FANATICS INTRO ANIMATION
- Task: Create intro animation with partner logo title lockup
- Parameters: Corona’s tagline is “find your beach.” This feature will highlight Celtics Fanatics in their element.
To focus on connecting the brands, I started by evaluating Corona's logo:
I started with their logo normal size (Follow along in image gallery below), scaled it up to focus a little more on the “crown” elements. Then turned it on its side for a different perspective. So, here’s what I felt like I noticed as options after evaluating their logo:
- Cross at the top is often used as a symbol of devotion.
- Staying on the cross, using just the top of the logo, maybe those bubbles identify a crowd, again focusing on the cross.
- There are 3 lines at the base of the crown including negative space. This three stipe pattern could represent our green + white stripes on our jersey’s.
- The five circles within the base of the crown could serve as fans in their seats, collectively watching a game.
- Finally, the crown could look like the base of a chair from above.
Are all viable options? Technically yes, but only a couple stand out. This process of lateral thinking, or generative thinking, helps open the door to ideas not initially thought of at first sight. After this evaluation phase, I decided to focus on two. The stripes were intriguing, and the base of the crown with the circles in the rectangle both felt like they had some legs.
The next step after filtering those ideas down, was to play with those ideas. I started with the three stripes, and ended with the following options. These are really rough explorations. The idea is just to get it on screen and see if it stimulates any other directions or thoughts. All three of these are failures, but were part of the process that led to the final result.
I researched inspiration on how others animated circles. I came across three that ended up giving me different perspectives. I had initially only focused on full circles, but one in particular drew me to consider starting with a stroke (Red image on left). When I couldn’t sleep a night later, I got my vision. At 11:30pm, I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to draw it out before I forgot. Here’s what that looked like (on right):
- Solution: Start with a stroke overlay of video, have the full circle come in from left to right that would turn into a bar that would roll up to reveal Fanatics. Fanatics would flip up and be replaced by the 5 circles of the bottom of the Corona crown that would then resolve into the logo. This was it. The metaphor here is that a single fan (1 circle on screen) is the fanatic, but they are part of the larger fan base, as illustrated by the 5 circles that are encapsulated by the rectangle that binds them into a cohesive unit.
All of this work on the front end saved me a ton of time on the back end. As you can see in the final result, even though this is how I drew it up, it still doesn’t look 100% like the final. So what changed? The goal from here on out is to figure out how to make it work. It looks good on paper (The concept that is, I’m obviously not an illustrator), but some of the challenges in execution don’t pan out as you initially envision. The execution phase is solving the transitional and structural elements with the goal of taking this as a base and elevating it to the end.
There was a little bit of back and forth trying to find how it worked best to fit into the piece. Once timing and graphical elements were sound, I added some light sound effects, and inserted into the editing timeline.
The colors used are our team colors, but I was also mindful to use them in a way that advances the story. The Fanatics title is Gold signifying the Fanatics importance. The gold background for Corona represents the beach (and beer). Lastly, I added textures to mimic a jersey look and feel in the green elements, and a sand look in the final gold to emphasize the beach. Although they appear small, the details reinforce the concept.
Final video execution:
