NBA Finals 2006
The Legacy of Champions on ABC
An adrenaline-charged action show opener for the 2006 NBA Finals transporting the audience back in time to relive some of the most memorable moments in NBA history.
A new opportunity
Just after the success and the Emmy Award for the main title design of Oscars 2006 Show Opener, a new opportunity emerged. This one was the show opener for the NBA finals, which was to be broadcast on ABC television in prime time. Well, I couldn't resist the call of a new adventure, and the next day I was with the guys at Luminus Studio, discussing the project.
The show opener was named 'Legacy of Champions,' and it was going to present memorable moments and players from NBA history through the years.
The video was to start with a mysterious and somewhat gloomy, dark intro, but as the story progressed, it would reveal graceful moments from NBA history, ending with a total celebration of the game.
I really liked the proposed creative direction. It was something completely different from a flashy Oscars look, so I was on board in a second. I was to make several scenes, but the most exciting was...
Alley with Larry
For this new endeavor with Luminus, I was tasked to make several scenes, including the one with Larry Bird, my hero from when I was a kid. It instantly took me back in time playing a 'One on One' basketball game on my old Commodore 64 featuring Larry Bird. What a throwback!
I wanted to capture the essence of that time when I was losing hours playing that game. I wanted to pay homage to it, pour into the video that alley courtyard feel it had, and, at the same time, seamlessly embed it into the darkish mood of the video's art direction.
Making the courtyard
The final scene looked just as I imagined in my mind. A One on One game remake as the scene in the NBA show opener video twenty or some years later; honoring Mr.Bird and that wonderful piece of art from my youth. It was just remarkable!
Test RenderS
Ball Building & Outro
The intermezzo scene envisioned by Kristijan Petrovic was to present a giant basketball building as a central motive of the shot. Personally, at first, I was skeptical a bit if we were not going over the top with this, but in the end, it was just perfect, and it hit the spot just right.
It symbolized all the NBA legacy under one roof; or better said, dome, where we concluded the story with excerpts from the NBA history and finished it all up with a nice and clean ABC outro.
Test Renders
More than memories
And the final moment came. The video was finished. The mysterious and dark intro gave way to a celebration of the game as graceful moments from NBA history were revealed, one by one.
The video was a great success, playing on ABC on NBA finals nights and a whole lot of other TV channels around the world.
Final Video
Client: NBA, ABC, ESPN
Production: LUMINUS STUDIO for BLT Communications, inc.
It was another successful collaboration with Luminus Studio, and I was proud to have been a part of the Legacy of Champions and to have had the opportunity to help bring the story of the NBA to life.
But what's most important is the feeling of being able to relive all those moments when I was a child again. As a kid playing that computer game with pure joy for hours and hours, but now being able to create that world anew in a medium I couldn't imagine then it would ever exist.
This was something priceless.
