Team Citi is a group of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls and legends, sponsored by Citi. In advance of the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, agency Publicis Kaplan Thaler created an interactive campaign called “Every Step of the Way.” As part of the campaign, they produced a series of ten videos showcasing each athlete, and enlisted NYC-based post production studio Nice Shoes to assist bringing these spots to life.
The athletes were shot on a sound stage, with synthetic surfaces, ramps made from blocks of ice, and rigs being utilized to simulate skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, and luge. The Publicis Kaplan Thaler team wanted to capture the intensity of each sport, without putting anyone at risk while in training for the 2014 games. Nice Shoes Flame artists Vin Roma and Jason Farber were on set during the shoot as visual effects supervisors. “We were able to advise their team on ways to shoot that would minimize cleanup in post,” said Roma.
Colorist Lenny Mastrandrea was tasked with establishing two similar, yet distinct looks for the campaign: A cinematic, high contrast look was created for the shots of the athletes in action, while the testimonial shots had a much more natural approach. For the action shots, he sought to embrace the dramatic tones in order to convey the intensity of each athlete’s actions. “All the energy is in these moments,” said Mastrandrea. “It doesn’t come from the interviews, which are important too, but these scenes when they’re skating, or skiing, these were about conveying their epic athletic achievements.”
Flame artists Russ Bigsby and Kevan Lee joined Roma and Farber to handle a number of visual effects shots. The team carefully filled gaps in smoke and snow in select scenes, making the spots flow seamlessly from shot to shot. “The Special FX staff on set did a fantastic job of introducing weather elements into the setups. Inevitably during some takes there needed to be some enhancements in post to stitch it all together.” Finally, the team removed rigs and some logos as well as undesired reflections from several of the athletes’ goggles.
“When our artists get involved earlier in the process, we’re able to collaborate more efficiently,” said Producer Haydee Cepin. “It not only saves time and money, but it ultimately helps the client in realizing their vision.”
ScreenWork Credits
Product: Citi Olympics Sponsorship
Spots Title: “Welcome”, “Billy”, “Dan”, “Alana”, “Picabo”, “Ted”, “Julie”, “Rico”, “Erin”, & “Evan”
Air Date: mid October
Agency: Publicis Kaplan Thaler
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Feakins
Executive Creative Directors: Jim Kotulka, Tom Drymalski
Creative Directors: Jon Bunning, Mark Svartz, Stephanie Pavin, Christopher Smith
Agency Producer: Lauren Schneidmuller
Production & Edit Company: A76 Productions
Director: Duffy Higgins
DP: Eric Giovan
Producer: Colleen Miller
Post Production: Nice Shoes
Senior Producer: Haydee Cepin
Colorist: Lenny Mastrandrea
VFX Artist(s): Vin Roma, Jason Farber, Kevan Lee, Russ Bigsby
About Nice Shoes
NYC-based Nice Shoes is a full service, artist-driven design, animation, visual effects and color grading studio specializing in high-end commercials, web content, film, TV and music videos. Since its inception in 1996, the studio has prided itself on consistently reinvesting in its talent, technical backbone, and client experience to set the standard of excellence both creatively and technically. Key company principals include: CEO/Partner Dominic Pandolfino, Colorists/Partners Chris Ryan and Lez Rudge, and CIO Robert Keske.
