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Last Airbender |
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Grey's Anatomy Promo VFX |
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Interview with Bobby Chiu |
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License to dream |
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Focus : Gears Of War 3 |
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Dragon Age 2 |
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Bioshock Infinite |
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Time travellers Comic |
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Envirometer |
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Thelma and Louise Remake |
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Interview With Nick Harris |
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Making Art for Ipad |
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Making VFX for Ben Hur Remake |
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Interview : Mike winkelmann |
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Baby Data |
Spot Focus : Indy 500 - 2009 Opening Sequence
Mantra is an award winning creative content design and production studio specializing in creating media for broadcast, commercial, event, retail, digital signage and installations. Located in New York City’s Flatiron District, Mantra’s talented team of designers and VFX artists are behind some of today’s most visually compelling broadcast and event design offerings including the 2008 Grammy Awards Show, the MTV Video Music Awards, and various show packages. As part of its three-year Centennial Era celebration, ABC knew it wanted to open its live 2009 Indianapolis 500 broadcast with a teaser that would do the past 97 years of racing justice. ABC commissioned Mantra Design, to create an official “2009 Indianapolis 500 Opening Tease” that would incorporate memorable scenes in Indy 500 history, from its humble beginnings as a brick track to its modern day reputation as one of the most significant racing events in the world. Mantra Design was tapped to provide pre-production, production and post-production services for the piece, with 3D and digital effects work.
Miguel Oldenburg, a Senior Flame artist at Mantra, worked with the ESPN on ABC team beginning in January 2009 to conceptualize the piece. As this teaser would be the first thing viewers tuning in to the Indy 500 race would see, it had to summarize the Indy 500’s past 97 years, while also building excitement for the 2009 race. Tasked with creating a piece that would tell a story throughout the landmark eras without feeling choppy or disconnected, Oldenburg used heavy VFX work that took advantage of the Indy 500 museum’s vintage cars, bringing them back to life while also featuring shots of modern day icons and the 2009 Indy 500 competitors.To ensure that scenes would feel authentic, Oldenburg watched hours of archive footage in order to carefully re-create scenes from each era when filming began in Indianapolis during May 2009. Though the piece does incorporate some archive footage, many of the shots were filmed in Indianapolis using professional drivers
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"Visually, it was important for the piece to transition seamlessly between eras, even though we were working with a lot of several formats and creating many different looks, from the 20s and 30s through to today,” says Oldenburg. “We had to maximize VFX techniques to achieve that, and I think we succeeded. I’ve worked on the Indy 500 opening tease for a few years, and usually we do an in-your-face, fast-paced racing piece focusing on the cars. This was the first time we put the spotlight on the long and rich history of Indy, and using VFX and 3D work, we were able to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct the track in just over two minutes of air time."
"I think one of the highest compliments about the piece is that people think the majority of it is archival footage, when in fact, we created many scenes using a green screen and heavy design and VFX work, adds Oldenburg. “In the piece, there’s a shot from the 70’s where the crowd is cheering for the first female, Janet Guthrie, to drive at Indy. We did that entire shot, matching the color correction and grain. We even dressed the cameraman in the shot in a 70’s leather jacket and found an actual 70’s camera. The entire focus for us was to make the piece believable.”
Mantra is an award winning creative content design and production studio specializing in creating media for broadcast, commercial, event, retail, digital signage and installations. Located in New York City’s Flatiron District, Mantra’s talented team of designers and VFX artists are behind some of today’s most visually compelling broadcast and event design offerings including the 2008 Grammy Awards Show, the MTV Video Music Awards, and various show packages. As part of its three-year Centennial Era celebration, ABC knew it wanted to open its live 2009 Indianapolis 500 broadcast with a teaser that would do the past 97 years of racing justice. ABC commissioned Mantra Design, to create an official “2009 Indianapolis 500 Opening Tease” that would incorporate memorable scenes in Indy 500 history, from its humble beginnings as a brick track to its modern day reputation as one of the most significant racing events in the world. Mantra Design was tapped to provide pre-production, production and post-production services for the piece, with 3D and digital effects work.
Miguel Oldenburg, a Senior Flame artist at Mantra, worked with the ESPN on ABC team beginning in January 2009 to conceptualize the piece. As this teaser would be the first thing viewers tuning in to the Indy 500 race would see, it had to summarize the Indy 500’s past 97 years, while also building excitement for the 2009 race. Tasked with creating a piece that would tell a story throughout the landmark eras without feeling choppy or disconnected, Oldenburg used heavy VFX work that took advantage of the Indy 500 museum’s vintage cars, bringing them back to life while also featuring shots of modern day icons and the 2009 Indy 500 competitors.To ensure that scenes would feel authentic, Oldenburg watched hours of archive footage in order to carefully re-create scenes from each era when filming began in Indianapolis during May 2009. Though the piece does incorporate some archive footage, many of the shots were filmed in Indianapolis using professional drivers
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"Visually, it was important for the piece to transition seamlessly between eras, even though we were working with a lot of several formats and creating many different looks, from the 20s and 30s through to today,” says Oldenburg. “We had to maximize VFX techniques to achieve that, and I think we succeeded. I’ve worked on the Indy 500 opening tease for a few years, and usually we do an in-your-face, fast-paced racing piece focusing on the cars. This was the first time we put the spotlight on the long and rich history of Indy, and using VFX and 3D work, we were able to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct the track in just over two minutes of air time."
"I think one of the highest compliments about the piece is that people think the majority of it is archival footage, when in fact, we created many scenes using a green screen and heavy design and VFX work, adds Oldenburg. “In the piece, there’s a shot from the 70’s where the crowd is cheering for the first female, Janet Guthrie, to drive at Indy. We did that entire shot, matching the color correction and grain. We even dressed the cameraman in the shot in a 70’s leather jacket and found an actual 70’s camera. The entire focus for us was to make the piece believable.”