Prior to the start of any sport’s season, each player has a moving headshot made. Depending on the sport, a moving headshot can be used for a starting lineup, introduction of the team preceding regulation time, a goal, touchdown, score or the like. The moving headshot that will be referenced is for the NHL team, the Phoenix Coyotes’ team captain, Shane Doan.
Before the season begins, each team member is shot against a green screen, which will be keyed out later in After Effects. The green screen shoot is key due to the importance of the moving headshot, which will be used hundreds of times of the course of a season. Proper lighting is imperative so that it is keyed out cleanly. Minor mistakes are not allowed. Typically, the green screen shoot takes place barely days before the first home game, which means there is not a lot of time given to fix mistakes. 30 or more headshots are done, which may also include coaches. Render time, transfer time and load time into game computers take as much as time as the creation process.
Once the green screen shoot is done, After Effects becomes the tool to create the moving headshot. The creation process involves starting from scratch with font, style and tempo. Branding from the print media must coincide with visual media and vice versa. Once the branding has been determined, the motion graphic artist moves forward.
Layers upon layers are built around the player and expectations are higher dependent upon the level of sport. Minor leagues are typically rudimentary with less concern for production quality. Major sports have full time staff members who spend their time branding the image of the player, which is key as thousands of spectators will see their sports heroes live, while millions watch them on the television.
In large arenas in which hockey teams play (and other sport venues as well), there are also large multimedia boards which are used to complete the moving headshot. They will use the same leitmotif shown on the main video board. This is all part of the live experience, which the spectator pays with each ticket. Watching a sport on television does not give the same sense of the grandeur that a live game has to present. Hockey is the one sport experienced live that truly entertains above and beyond even the largest HDTV.
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Comments
Wow, I did not realize so much went into those headshots. There really is allot of behind the scenes work that the average spectator does not even think about!
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