London-based Studio AKA and director Steve Small created three 10-second animated portraits for NBA documentary Iceman, airing now on NBA.com. The documentary was produced by New York City-based production company One9.
The portraits, while animated in 2D, look like they were created in charcoal on paper. They are inspired by the scene-in-silhouette technique first popularized by Patrick Clair in the main titles for the first edition of HBO anthology series, True Detective.
George Gervin, now 71, played most of his career with the San Antonio Spurs, although he was traded to the Chicago Bulls and played with an up-and-coming Michael Jordan late in his career. He is considered to be one the NBA’s all-time greats and in 2021, the organization named him one of the 75 greatest NBA players of all time.
Throughout his life, he struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, which is addressed in both the film and the animated portraits. In one sequence, light plays over Gervin’s face, representing the light and dark that he has faced.
“Iceman includes references to George’s struggles with drug and alcohol abuse over a few decades, and One9 came to us to provide some animation that might represent aspects of this troubled past in an appropriate but visually striking manner,” said Studio AKA on its Vimeo page. “One9 wanted to emphasize the psychological angle rather than show any on-screen drug or alcohol abuse and was keen for these animated sections to provide a change in pace and bring a moment of calm in contrast to the content being portrayed.”
“One9 has a keen eye for mood and pace and knows how to both create intense visuals and when to strip a scene down to its essence for full effect. It was a great opportunity for us to explore this digital painting animation technique further and get to grips with capturing historical likenesses of well-known figures and bring them to life in a stylised graphic setting,” wrote animation director and designer Steve Small on Studio AKA’s Vimeo page.
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CREDITS
Client: MSM, One9
Production: Studio AKA
Director: Steve Small
Producer: Sharon Titmarsh, Nikki Kefford-White
Animator/illustrator: Janina Putzker
3D animator: Daniel Garnerone
Compositor: William Eagar
Editor: Nic Gill
PA: Lara Salam
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