Branching into the world of indie film, design/post boutique Perception (www.perceptionnyc.com) created the opening title sequence as well as all of the graphics for the acclaimed sports documentary Through The Fire, directed Jonathan Hock, which aired on March 13th on ESPN and will be available on DVD, distributed by ESPN, starting March 14th

Click here for more info on Through The Fire: www.throughthefiremovie.com

Click here to view Perception’s broadcast showreel: www.perceptionnyc.com/popups

To create the effect seen during the opening title sequence, Perception used an all lowercase helvetica compressed font, which they printed out and used tracing paper to rewrite each letter by hand. Those typographic drawings were then scanned back into the computer, giving the final look a mixture of organic and digital.

‘Jon wanted something that looked unpolished,’ said Jeremy Lasky, Perception Design Director. ‘He left a lot of the creative in our hands; his only demand was that it not be too pretty. He wanted it to be gritty. We tried several approaches including all handwriting, distressed fonts and even mixing fonts and cases, but in the end the mixture of the font and hand-drawn felt the best.’

The other sequence in the film Perception worked on centered on taking newspaper accounts of the film subject, basketball player Sebastian Telfair, and bringing out certain words in the newspaper text while simultaneously blurring others.

‘We scanned in the actual newspapers at a super high resolution and used the camera tools in Adobe After Effects to bring out certain words and blur the others,’ explained Danny Gonzalez, Perception Visual Effects Director. ‘It was a challenge creating camera moves over a flat piece of newspaper, but I think we stepped up to the challenge without going over the top.’

Through The Fire tells the story of basketball phenom (and cousin to Knicks’s star Stephon Marbury) Sebastian Telfair, who at the start of the film calls a press conference to announce his decision to attend college at the end of the year. He does this as his friend, fellow teen athlete LeBron James, is making history with a $90 million dollar sneaker deal. But after two young men are gunned down outside Telfair’s apartment in a public housing project, Sebastian can’t suppress his urge to provide a better life for his family as soon as he can, and he decides to forgo college and go straight to the pros.

With Sebastian story as focal point, Through The Fire provides a provocative and intimate look at the American phenomenon that ushers poor children past the traditional means of upward mobility for the win-it-all/lose-it-all gamble of professional sports, a culture that can often push these young men to greatness, or drive them to ruin.

About Perception:
Founded in 2002 by former R/GA creatives Jeremy Lasky, Design Director; Brendan Werner, Editorial Director; and Daniel Gonzalez, Effects Director, Perception (www.perceptionnyc.com) mission is to create world-class commercial visual art that both challenges and communicates. Collectively, Perception has worked on over 700 broadcast projects, garnering numerous creative awards.

Specializing in high def and standard def motion graphics, 3D/2D animation, compositing, visual effects and editorial for top advertising agencies, broadcast networks, film studios and new media the company growing client list includes ABC Sports, HBO, Showtime, WE!, Cinemax, ESPN, AMC, Spike TV, Voom HD, Bravo!, Miramax, McDonald’s, Sony Music, TV Land/Nickelodeon, FUSE Channel, Ogilvy and Mather, Time Warner Cable, Dish Network, Playboy Entertainment, Avrett Free Ginsberg, Grey Healthcare and The Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA.

Toolkit:
?Äì Adobe After Effects, Photoshop Illustrator
?Äì Apple G5 workstations
?Äì Final Cut Pro

Creative Credits:
Project: ‘Through The Fire’ ?‚àö√ë‚àö¬® open title sequence/visual effects
Airdate: ESPN ?Äì March 13

Design/Post: Perception, New York
Design Director: Jeremy Lasky
Visual Effects Director: Daniel Gonzalez
Editorial Director: Brendan Werner
Designer: Austin Shaw
Animator: Christian Gaetgens