Based on its long-standing relationship with ESPN that includes handling the 2009/2010 redesign of ESPNU, the leaders of U.S. creative production company National Television (NATL, www.natl.tv) know first-hand that the 24-hour college sports network is focused on reflecting the unique ways that serious fans and fanatical alums watch sports. A guiding lesson from their past experience is that to these fans, sports are not just about a three-hour football game every Saturday: Sports are integral to their lives. nnSo naturally, it was a very happy day last April when ESPN creative director Mark Groeschner called to discuss the packaging for an important new show that would represent ESPNU’s first-ever live late-night entertainment program. Set to begin airing daily at midnight on ESPNU beginning in late August, the show was envisioned as a live "late-night snack" of sports, humor and social buzz.nn"When Mark first contacted us, no sets had been built and the hosts were not yet cast, but they wanted to begin capturing the spirit of their target audience in the show’s packaging," said NATL’s creative director Brumby Boylston. "Knowing it was a nightly show that would be going up against Letterman, Leno, and Stewart (and now Kimmel), we were tasked with wholly-developing a fast-moving, sophisticated-tech aesthetic for ‘the screen generation.’ Early conversations and exchanges of reference materials centered on creating something that felt less like traditional television and more like a living app… an extension of the many windows and screens people use today."nnnView the work online at Vimeo here.nnUltimately, NATL’s producers and artists helped distill the proper tone for the show in the course of creating and delivering UNITE’s logo, it’s open, bumps in and out, transitions, backgrounds used on television and online, custom content for 20+ custom "franchise" segments, and much more. Another very important asset was the "rundown," an animating dock of upcoming segments similar to the "Coming Up" stack on "SportsCenter." "The rapid-fire sequence of terse topics on ‘UNITE’ meant some organizing of the content had to be done to allow viewers to understand the flow of the show, bearing in mind that it’s meant to reflect the audience and their attitude and feel less like news," Boylston added.nnAfter several months of honing the logo, refining the look and generating tests, NATL and ESPN’s executives arrived at the glossy, tech-savvy package that slightly skews traditional sports graphics into a fresher direction which Boylston also describes with a smile as being "slightly insolent."n nAs NATL’s executive producer Jared Libitsky explained, the design and production process occurred around ESPN’s executives coming into NATL’s New York studio for presentations and conference calls. Also deeply involving NATL’s LA studio, UNITE began taking shape around a long-distance dialogue of visual ideas, with each camp reacting to designs and tests sent the day before. "The show began to solidify in run-throughs and casting," he said, "and the show runners got a better sense of the innate attitude of the program. They increasingly responded to wilder and zanier takes on the graphics. We eventually abandoned formal Photoshop style frames in favor of rudimentary, hand-drawn sketches. With the look increasingly set, this allowed for a fast and fluid pipeline of animation and delivery, and offered a better format for the humor to come through."nnUNITE successfully debuted on August 27, reflecting all the hard work of the network executives and the team from NATL, who admitted that only a couple of weeks earlier, the logo was the only design element that was finalized. With Boylston describing it as "the largest package imaginable for a single show," UNITE is a perfect testament to NATL’s growing capabilities.nn"This project is pretty defining in regard to where we’re going," Libitsky confirmed. "Designing for a whole show, billboard animations, interactive animations that commentators are interacting with during the show… this is the scale of the challenges we are facing and loving these days." From start to finish, the project was completed in about five months.nnFor ESPN, project credit also goes to art director Tim O’Shaughnessy and producer Jessica Gonnella. Along with Boylston and Libitsky, NATL’s team also included producer Zach Wakefield, designers David Chun, Brian Won and Jeni Wamberg and Tom Bik, and animators Preston Brown, Diffan Norman. nnLive from Bristol, Connecticut, at midnight ET, hosts Danny Kanell, Reese Waters, Marianela and DJ Rob Swift bring viewers ESPNU’s version of late-night entertainment. For more information, please visit www.twitter.com/unite and www.facebook.com/ESPNUNITE.nnAbout National Television (NATL)nU.S. creative production company NATL specializes in awe-inspiring design, animation and live-action storytelling for discerning youths and other young-at-heart audiences. Launched in Los Angeles in 2004 by partners Brumby Boylston, Christopher Dooley, and Brian Won, NATL has built its reputation through patently original creative contributions to projects spanning on-air packages and promo campaigns for top entertainment networks, commercials for leading advertising agencies and brands, and music videos for a Who’s Who of stars and recording artists. Now also based in NYC, NATL’s principals are teaming-up with creative world leaders to deliver the next generation of creative communications across all media platforms. To learn more, please visit www.natl.tv.
Roger Darnell DWA for NATL Phone: 1.828.264.8898 Contact Roger via email
Who Needs Los Angeles? We Do.
One doesn't have to be a statistician to know that there are fewer commercials being shot in the U.S. today for the American market than ever before, and a dramatic decrease in L.A. in particular. In the last five years, as reported by FilmLA (the office tasked with issuing permits), L.A. commercial production has dipped 31 percent. But here’s the thing: This doesn’t mean that L.A. has lost its importance as the production center of the world. Production in L.A. is vital. It is the go-to. It’s where you can count on access to exemplary crews, a support infrastructure second to none, varied location and backlot options, a large population of on-screen talent and (fairly) predictable weather. The fact is, with overall decline and now the devastation of the fires, we’re on the brink of losing this mainstay resource. Without employment opportunities and now many without homes, talented and trained crew are bound to leave either the industry or the LA area for other opportunities, unless there are enough job opportunities to sustain a solid living. Now is the time when we ALL must support and bolster this community. Production is needed in L.A., now! Of course, advertising is a business, and marketers’ money should be spent as efficiently as possible, BUT we have to think beyond each production and know that if we lose the incredible resource of L.A. production as we know it, then marketers, agencies and the industry loses in the long run. Over the past several days, some agencies have issued directives to production companies that are unilaterally pushing upcoming production options out of L.A. The fact is L.A. is a large area, and many sections of the city and county are not directly impacted... Read More