Exopolis kicks off New Sprint AD for NFL Mobile

Multidisciplinary
creative studio Exopolis has been tapped by

San Francisco ad agency Goodby, Silverstein
& Partners to produce a :30 (and :15 cut-down) in-stadium ad promoting Sprint’s
NFL Mobile service. Intended for display across Jumbotron monitors and
LED banners, the effort is part of the new “Sprint Ahead” ad campaign,
which features the use of light to convey creativity and speed. Exopolis
directed the live-action greenscreen shoot and handled all animation and editorial for the spot, which launches during the first Indianapolis
Colts home game against the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 6, and will air in
select stadiums throughout the 2007-2008 NFL season.

NFL Mobile
lets sports fans access highlights, updates and scores directly from their
cellular phones. To take advantage of the Jumbotron’s high quality image
resolution, Exopolis developed a dramatic spot that captures the strength and
dynamic movement of football, and connects it with the power of the NFL Mobile
service.

Set to a
dramatic orchestral score and shot in slow motion using the Photo-Sonics 4ER
High Speed camera on 35mm film, the spot features two black-clad football
players battling it out against a darkened backdrop. Each movement elicits a
trail of fiery light. When the players finally collide together, their impact
sets off an explosion of energy, which envelops the screen and leads into the
NFL Mobile product shot, team sponsorship graphics and closing tagline,
“Sprint ahead.”

Goodby,
Silverstein & Partners gave Exopolis the mandate to push the “Sprint
Ahead” light streaks visual so that it felt new and interesting and was an
evolution of the stop motion light effects seen in the current “Sprint
Ahead” ad campaign. An additional requirement was ensuring that the
greenscreen shoot produced footage that conveyed the physical power of the
players, even after they were composited into a black environment and surrounded
by animated graphics. Exopolis achieved this by paying special attention
to the on-set lighting and through tight rotoscoping and compositing in post.
The spot was created using a combination of MAXON Cinema 4D and Adobe
After Effects.

Said Jason O’Leary, Executive Producer,
Exopolis, “The experience of overseeing the live-action production enabled
our creatives to properly dictate and receive the types of player movements
that would benefit the spot in the end. It also allowed us to dictate to the DP
and crew what we needed to make the post-production process more efficient.
Goodby trusted

our vision and production capabilities from the beginning, and allowed us to
use our creative and animation expertise to develop the light streaks in a way
that looked amazing and could get done in their timeline.”