A52 Crafts Super Bowl

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. Each spot begins with a sequence that promotes the Bowl’s theme, "Tribute to America," then segues into a visual rundown of the performers slated to appear, where footage of the bands appears underneath their superimposed names. Detailing A52’s approach, project producer Leighton Greer explained, "We decided to take the footage of all the bands and string it together like a piece of film. This created negative space to feature the graphic type in. That way the type wasn’t directly connected to the picture but rather was in front of it. When the composited imagery turns, the type perspective changes with the picture." A52 used Inferno’s new 3D Tracker feature to add logos and text to the end-tag, where the on-air talent stands illuminated to one side of the frame. Using the Inferno’s three-dimensional space capability, A52 set up the logo and text to make it feel as if the people were part of the picture by rotating them into it. Adding light effects that turned on when the natural lights on the people turned off, added to the overall impact.