The Briefing Room

Fox Sports Design proves ‘You Can’t Script October’ during the MLB Post Season on FOX.

For several years Fox Sports has marketed the MLB post-season with the line, “You Can’t Script October�. This year they moved forward with that branding line by looking backwards for an old idea from a previous project.

“In 2003 we did some work-up on baseball players playing on fields of type. We never produced the idea at the time, but we revisited the concept and realized it would be a perfect fit to house our “You Can’t Script October� line for this years playoffs� said Fox Sports SVP/Creative Director Robert Gottlieb.

Led by Fox Sports Creative Director Rob Hoover, the team built a practical newsstand and street corner set on a green screen stage, creating a world where headlines change, covers suddenly animate, and players burst from the confines of the printed page as an entire Newsstand comes to life.
With only two weeks to post the spot after the shoot, Eight VFX modeled, animated and composited all explosions and paper effects, integrating rotoscoped players into all angles of the meticulously matched in-camera plates. Fox Sports Flame Designer Thomas Downs stalked the streets of Hollywood during the midnight hours capturing backgrounds he used to seamlessly merge the stand into its realistic environment.

As Eight VFX was finishing their effects shots, Fox Sports Kirk Smith cut the spot to the music of The Killers “When You Were Youngâ€?, and Fox’s Jay Hayes created the sound design that brought this surreal journey to the Fall Classic to life…

Live Action
Director – Rob Hoover
DP – Tom McGrath
Art Director – Paul Bickel
Production Company – Marsha Hunt Productions

Fox Sports
EVP Marketing – Eric Markgraf
SVP/Creative Director – Robert Gottlieb
Creative Director – Rob Hoover
Producer – Keith Hritz
Flame Compositing & Design – Thomas Downs
Editor – Kirk Smith
Sound Design – Jay Hayes
Magazine Design – Sinbad Kazakian

Eight VFX
Executive Producer – Baptiste Andrieux
VFX Supervisor – Jean Marc Demmer
VFX Producer – Marsi Frey
3D Supervisor – Fred Hopp

Year – 2008

http://foxsportsdesign.com/