Venice, California-based design and production company Motion Theory showed how skateboarders came to be in "Evolution," the newest spot in ESPNs "Without Sports" campaign. Conceived by ESPN and its agency, Wieden+Kennedy/New York, the ad debuted during the Superbowl pre-game show. "Evolution" begins with an animated surfer riding a wave. As the surfer cuts up the wave, his surfboard sprouts wheels, evolving into a skateboard. The surfer then becomes a skateboarder as the environment and animation style progress through the '70s, '80s and '90s. After riding up the side of an empty pool, the skateboarder sails off the end of a modern-day half-pipe, spinning into the clouds. The spot ends with the "Without Sports" tagline. According to the animators at Motion Theory, combining the spots various animation styles and maintaining a constant sense of evolution required extensive planning and animator hours. Creative director Mathew Cullen was one of the 2D animators, along with Kaan Atilla, Brad Watanabe and Mike Steinmann. The projects 3D animators included John Clark, Paulo De Almada, Tom Bradley, Tom Bruno, Bridget McKahan, Ryan Alexander and Chris De St. Jeor. Other credits for Motion Theory include art director Jesus DeFrancisco and writer Grady Hall. Motion Theory has created and produced a variety of live-action and design-based projects, including Hewlett Packards "+HP" campaign, Nike's "Presto" and a four-spot live-action campaign for DIRECTV titled "Basketball Farmer." The companys clients include Saatchi & Saatchi, MTV, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Showtime Networks.
