HOLLYWOOD, CA — Engine Room’s latest NASCAR project for Fox Sports revved into high gear during the Daytona 500 broadcast. The photoreal CG show opening established an exciting new look for NASCAR on Fox.
The expansive, high-energy package will air throughout the NASCAR on Fox 14-week season and involved the creative development, design and production of the Show Open (daytime and night versions) as well as two new NASCAR on Fox branding icons to be rolled out in the coming weeks. The Show Open (Day & Night) can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/61635361
For the last two seasons, Fox Sports has tapped Engine Room for custom animation pieces involving intensive and rapidly produced, animated comic-style CG recaps of each weekly NASCAR race. This year's the collaboration went into overdrive, with Engine Room delivering an entire broadcast sports package that showcases the thrills, spills and upsets intrinsic to NASCAR, all with a beautiful new hyper-real look. As part of the Open's signature design are animated race cars that reflect the evolution of new 2013 custom body styles from the big three automakers in a wild race to the finish line. Engine Room was also tasked with designing two new branding icons for Fox Sports to be used throughout the racing season. The new chrome, energy infused Fox X-Car and its high-tech robot driver Speedus, a powerful 3D animated cousin to FOX Football robot Cleatus, is a lightning-fast racing mascot on wheels.
VFX Supervisor Dave Piedra, Creative Director Dan Schmit and EP Michael Caplan led the Engine Room design and animation team throughout the intensive process that spanned nine months, from the design phase to the execution of each deliverable in the campaign, which included two complete packages, the first for day races and a second to air during the season's night competitions. Nascar On Fox was produced at Engine Room using Maya CG software with VRay rendering. Dynamics were created using Maya particles and compositing was done in After Effects.
"Our work with Fox Sports is always incredibly rewarding thanks to the vision and passion of EVP/Creative Director Gary Hartley and his team," says Engine Room's Dan Schmit. "We are proud of how our ongoing collaboration with Fox Sports has evolved for more than a decade from a relationship based on our live action skills, to now providing large scale creative branding projects where we have been invited to do it all, from developing original concept, through feature-level visual effects CG execution. Gary saw our potential early on and we look forward to many more years of exciting collaboration and visionary work in support of Fox Sports."