Film Roman Commercials and Special Projects division has produced animated opening title sequences, interstitials and several commercials promoting "Night Out On Sho Too," a Wednesday night program block featuring gay-themed movies, original series and specials. The animated spots, which are currently airing on Showtime, bring to life the characters featured in the retro, "tiki-lounge" style paintings by California-based artist Shag.

Estonian animation studio A Film Estonia has recently completed the production of two animated "postcards" for the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which will be held on May 25, 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia. The postcards will be seen as two of the many interstitials shown between the competing songs during the European broadcast of ESC. The aim is to introduce different aspects of the host country.

The New York Times calls it "an odd amalgam of OZZIE AND HARRIET, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and THIS IS SPINAL TAP," and after being on air less than a month it's MTV's biggest hit in over two decades. It can only be THE OSBOURNES, the reality sitcom about former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne and his family. To create the introductory graphics for the series starring the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness, THE OSBOURNES executive producers called on the new broadcast design division of Klasky Csupo.

The program names alone are enough to inspire a bounty of images: MTV’s ASS KICKING CHICKS and WHAT A GUY WANTS are two new projects to come from the creative team at digital content studio Super-Fi. Led by creative director Daniel Garcia and executive producer John Yuiska, the projects were fun adventures that afforded the Super-Fi team a great deal of creative freedom.

Production company Super 78 created a graphics package for the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on February 28, 2002. Drawing on the inspiration of the early 1980s gaming experience as the aesthetic foundation, Super 78 creative director Brent Young developed the look for the awards presentation. "Our goal was to create a vibe that was both retro and contemporary, TRON meets MATRIX, connecting the fact that this is an industry with a history and a future," Young explained.

Broadcast and commercial design collective V12 recently completed designing the new look for the X Games, the extreme sports version of the Olympics. Debuting at the Winter X Games and continuing through to the Summer Games, V12, lead by creative directors Juan Delcan and David J. Hwang, created all of the on-air packaging and design including logo ids, information graphics, backgrounds and on-screen scoreboards. For the visual transitions, V12 treated the live action footage to mirror the style of propaganda posters and provided an entire reel from which the client could choose.

Digital effects designer Cassie Scroggins of Minneapolis-based Hi-Wire recently finished a complete visual identity, including a logo, program open, interstitials and graphical interface, for DragonflyTV, a PBS program created by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT). DragonflyTV, a new children’s program that began airing on PBS stations nationwide on January 19, 2002, is geared towards children ages 9-12 and features ordinary children and their own science investigations.

Visual effects and design studio A52 recently completed work on a series of 30-second spots for the FOX network, which debuted on January 18, 2002 and counted down to February 3, 2002, Super Bowl Day. The spots promoted the scheduled live Super Bowl performances of U2, Paul McCartney, No Doubt and other artists, and featured multiple layers of high-contrast imagery composited with text and other graphic elements. A52 also provided visual effects on the spots.

With award categories like "Your Song Kicked Ass But Was Played Too Damn Much" and "Is It Hot in Here or Is It Just My Video?" the 2001 My VH1 Music Awards is clearly not your average music awards ceremony. For one thing, it is the fans that call the shots: the category names, nominees and winners are all determined through an online vote. That distinctly democratic impression was enhanced by a graphics and animation package created for the December 2 broadcast by visual effects/creative design house, PSYOP, NYC. This is the second year that PSYOP had been responsible for the package.