Nascar hit the airwaves in February, and with that came one of the department’s most sought after campaigns.

This year Jason Scott and Mark Denyer-Simmons brought “Engine City” to the masses. It was a hyper-surreal interpretation of what goes on in one of the massive engines of a NASCAR during a race. BUF was the production Inc. that did all of the heavy lifting once Mark and Jason flushed out the idea. Fortunately during pre-production the remastered Blade runner DVD was hitting the shelves so there was plenty of inspiration front and center. Done completely in CG, “engine City” really captured the essence of the fury and power that is Nascar.

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STORYBOARDS

Credits

EVP Fox Sports - Eric Markgraf
SVP/Creative Director - Robert Gottlieb
Lead Creatives Jason Scott & Mark Denyer-Simmons
Executive Producer - Bill Battin
Editor - Kirk smith
Production Company - Buf
Audio - Mic Brooling

Fox Sports in-house creative team has partnered with visual effects house Digital Domain to produce a visually
arresting 60 second space epic announcing the return of the Daytona 500, airing on Fox this February.
“The Daytona 500 is a huge event for us, and we wanted to create a spot that would really grab the attention
of the casual viewer and make them pay attention to our promo” said Robert Gottlieb, Fox Sports VP/ Creative Director.

The spot takes a photo-real approach to a surreal fantasy of having NASCAR tracks criss-crossing the farthest reaches of outer
space as the sports top drivers make their way back to Earth for the Daytona 500. Set to the propulsive rhythem of the Bell Rays
“Revolution Get Down,” the spot features drivers operating in zero-gravity, endless space vistas, cars spinning out into the
inifinte reaches of the universe, and a jarringly violent re-entry to planet Earth.

The live-action pieces, directed by Fox Sports’ Robert Gottlieb and Rob Hoover, was filmed over 1 day on a green screen set
in Culver City, then edited back at Fox’s in-house facilities before being sent to the team at Digital Domain for creation of the
visual effects, 3D modeling, matte painting and animation “Working with Digital Domain was a pleasure.” Said Gottlieb,
“they’re an amazing group of artists who really understood how to take this idea and run with it”.

Credits

EVP Marketing - Eric Markgraf
VP/Creative Director - Robert Gottlieb
Visual Effects - Digital Domain
Director - Robert Gottlieb & Rob Hoover
Executive Producer - Bill Battin
Editor - Felipe Fenton, Fox Sports
Sound Design - Mic Brooling, Fox sports

A striking new promo for Nascar on Fox marks another creative collaboration between FOX SPORTS in-house
creative team and French animation house BUF. Combining high resolution photography with CGI cars, Fox Sports
and BUF have created a manic road race across America where Nascar’s most famous cars are seen racing at
incredible speeds and performing impossible stunts as they make their way over, under, around, and on top of
American landmarks such as Times Square, Hoover Dam, the St.Louis Arch, and the Las Vegas Strip. By paying
meticulous and careful attention to the style of the car animation, using hyper-exaggerated weight distribution and
realistic camera shakes and vibration, the creatives at FOX SPORTS and BUF have created a visually stunning
take on Nascar.

The package, including a full :60 sec graphically animated promo spot as well as a “toolkit” of animated elements which
can be integrated with live action footage, is beautifully and dramatically unique in its use of photo realism and CG animation.
It was created for FOX Sports and the NASCAR 2006 race season.

Credits

EVP Fox Sports - Eric Markgraf
VP/ Creative Director - Robert Gottlieb
Creative Director - Mark Simmons
Executive Producer - Bill Battin
Production Coordinator - Kari Pickler
Editor - Tom Hok
Sound Design - Mic Brooling
Flame - Cari Chadwick, Rene Chamblain
Design & Compositing - Guillermo Lecuona, Phillip Shtoll
CGI/3D - BUF
BUF Producer - Aurelia Abate

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

The fastest NASCAR race meets the fastest thrill ride in our Daytona Motor Speedway spot. We strategically combined the ups downs twists and turns of a rollercoaster with the speed and aggression of Daytona’s racing.

Credits

EVP Marketing, Fox Sports - Eric Markgraf
SVP/Creative Director - Robert Gottlieb
Creative Director - Keith Woodmass
Writer/Producer - Jason Scott
In-House Producer - Bill Battin
Sound Design - Mic Brooling
Mac Design - Tom Neston, Guillermo Lecuona
Editor - Noel Oliver, Tom Hok
CGI/3D Animation - Buf
Year - 2005

What is it about these Nascar projects that draws in so many amazing artists to work with us? Whatever it is,
we just want to keep it coming. We were incredibly fortunate to be able to collaborate with Psyop on this project.
The boards they pitched were awesome, naturally, and Scott Bantle had Mark Simmons work with Marie, Marco,
and Eben on this and the results were everything we could have hoped for. Mic’s sound design really helped keep
both the drama and playfulness of this striking piece come alive.

Credits

Fox Sports

EVP Marketing - Neal Tiles

SVP On-Air Promotions/CD - Scott Bantle

Creative Director/Copywriter - Mark Denyer-Simmons

Sound Design - Mic Brooling

Psyop

Art Director - Marie Hyon

Exec. Producer - Justin Booth-Clibborn

Producer - Danny Rosenbloom

Directors - Marie Hyon, Marco Spier

Flame Artist/Composite - Eben Mears