Gamers Vs.
In 2016 the IOC created ‘The Olympic Channel’.
The service is an OTT Internet TV channel and works like a Netflix for athletes.
I created all the on-screen graphics for a series called ‘Gamers Vs’. The show featured famous Youtubers and Twitch gamers trying real Olympic sports and being coached by a star athlete.
The client wanted a retro 8-Bit look to all the graphics. The references they gave me were the credits to the Channel 4 show ‘The I.T. Crowd’ and the popular ‘Blue Grid in Space’ style 80’s logos.
I created the title sequence and all the stings and segment headings in a combination of those references. I built everything in After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop.
Each episode featured a challenge for the Gamers to complete.
It didn’t feel right to use the same generic scoreboard every time, since the sports were so different and unique, so I created a bespoke scoreboard for each sport. The scoreboards needed to be fun but not distracting and readable but not too big.
The clients at the Olympic Channel were creative and as the edits were being completed they would think of extra jokes, for example having someone freeze and putting Anime style speed lines behind them. Part of my job was to take whatever they asked for and make it work.
The YouTubers agreed to be the show to raise their profile. I created name straps for them with social media icons to encourage viewers to find them on line.
We also needed to explain the rules of each sport to the viewer. I created simple text boxes that would pop up and delivered them on an alpha channel, so the editor could fit them in wherever they needed to be.
