Pretty large production on this spot. Fox Sports Design did a great job.

A few nice sports related spots on Blue Sky Agency’s demo reel, but their site is flash so I can’t link to them directly.

New Sports and Entertainment Reel from Blue Sky Agency.

Blue Sky Agency

950 Lowery Blvd. Suite 30
Atlanta, GA 30318
v: 404 876 0202
f: 404 876 0212
www.bluesky-agency.com

I’d have to say this is as close to “classic” as it gets for sports graphics. Drive did a fantastic job. Great camera moves, animation. Big glossy 3D. I think there is a lot to learn from here.

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Came across some great work from New York-based designer Daniel Garcia for Nike.

Daniel Garcia is a New York-based designer/art-director specializing in developing content for today’s leading and emerging brands.He began his career at global agency DDB, where he worked on a number of international campaigns for Budweiser, Volkswagen, and McDonald’s. Daniel was drawn to the production side of advertising/communication and so opted to freelance with several NY, LA, and European production companies and design studios. His talent and unconventional artistic approach drew the attention of MTV, Nike, Sony and other image-based brands, with whom he maintains continuing relationships. In 2001, he co-founded a startup that has since ballooned into a full-scale, European-based visual communications agency, Super-Fi. Daniel continues to consult for Super-Fi as well as freelance for a handful of agencies, networks, and studios. His passion lies in giving shape to ideas and collaborating with top talent to create memorable works that are both visually stimulating and emotionally engaging.

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I’m a little late on this one. But National Television did a fantatic job with their ESPN MLB opening day animation.

Some very nice boards for Wilson done by Jarratt Moody.

Lucsious or Felipe Posada created this is a few years back. If you like this look, well you’re going to have a great eye for design because this one is beautiful. But, to learn how “grow” elements on in the background like Felipe, check out Jayse Hansen’s tutorial on CreativeCow.net to get started. Some of those masking principals are useful. Also, looks like some 3d stroke is flying around in there as well.

Rezn8 with 3 March Madness spots this year. Nice simple effects that don’t overshadow the emotion of each play. You wouldn’t wan’t to detract from those closeups and Rezn8 does a great job of making the graphics the main character when they have to be.

Here are a few techniques that work great in these spots and I’ve linked to some tutorials that cover similar topics. Not to say this is the way Rezn8 created these spots, but at least you can play around with ONE way to get it done.

3D text in after effects

Ah the million dollar question. Well the oldest way that I know of is duplicating your layer and moving back -1px in Z-space about 40times and then pre-comping the layers. However Zaxwerks makes a very popluar plugin called 3D invigorator that allows you to manipulate simple 3D shapes, extruded splines and text right in After Effects. John Dickinson of Motionworks just posted his 3d invigorator tutorials to get you started. But I like Chad Perkin’s Shatter trick simple and doesn’t require any plugins.

Reflections

Try Video Copilot’s 3D reflection tutorial. Pretty simple tutorial, even adds a little blur to the reflection.

Compositing and tracking

Another Video Copilot tutorial, HUD (or Heads up Display) covers a similar subject. Except in March Madness video you would track the background (perhaps a chair) or any static element in the scene.

As always, nice stuff from Rezn8. Got to love that glossy 3d. I really like this fighter interstitial.

Chris DiNicholas new boards look great.