Andrea Dionisio, creative director at METAphrenie, steps up to answer Five Questions.
1. What are you working on today?

Another network redesign/branding for a sports channel.
An adidas spot for Stella McCartney.
A few pitches we of course aren’t at liberty to divulge.

2. What have you found is the best tool or innovation that has come out in the last year?

Well, we’re really excited about the RED One digital camera ‘ the idea of potentially having a 4K resolution camera lying about the office waiting for a rainy day is phenomenal ‘ we hope to try one out soon.

3. The project (film, television, commercial or music video) that most impressed you in the last year? Why?

Psyop’s Coke Happiness Factory. We just love all the attention to details and the characters have so much depth you could make a full-length feature based on them….if Psyop isn’t already!

4. The best or favorite project that you worked on in the past year? And why?

Al Jazeera Sport. It was a huge assignment ‘ a complete redesign/branding, a soccer promo package (Leagues), an event package for the Asian Games and a Sports News package (will be released later this year.) We did all this in just 4 months and everyone worked terribly hard on every aspect of the project. Since the job required so much manpower and we had maxed out the available freelancers in Germany we ended up flying in designers and animators from the US, Colombia and Italy. It was great to have such a diverse and motivated team on the job and to see them all come together and form new friendships.

5. Name the top 4 artists on your iPod?

Seu Jorge
Ray Charles
Sam Cooke
a bunch of film score composers.

Recent Project: Al Jazeera Sports
Berlin-based design firm METAphrenie recently showcased their talents in an award-winning broadcast branding package for Middle Eastern network Al Jazeera’s sports telecasts. Winning a pitch that included design studios from the U.S., Germany, and the U.K., the project included concept, design, directorial, animation, and editorial for a comprehensive network package promoting upcoming broadcast events.

… then watch the "Making of" these promos…

Led by a design and directorial team that includes founders and industry veterans, Andrea Dionisio and Mike Helmle, METAphrenie cemented its position and global reach in the design community, showcasing their ability to handle a project from concept to completion. The entire series included a combination of live action, photography and 2D and 3D design that were seamlessly combined to create an exciting and informative branding experience. The multi-tiered package included promos, stings, closers, lower thirds, and menu pages for the channel’s entire sports series as well as for their coverage of the Asian Games, the world’s second largest sporting event, only behind the Summer Olympic Games.

One of the elements, recently awarded BDA Gold, is a promotional package for the network’s soccer telecasts. The promos showcase the three major global soccer leagues that air on the network’Italy, Spain and Portugal. Called Leagues, the series creates an epic duel between player and country by integrating intricate sport-specific live action elements with a stylistic design environment, as athletes battle out against huge national monuments, including Italy’s Coliseum and Spain’s Guggenheim Museum.

Commenting on the creative process, Dionisio notes, “Our strategy was to take sports and the athletes that play them, and isolate these two elements, stripping things down to the bare essentials. The sports take place in a highly stylized setting, with athletes all in white and their surroundings incorporating a branded palette of white, orange and blue throughout. We did this to help enhance the action of the sports. We also created a unique design environment to support each athlete as they performed their sport, including the CG monuments as well as a series of dynamic light-trails that echo the live action motion of the athletes.”

The entire project involved an integration of actual atheletes, each in a really unique design landscape. Discussing the intricate motion of the athlete, Helmle muses, “The biggest challenge for us was shooting the various sports and incorporating this into our design environments. We shot on a digital Weisscam that can capture up to 1000 frames-per-second at 720p. This allowed us to capture the various subtleties of each sport ‘ especially the archer, as you can see the arrow flexing as it’s released.” The end result is that there is no mistaking when one is watching Al Jazeera Sports.

The campaign was recently rewarded at the 2007 BDA World Gold Awards, with METAphrenie recieving recognition for its work on the following:

• Gold : Al Jazeera Leagues
• Silver : adidas +F50 Tunit
• Bronze : adidas Predator vs. F50
• Bronze : Al Jazeera Asian Games

In addition to the work for Al Jazeera Sports, the design team at METAphrenie recently worked on campaigns for brands such as Adidas, Audi, and the Discovery Channel.

CREDITS:

Client: Al Jazeera Sport Channel (Doha, Qatar)

Title: Asian Games/Al Jazeera Spots Promos and Broadcast Branding

Air Date: June 2007
Design/Production: METAphrenie (Berlin, Germany)

CD(s): Andrea Dionisio, Mike Helmle
Designer(s)/2D Animator(s): Andrea Dionisio, Mike Helmle, Kevin Stein, Francisco Estevez-Breton Riveros
3D Artists: Radoslaw Jamrog, Paul Janssen, Pietro Salerno, Bastian Konradt, Francis Schmitt, Jan Meckes
CG Supervisor: Robert WegemunLine Producer: Michael Hajduk
EP: Heiko Mehrens
Original Music/Sound Design: Supersoul Productions (Berlin, Germany)

Composer/Sound Designer: Xaver Naudascher
Additional Music/Sound Design ‘ Asian Games: Wicked Music (New York, USA)
Creative Director: Vico Sharabani
Composer/Sound Designer: Daniel Freedman
Film Production: Cineplus Media Services Director(s): Andrea Dionisio, Mike Helmle
D: Stefan Ciupek

P1st AD: Michael Hajduk
Producer: Jà¶rg Schulze
Georg Ilse Production Manager:

Location and Studio: Havelstudios, Trabrennbahn Mariendorf Race Track (Berlin, Germany)