_Chaser

Produced for penguins.nhl.com as well as for in-arena use during home games, this piece centers around the concept of transformation, revealing players in a “digital mist” out of the darkness. The graphical visual style references aerospace Heads Up Displays, futuristic interface design, and LiDAR scans, all of this to push the Penguins brand identity of energy, drive, and cutting edge. We sought to get away from simply stringing together game highlights by making extensive use of rotoscoping, motion tracking, particles, 3D animation, and complex layer masks.




_The Process

Music: Aphex Twin - Ageispolis


For the rotational player shots we used a 360° dolly track, and a variety of steadycam flybys. Additional stylized game action was simulated using player stand-ins and a custom built lazy-susan. In addition to rotoscoping nearly all of the highlight footage, just about every shot used in this video was also motion tracked to seamlessly weave in the animated graphical elements.

To help visually merge the game action, player footage, and 3D modeled city shots, everything was translated through many layers of particles whose movement, depth extrusion, and chroma values were driven by the footage with which they were overlaid. Extensive color grading, digital distortion, and other glitch-style effects were also weaved into the piece. These measures helped to transform the footage into the dynamic and futuristic environment we sought, while giving the whole piece a driving, high intensity feel that stayed within branding guidelines and delivered a new and impactful approach to what is typically a straightforward highlight based package.

Executive Producer: Aaron Spiegel

Director of Photography, Animator: Padraic Driscoll
Animator, Steadicam Operator: David Distilli
Additional Animation: Andie Knapp, Shane Rowe, Alexander Suder
Gaffer, Key Grip, Camera Operator: Scott Ripper
Support Camera Operator: Jon Otte
Production Manager, Sound Designer: Mike Davenport


Music: Blue Stahli - Chaser

Made with ♥ in NYC