LOGAN and Conscious Minds Bring Calvin Johnson, Alex Morgan, Neymar Jr. and Allyson Felix into Animated Games for Nike+

LOGAN plunges Nike+ users into a spectacular post-apocalyptic ice storm of a world with two 6:00, fully CG, stylized character-animated games featuring a cast of top athletes – NFL receiver Calvin Johnson, soccer players Alex Morgan and Neymar Jr., and sprinter Allyson Felix – and promoting a new line of weather-resistant clothing. LOGAN, which collaborated with Conscious Minds on the project, handled an incredible array of character design, modeling, matte painting, character and environment animation, dynamics and final compositing.

Players with a Nike+-activated device choose a mission and navigate the stages using one of the athletes as an avatar. Real-life challenges intertwine with the gameplay, creating a unique interactive experience between the player and the game. “We tried to make every shot and environment as engaging as we could so that the user felt compelled to go through with the physical challenge and see the whole story unfold,” stated LOGAN Art Director Ara Devejian.

LOGAN paid special attention to designing and animating the apparel and shoes, interpreting Nike’s references to a number of dramatic films framed comic book style to properly frame and stylize the game footage. In the same spirit, LOGAN took great care to design suped-up versions of the well-known athletes without rendering them unrecognizable.

“We worked back and forth to find a balance between the stylization and recognition of the characters, pushing the boundaries in collaboration with the agency, and then pulling them back to find a level that Nike and the athletes were comfortable with,” continued Devejian. “Once we got the look hammered out, we used a lot of low, wide, dramatic framings and tweaks in the apparel to play up their heroic qualities.”

Rapidly building four distinct worlds to house the games took a monumental collaborative effort across the studio. The VFX team, led by VFX Supervisor Julien Brami, created a system of matte paintings, camera projections and limited camera movements that cut production into a fraction of the time it would’ve taken otherwise. “Building four worlds quickly and concurrently was an incredible undertaking, but this is the sort of creative problem solving that guides everything we do,” stated LOGAN ECD Alexei Tylevich.

Touch Points:

• LOGAN teams up with Conscious Minds, the creative agency who directed, wrote and produced NIKE FUEL MISSIONS, to design a pair of animated games for Nike+.
• Game features NFL receiver Calvin Johnson, soccer players Alex Morgan and Neymar Jr., and sprinter Allyson Felix.
• LOGAN handles all character design, modeling, matte painting, character and environment animation, dynamics and final compositing on the effort.

Credits:

Client: Nike
Title: “Nike Fuel Missions”
Date: January 2013

Agency: Conscious Minds
Director: Peter Cote, Blake Heal
Creative Director: Cameron Dearmond
Agency Producer: Jason Richardson
Writer: Jeremiah Lujan
Tech Supervisor: Scott Crozier
Music: Christian Christian Davis
Concept Art: Magnus Rex

VFX/Post-production: LOGAN
ECD: Alexei Tylevich
Executive Producer: Matthew Marquis
Head of Production: Lindsay Bodanza
Producer: Sascha M Flick
Art Director: Ara Devejian, James Wang
VFX Supervisor: Julien Brami
Editors: Jarred Buck, James Connelly
Character Rigging: Kiel Figgins
3D Character Animators: James Grow, Les Major, Ruel Smith, Vyacheslav Anishchenko, Ian Mankowski, Valerie Morrison, Champin Chen, Christian Argueta, James Lane, Sei Sato
3D Modelers/Artists: Diego Melgar, Jeffrey Wilson, Josh Cortopassi, Gath Dorsainville, Madeleine Charraud
3D Dynamics: Ben Lopez, Billy Koak, Jerry Weil, Raymond King
Lighting/Rendering Artists: Ryan Kirkwood, Dylan Nathan, Brad Hayes, Daesun Hwang, Benoit Vincent
Matte Painters: Annis Naeem, Tyler West Studio, Pete Pace
Compositors: Joseph Hayden, Scott Trosclair, Jon Sadonsky, Scott Crawford, Sean Loughran
Flame Artists: David Parker, Carl Edwards

Supervising Sound Designer: Charles Deenen
Sound Designer: Tim Gedemer
Sound Designer: Richard Adrian
Sound Editor: Bryan Jerden
Foley Artist: Greg Barbanell
Foley Recordist: Darrin Mann
Re-recording mixer: Myron Nettinga
Sound Facility: Sourcesound