OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE
The Opening Title Sequence for the show had to be built with limited footage based on what was filmed before the first episode went to air. I developed this concept to add greater texture and complexity to this limited set of assets. The final result helped add cultural relevancy to the OTS, with the drawn animations referencing Japanese manga/anime (a common overlap for many Japanese car enthusiasts), and the halftone, gritty elements referencing both the magazine’s past as a print product (halftones, ink dot screens) and the dedication to being based on ‘street’ cars – exploring grunge textures when thinking of words like street, urban, concrete, asphalt.
I worked with Animator Abi Wicaksana to develop a set of hand-drawn animations that would go over the top of the footage. I created the halftone/grunge animation elements myself and fused the whole thing together for the final product.
Directorially, I decided that the OTS should have a distinct change in framing from the show. Since the footage was all real-life and roughly the same, we used a film-reel transition in and out of the OTS, framing it in a smaller 16mm-esque rectangle. I also made the decision to have the animated elements ‘burst’ out from that frame, enhancing the dynamism and energy of the music and our intention with the show.
ON-AIR GFX
I designed the set of GFX for the show that would be animated and implemented by the in-house graphics team. Below are some of the more common use cases, but each episode had roughly 15-20 separate GFX pieces to design
LOWER THIRDS
Animated paper uncrumpling was the base for the Lower Third GFX, with the host’s/guest’s name being constructed from cut out black rectangles, and a witty, tongue-in-cheek phrase appearing underneath. These were a ton of fun to come up with, with writing credits going to both myself and host John Naderi. The original magazine was heavy in smart-assery and we tried to add it where we could in this new format
LOCATIONS
A custom animation was made for noting locations on the show. It was coded to vary each time to provide uniqueness for each location, and could animate from the top or bottom
CAR SPECS
To help the audience with some of the nitty-gritty for our cars a similar graphic to the Lower Thirds was developed for the car information. It also provided another avenue for a bit of tongue-in-cheek copy writing
AD CARDS / BUMPERS
Going in and out of show Acts – breaking for broadcast ads – I made the decision to add bumpers to help the viewer know, but also inject some more branding and wittiness to the show. The most common format was a relevant ‘ambient’ clip from what had just happened or what was going to happen in the next Act, combined with our show’s logo or other SUPER STREET logo piece. I also Directed the in-house graphics team with some more comedic ones that would be like easter eggs for the viewer
ANIMATED TRANSITIONS
Using animated graphics as transitions and ellipses helped add more of the graphic style into the show. These were designed and animated by me
