world where our cellphones provide an interactive experience I wanted to inject some of that into the campaign. I employed the entire Adobe suite for this including Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects.
Two) The holiday portion of the campaign. This included a photorealistic 3d giftbox and ribbon that untied and lead the viewer to the products. Each commercial would begin and end in 'giftworld' where the products would be found inside of the box.
3ds Max was used in concert with VRAY and realflow, for the softbody dynamics of the ribbon.
Once I had all of the design choices approved, we then moved forward in climbing the mountain of completing all 88 commercials. Locke Bryan's four Avid's all based on a Unity Central server was integral. All footage and graphics were originally derived from HD as to allow for the most flexibility. We then conformed everything down to the NTSC final output. By cycling out each commercial as we completed them, we were able to house all 88 commercials with no problem.
I created a mini montage of the design materials I created. It gives you a better sense of the final campaign. The music is 'Bangers and Mash' by Radiohead. View it here.
A special thanks to all that helped me along with this project including everyone at Locke Bryan Productions, Air Korman / Gochman, and Academy.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment