NEW YORK - NailGun (www.nailgun.tv) recently designed and animated the show package for "Food Network Challenge." The graphic collage juxtaposes imagery of fast-paced cooking with that of athletic competitions. The NailGun team created the :21 animated show open, along with toolkit elements that can be used to wrap the Food Network's numerous food competition shows, ranging from bake-offs to barbeques.
Hand-made, cut-out-styled elements of competition-themed imagery, such as stopwatches and scoreboards, were combined with similarly-treated elements of athletes and cooks to create the show open. Animated lighting effects, including sparks, lens flares and stars, reinforce the use of fire in cooking and the competitive angle.
NailGun partners Michael Waldron and Erik van der Wilden note that the goal was to give the feel of a cook-off, with a nod to the crazy competitions too. Elements were shot using a Canon GL1, and were treated and animated using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. Apple's Final Cut Pro was used for the edit.