CHICAGO—Lift has gotten into the spirit of college hoops in a big way. The motion graphics studio, which operates out of Filmworkers Club, has designed and produced a revved up show package for Race to March Madness, a new college basketball series created by Chicago-based Intersport for ABC.
Lift’s work included designing the show’s logo and main title sequence. The latter re-imagines the college basketball season as an actual race with souped up team buses from schools across the country vying to reach the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, site of this year’s Final Four. College game footage is layered over images of CG buses—fitted with bulldozer like bumpers and spouting flames from their sides—as they roar across a stylized map of the United States.

“Our goal was to capture the intensity of college basketball in a way that was fun and hadn’t been done before,” noted Lift creative director Jason White. “The buses allowed us to highlight some of the traditional rivalries and reflect the national scope of the event.”

“We liked the idea of creating a storyline that parallels the tournament competition itself,” added Lift associate creative director Sam Gierasimczuk. “The editing gets sharper and more intense as it moves toward the climax at the Alamo Dome.”
The open also does a good job of distinguishing the unique character of Race to March Madness. “It’s incredible,” said Intersport director of television operations Mike Hormuth. “It jump starts the show and brands it as a focal point for news about the upcoming tournament.”
All of the production work was done by Lift in-house. That included creating and animating the CG buses and their environments, stylized renderings of desert, big city and beach-front locales. “We built the biggest, bad-ass buses we could imagine,” says CG artist Curt Cooper. “There are 20 or 30 variants, individually customized and ID’ed with team logos.”

For White, the project was especially rewarding because of the creative freedom his team was given. “Intersport showed a lot of confidence in our ability to give the show an original look,” he said, “and our team responded by bringing a lot of passion to the project.”

The Filmworkers Club is located at 232 E. Ohio St. Penthouse, Chicago, IL 60611. For more information, call (312) 664-9333 or visit filmworkers

Project: Race to March Madness
Client: Intersport, ABC
Design/Production: Lift, Chicago. Jason White, creative director; Adam Marton, producer; Sam Gierasimczuk, associate creative director/3D animation/2D design/compositing; Curt Cooper, 3D animation/2D design/compositing; Lucie Boryczko, production coordinator; Charlie Peterson, 3D modeling; Rick Thompson, 2D design/compositing; Eric Miro, 2D design/compositing; Aaron Edwards, 2D design/compositing.
Music & Sound: Secret Frequency, Chicago. Jeff Van Steen and Harry Burgan, composers/sound designers.