The Briefing Room

ESPNU HD kicks off the 2008 College Football season with a topical graphics promotion package and toolkit created by the New York-based creative services agency Blue Room. The package, which includes opening vignettes, endpages, logo resolve, transitions, lower thirds, tune in bars, and full screen mortises, produced in both HD and SD, was used to create :30, :15, :10 and :5 spots that will begin airing nationally on ESPN August 21st .

Blue Room’s testosterone infused graphics package will be used to promote a diverse range of conferences and teams. The graphics will be utilized extensively throughout the season and will serve as an instantly identifiable look exclusive to ESPNU’s College Football promotion.

For this package Blue Room built a series of small, filmic, totally modular vignettes that could be used as opens, closes or transitions. They provided ESPN with a complete toolkit including full resolution QuickTimes, with all of the parts broken down and After Effects sessions so that they would have complete and total control over all the elements.

“This was ESPNU’s first foray into HD, so we took the opportunity to create bold, larger than life images, “ explained Brian Aumueller, Creative Director of Blue Room. “The high contrast black and white images and industrial backdrops emphasize the tough and gritty aspect of the sport. We juxtaposed these powerful moving images with footage of players, crowds, and stadiums and integrated typographical motion. We decided to utilize only a few color splashes – mostly the red in the ESPNU logo – but also a bit of green and blue to direct the viewers focus to a particular aspect of the animation. For most camera motion, we utilized tracking information pulled directly from game footage that gave the package a really organic feel. The design has a raw energy and directness. Strong images pack this powerful package with information so that one sees something new with each viewing,” continued Aumueller.

The Blue Room creative team for this campaign included Creative Director Brian Aumueller, CEO/Executive Producer Chris Gargani, Executive Producer Mark Mutschler, Editorial Director Dave Gargani, Designers Jorge Peschiera and Steve Harper, Composite Artist Alejandro Monzõn and Animators Jason Vallen and Steve Harper.

Blue Room utilized Adobe After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop, Alias Maya 3D, and Imagineer Systems compositing tool Mocha for rotoscoping in the execution of this project

About Blue Room:

Blue Room, founded in 2002, is an award-winning creative services agency that delivers innovative, attention-grabbing design, motion graphics and production solutions for high profile clients including ABC, Animal Planet, ESPN, Fuse, History, IFC, NFL, Planet Green, RCN and Reebok, among many others.

The strong partnership Blue Room has formed with its diverse client base is largely due to the comprehensive services the company provides. From concept development to final delivery, all of the resources one could need can be found in-house including: animation, visual effects, live

action production, script writing, editorial, and an in-depth understanding of branding strategies.

Blue Room is headquartered at 7 West 18th Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10003. For additional information, or to see a reel, contact Chris Gargani at chris@blueroomnyc.com or by phone at (212) 243-5141. Visit the Blue Room website at www.blueroomnyc.com

CREDITS:

Airdate: 8/21/08

National on ESPN

Title: ESPN U 2008 College Football Topical Graphics Package

Length: Complete Toolkit The package is produced in both HD and SD, and was cut into :30/:15/:10/:5 spots.

Graphic elements designed/produced topical graphics promotion package and toolkit that includes opening vignettes, endpages, logo resolve, transitions, lower thirds, tune in bars, and full screen mortises, produced in both HD and SD

Description:

Develop a graphics package that can be used to promote a diverse range

of conferences and teams. It will be utilized extensively throughout the season and will serve as an instantly identifiable look exclusive to ESPNU’s College Football promotion.

Production Company: Blue Room NYC

City/State: New York, NY

CEO/Executive Producer: Chris Gargani

Executive Producer: Mark Mutschler

Creative Director: Brian Aumueller

Editorial Director: Dave Gargani

Designer: Jorge Peschiera and Steve Harper

Composite Artist: Alejandro Monzõn

Animators: Jason Vallen and Steve Harper

Hardware/Software: Blue Room utilized Adobe After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop, Alias Maya 3D and Imagineer Systems compositing tool Mocha for rotoscoping in the execution of this project.