LONDON — Found Studio (www.found-studio.com) created a new title sequence for FIBA, the world governing body for basketball. The open was crafted for the beginning of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China and is a blend of photorealistic and highly stylized motion design.
DAZN Creative commissioned the project back in May. The agency was looking for a creative opening film that incorporated photoreal 3D while honouring the heritage of the Basketball Federation and the glory of the sport.
“The real challenge was to get audiences pumped in only :15, which gave us an opportunity to create something fast-paced, dynamic and exciting,” explains Found Studio’s founder and creative director Mike Sharpe.
FIBA | Basketball World Cup, China 2019 from
Found Studio on
Vimeo.
The studio created the arena to scale in 3D to serve as the setting. The piece starts with a tip-off at center court, with a swooping CGI dragon adding a Chinese feel. The tagline ‘World Got Game” is complimented by the International Basketball Federation’s design language, color palette, and dragon vector.
“We visualized the ‘power of the basketball’ that the mighty dragon has brought to the World Cup using dynamic particle effects, focussed on the dragon’s swirling and wave-like movement across the stadium,” says Sharpe.
Quick camera movements and rapid edits help build anticipation.
The CG players were rendered in a photo-realistic finish, along with their FIBA World Cup-branded uniforms. In addition to the opening sequence, Found Studio also designed an extensive broadcast graphics package for the tournament. The short is appearing on FIBA’s channels throughout the tournament.
Found Studio used Cinema 4D, X Particles, Substance Painter, After Effects, Photoshop, Daz 3D, and Marvellous Designer to create the project, with rendering handled via Octane.