Formula 1

Aligned with a new exclusive rights deal for Sky Sports, the title’s narrative is that of a full weekends Formula 1 action; from practice, to qualifying and race day. Simultaneously the sequence tells the story of the previous season, featuring all ten constructors, leading drivers and iconic moments, including the championship winning moments. The sequence crescendos with a reset moment, on the grid as the lights go out. The start of yet another exciting race!

To signify the non-stop momentum of Formula 1, a consistent right-to-left camera move was applied to the entire creative. This was particularly difficult to execute as this live sport is anything but predictable, nor controllable. Having boarded a would-be wish-list storyboard we used our strong relationship with F1 and unrivaled access to the sport to film as many candid shots as possible using this premeditated right-to-left motion. The shots achieved on location equated for only a quarter of the sequence. A handful of cut-away moments were CG designed monitor style graphics, but the remainder of the edit is archive footage which needed to be manipulated in numerous ways to facilitated the desired technique. For example; the aerial pit-shot of the Ferrari, which was perfect in every way – except it traveled the opposite direction! This was flipped, all sponsorship painted out, then reapplied and tracked onto the car. Another scenario would be the focused scene of Max Verstappen in his helmet following the crash sequence. The move and visor was added to this shot, along with the debris of the crash that precedes it.

The creative is a testament to the access and coverage attained by Sky Sports, but we wanted to sign the sequence off which a shot which was completely unachievable. This could only be achieved in CG and required months of painstaking modelling, texturing and lighting to achieve a photo-real finish of a would-be unattainable camera angle of race start.

Music and sound effects play an integral role in this title. Outlands by Daft Punk was chosen for it’s somewhat monotonous rhythm and building strings, which perfectly complement the drama of a weekend/season’s action.

Sound effects and commentary were cleverly applied throughout to amplify the action and heighten the viewer’s senses.

Credits

Role: Designer Director
Agency: Sky Creative
Client: Sky Sports
Post Production: The Mill+
Edit: Trim
Audio: Envy