Creative design and digital production studio The Syndicate reteamed with ESPN to create a rollicking, high energy open to kick off the new season of Monday Night Football (MNF). Legendary singer Hank Williams Jr. performs “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Monday Night” and welcomes a colorful montage of amped-up partygoers to his weekly “House Party,” where they crank up the volume to dangerously high levels, launching the iconic NFL double helmets into space and into America’s football stadiums.
“All My Rowdy Friends” has been the Monday Night Football anthem for the past 20 seasons and has earned Williams four Emmy Awards. The new MNF open debuted at ESPN’s season-opening doubleheader on September 8.
ESPN’s Chris Mantzaris directed the “House Party” open with The Syndicate‘s Ben Grossmann serving as visual effects creative director and second unit director. In addition, David Hwang, creative director of DesignWorks at The Syndicate, and his team created much of the graphic package and elements for the season-long project. The Syndicate was also responsible for editorial, dailies, and telecine.
Each week the “House Party” open will feature team-specific lyrics and visuals based on the 17 regular-season ESPN match-ups. Hank’s party guests—celebrities, fans, team mascots and cheerleaders—will be customized for every game along with song lyrics; animated team logo helmets and live footage of football stadiums will also be inserted into each re-edited open.
The CG helmets that explode through the roof at the party trace a trajectory over the nightscape of the city and against the curvature of the earth, flying through space before descending onto the stadium field. They crash together in a force field of glowing energy to reveal the NFL logo, an iconic signature of past league promos and one that also incorporates design elements of the effects-intensive open and broadcast package that The Syndicate created for ESPN and MNF in 2006.
The crashing helmets will be composited, literally on the fly, over live aerial footage of the stadium where that week’s game will be played. An aerial camera crew will fly over the stadium prior to kickoff, capturing that footage and holding on a shot of the 50-yard line for ESPN’s production crew and compositors. The Syndicate‘s Grossmann worked closely with the aerial team to identify flight paths and coordinate logistics in order to obtain the best establishing shots for each venue. Test shots and footage were sent by the camera operators to Grossmann’s mobile phone for approvals on placement and angle.
Grossmann noted, “We had great fun working with ESPN on ‘House Party.’ The custom elements and live action skycam footage will bring heightened anticipation and excitement for MNF fans each week. We think they’re going to love discovering these personalized ‘Easter eggs.'”
Kenny Solomon, managing director at The Syndicate and executive producer of the open said, “ESPN leads the way in innovative sports programming and coverage. Their unique visual style has ushered in new ways to experience sports for viewers and the MNF open is no exception. We’re very proud that ESPN has chosen us to be their creative partner as they continue to define the world of sports broadcasting.”
To view the new ESPN MNF open, please go to: http://www.syndicate.tv/syndicate/syndicate.html
Over the past two years The Syndicate has extended its creative partnership with ESPN from the design and production of branded on-air broadcast packages for the 2006 season of MNF and the 2007 debut of ESPN’s newest sports franchise NASCAR to on-air information graphics for ESPN’s Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, NCAA football and basketball, and Major League Soccer.
The Syndicate is currently in production on visual effects for the Martin Scorsese-directed feature film SHUTTER ISLAND and recently won a prestigious Gold Clio Award for their work on Freixenet’s “The Key to Reserva,” also directed by Scorsese.
About ESPN’s Monday Night Football
ESPN’s Monday Night Football will engage fans with an immersive, all-day, multimedia approach each week throughout the NFL season across all ESPN platforms—ESPN television networks, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN360 and Mobile ESPN. With a 36-year tradition of innovating and entertaining, MNF is sports television’s longest-running and most successful series. ESPN continues to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the NFL throughout the year with signature shows Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live, SportsCenter and other news and information programs.
About The Syndicate
The Syndicate is a creative design, branding services and digital production studio specializing in live action direction, visual effects, animation, motion graphics, and telecine for commercials, television and music videos. A division of Santa Maria-based feature film visual effects facility CafeFX, The Syndicate has worked with top agencies, networks and studios on award-winning commercials, television programs, and music videos that have been seen around the world.
DesignWorks at The Syndicate, the company’s branding and design group, is headed by noted creative director David Hwang, who has created identity, broadcast campaigns and motion graphics for ESPN, HBO and ABC, as well as powerhouse advertising campaigns for McDonald’s, JC Penney, AT&T, Eureka and Circuit City.
ESPN MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL CREDITS
AGENCY/CLIENT: ESPN
Director: Chris Mantzaris
Producer: Val Fischler
Head VP of Creative Services: Bob Toms
VP of Creative Services: Rick Paiva
Creative Director w/Creative Services: Mark Groeschner
Coordinator at Creative Services: Leigh Cifone
PRODUCTION: THE SYNDICATE
Director: Chris Mantzaris
Executive Producer: Kenny Solomon
Producer: Ron Cicero
Director of Photography: Omer Ganai
2nd Unit Director: Ben Grossmann
1st Assistant Director: Ron Ames
Production Supervisor: Angie Revell
VISUAL EFFECTS/TELECINE/EDITORIAL: THE SYNDICATE
Executive Producer: Kenny Solomon
VFX Producer: Jonathan Stone
Producer: Magdalena Wolf
VFX Creative Director: Ben Grossmann
VFX Supervisor: Luke McDonald
CG Lead: Adam Watkins
Compositing Supervisor: Alex Henning
Nuke Compositor: Tim LeDoux
Flame Compositor: Mike Ek
Flame Compositor: Verdi Sevenhuysen
Flame Assist: Kevin McDonald
VFX Artist: Brandon Davis
VFX Artist: Minory Sasaki
VFX Artist: Shinichi Rembutsu
Lead Colorist: Beau Leon
Dailies Colorist: Jeremy Sawyer
Editor: Adam Gerstel
DESIGNWORKS AT THE SYNDICATE
Creative Director: David Hwang
TALENT
Hank Williams Jr.
