With A Twist Studio has produced television’s first-ever broadcast graphics package in stereoscopic 3-D for ESPN and its newly-launched 3-D network—also an industry first. The new graphics, which center on a sleek three-dimensional rendering of the ESPN logo enclosed in a polished metal cube, made its debut during the recent broadcast of World Cup Soccer.
The package includes a series of abstract 3-D animations of the logo traveling through space as well as other 3-D graphic elements that will be used to support programming on the new network. ESPN plans 3-D broadcasts of a variety of sporting events, including the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, college basketball and football contests, and the Summer X Games.
With A Twist Studio was selected for the project due to its past work for ESPN and its experience in working with stereoscopic imagery for such films as “G-Force” and “Alice in Wonderland.” “We understand both from a creative and from a technical view what works and what doesn’t in 3-D,” said With A Twist creative director David Burton, “and we know how to maximize the experience for viewers.”
The studio worked with ESPN creative teams in Bristol, Connecticut and Los Angeles in designing animation sequences that aim to inspire excitement for the new medium. “3-D has a different design vocabulary than the design that’s been done for 2-D television for 50 years. It’s a different experience,” Burton notes. “Stereoscopic television is also a different experience from stereoscopic films—and the design has to compensate for that difference.”
The relative difference in size between a movie screen and a television affects the kinds of 3-D effects that work. Additionally, the brief time-span of broadcast animations—15 seconds or less—requires 3-D effects to be scaled accordingly. “You have just seconds to convey an idea,” explains With A Twist CG Supervisor Brandon Bartlett. “Still, the eye needs time to process what it’s seeing in 3-D—that’s easy to do in film, but it’s a lot trickier in television because of the short time frame.”
While the graphics are meant to convey the all-new experience of TV in three dimensions, they are also meant to reflect the personality of the world’s premier sports network. “ESPN, as a brand, stands for action and intensity,” Burton observes. “All of its graphics are high energy. With the 3-D graphics, we had to deliver an exciting stereoscopic experience while remaining true to the brand. It’s still ESPN, but it’s taking the next step…into broadcast 3-D.”
Credits
David Burton Visual Effects Supervisor
Brandon Bartlett CG Supervisor
Pam Hammarlund Executive Producer
James Kells Lead Compositor
Paul LaFond Lead Animator
Frank Synowicz Lead Texture Artist
Matt Nowacki Lead Color & Lighting Artist
Matt Hammarlund Color & Lighting Artist
Lou Szcvercsak Paint Artist
Steve Stickel Technical Director
Lisa Hammarlund Production Coordinator
With A Twist Studio has locations at 1773 Star Batt Drive, Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309 and at 12950 Culver Blvd, Suite 160, Los Angeles, California 90066. For more information, call (248) 844-0044 or visit www.withatwiststudio.com.
