CricOne - Ident

Pointbreak Networks enters the channel branding territory once again, this time for a 24x7 Cricket channel in the Middle East – CRICONE. Just this time around we went one step ahead and worked hand in hand with the advertising agency in Dubai – MAME in the brand building exercise too. This channel has been on-air for almost a month and is widely watched because it is the only channel broadcasting the IPL T20 cricket matches in the region. We were aware that the channel is being watched by cricket lovers mostly from our sub-continent yet it needed an international appeal to cater to all viewers.

We went into the project fully aware of the fact that we had close to 20 -25 days from inception stage to the launch of the channel with all elements in place. It quiet a task for anybody whether big or small to manage such deadlines. We started by putting together the logo that came from the agency. We molded it a bit and created a version that was best suitable for on-air use.

The LOGO:

We took a different approach to the on-air channel branding exercise. We wanted most of the elements to blend seamlessly into the matches and other content on the channel. We started by creating 7 different idents of 10seconds each dramatizing every aspect of the game. Like with every project we've taken, there had to be something challenging here. We wanted to achieve time slice and high speed plus put in some computer graphics and create this whole unrealistic scenario yet keeping it elegant.

Finally it trickled down to the fact that we don’t have a ready made rig to do that kind of time slice shot we wanted readily available in Mumbai and there was no way we could create one (because of constrains). DOP Vishal Sinha walked in with the most practical, feasible and interesting solution. He suggested we use the motion control rig (Milo) but only as a remote head so we get the camera to move precisely, quickly and programmed to give multiple passes.

The shoot was a great success in many ways. We managed to achieve time-slice and motion control and finish shooting all the 7 idents in a day. We associated with the guys at http://johnnysokoandtheflyingrobots.com for the first time on this project to do the CG and VFX.

Here are the results:

Storyboard:
Here's the test we ran using a still camera with the DOP Vishal Sinha on how the Ident would look.


The test we did using the MILO (Motion Control Rig):


The result after shoot (offline edit):


The Ident after online (cleaning and wire removal, etc):


The Final Idents after CG:

Ident 1:


Ident 2:


Ident 3:


Ident 4:


Ident 5:


Ident 6:


Ident 7:

Creating channel elements is an interesting part of the branding process. This is something that will stay with the channel for a long time. Taking forward from the idents we didn’t want to enter the complete CG space here. We wanted to shoot plates in a cricket stadium and composite graphics on them. These were shot in a stadium in Chandigarh again all in a day.

Menu-Plates:

Now:


Next:


Today:


Tonight:


Tomorrow:

Then followed other things like Promo end pages, Astons and the whole inventory list. We spent about 10days in Dubai to setup the channel working closely with the MAME team and the guys at the Ten Sports facility. Channel branding is something we love doing and it just got bigger and better with CricOne.

CREDITS:

Team at Pointbreak

DOP
Vishal Sinha
Asst. DOP
Narayan & Robin

Music Directors
Suhaas Ahuja
Naren Chandavarkar
Shirish Malhotra

Line Producer
Soniil Shetty

Costume
Bhakti

Cast/Cricketers
Bravesh Shetty
Rohit Wagh
Swapnil Hazare
Deepan Mankad

CG Team

Animation & Design:
JOHNNY SOKO AND THE FLYING ROBOTS DESIGN PVT. LTD.

Compositing & Effects:
Pranav Gandhi & Darshan Barot

Texturing, Animation & Masking:
Pushkraj Jadhav, Priya Poojary & Swapnil Gaikwad

Online Team
Rajeev Rajasekharan
Badninadh Chinimilli
Paranatap Singh
Shubham Rathod Singh

Editors
Ninad & Mangesh