2016 NBA All-Star Game opening tease
Producer: Drew Watkins
Editor: Scott Bramlett
Comps: Chris Wolfe
Snow added: Sean McPherson
This project kicked off with a cryptic “Sorry” text from Creative Director Drew Watkins who was on a flight returning from the shoot. I didn’t get an explanation until the edit was far enough along for me to see what I was in for. A room full of vintage picture frames Michael B. Jordan was walking through all hung by heavy wire that needed images comped inside them. I am not sure if I laughed until I cried or cried until I laughed but there was a lot of tears and laughter. Some of the best jobs are like that. Full of tears and laughter. We ended up moving from our Atlanta suites to the on-site Toronto trucks mid project and the laughs continued as editor Scott Bramlett pranked me for 3 days without me knowing it. We were set up next to each other and as he dropped my renders in I would lean back in my chair to look around the barrier between us to see him play it back in sequence. For 3 days he would not play back the sequence while I looked. Every time I leaned back there was a triple slap of the spacebar to stop playback until I was no longer looking. Then when I returned to my comps I would hear it playing back. All on purpose and I had no idea. It was cold, we weren’t sleeping, sustaining ourselves on truck food and unhealthy snacks and loads of caffeine and having a blast doing it.
I leaned on transparent LEDs that I had seen in some in-store booths recently for the in frame look. I didn’t want a blown out self-illuminating look because I thought the shoot itself needed some help selling the depth and the monitor look would flatten it. I wanted the images to blend into the frames and follow the surrounding lighting rather than stand out from it. Sometimes a good comp in my opinion transcends rather than imitates reality. In reality the screens would have been brighter but I also think they would have called too much attention to themselves instead of supporting the narrator and keeping the eye focused on him. I used syntheyes for the camera track and After Effects for the final comps.
