UFC Fight Week
Brand Broadcast Graphics Package | Created at Fox Sports
Role: Lead Designer (Art Direction, opening sequence, design, animation and compositing)
Designers: Owen Cutbush (sets), Francis Eaton (inshow)
Producer: Robb Tasker
The Ultimate Fighter Championship is Main Event's premiere mixed martial arts sports organisation.
UFC Fight Week is a show that provides the back story, interviews and in-depth analysis of athletes competing in upcoming UFC events featured live on pay-per-view on Main Event. UFC Fight Week has initially approached the VIZ department for new inshow elements. However as a fan of mixed martial arts and an opportunity to progressively improve the graphics of Fox Sports, I pushed for a full rebrand of the show, from the opening sequence down to the set production.
UFC Fight Week is a show that provides the back story, interviews and in-depth analysis of athletes competing in upcoming UFC events featured live on pay-per-view on Main Event. UFC Fight Week has initially approached the VIZ department for new inshow elements. However as a fan of mixed martial arts and an opportunity to progressively improve the graphics of Fox Sports, I pushed for a full rebrand of the show, from the opening sequence down to the set production.
DESIGN PROCESS
The original show graphics were very much the standardised sports news type, it was uniform and functional but the show lacked its own voice and character. Rebranding UFC Fight Week to have it's own character, the art direction for the show is to feature something unique to the sport, the one thing every UFC athlete yearns for; The UFC Undisputed Championship belt, the ultimate symbol of the pinnacle,
in the biggest MMA organisation.
As such we depart from that standard blue colour palette and into the space of gold, with the secondary colours being tan and a muted green. Contrasting to the sharp clean aesthetic derived from the belt, a muted and light grunge style has been applied to the fighters (with different fighters featured on each show), emphasising on the hard work and grit the athletes need to succeed at the very top.
As such we depart from that standard blue colour palette and into the space of gold, with the secondary colours being tan and a muted green. Contrasting to the sharp clean aesthetic derived from the belt, a muted and light grunge style has been applied to the fighters (with different fighters featured on each show), emphasising on the hard work and grit the athletes need to succeed at the very top.
An additional design consideration is that every show features a different set of fights, depending on the main event and the co-main event. As such, the opener has a dedicated space to showcase the featured fighters, with an animated background of top contender names, vying to be at the very top, serving as a reminder of the who's who of the sport. The green and sepia tones were used to treat various fighter portraits for both the opener and set graphics, and give the show a unified feel and colour palette no matter what fighter portraits are made available.
The inshow graphics by Francis was kept simple and the spirit of the design is kept consistent with the
2D animations and logo.
EXECUTION
With the UFC Undisputed Championship belt being the main feature of the show's opener and the core design element of all the graphics of the show, I have modelled the UFC belt from scratch, using accurate references, detailed texturing and booles to create the divots at the rim of the belt. Everything was lit carefully to give a balance of light and dark, contrast and shine of certain elements such as the diamonds in their settings.
The opener features the belt close up, with reflections of great UFC moments of the past; the victories achieved, the dreams broken and history being made. I made the decision to feature moments as the nature of mixed martial arts can mean one fighter is a superstar one day, and nobody the next, whereas history is permanent. Three particular macro cameras were used, sweeping along the three letters of the UFC, nulls were created from Cinema 4D to allow for adding the footage on the surface of the belt in After Effects as the 3D camera moves.
In sequences that feature fighters, the blocky rectangular font Agency was used, its suitably rough and mixes well with the linear animation of the names shifting. As mentioned, fighters were colour treated,
high contrast with either a green or sepia undertone for a consistent look. The background is lightly grunged and the entire opening sequence features a light texture that gives just a bit of edge.
The set graphics also features the UFC belt. Using the details, its multiple textures and points of interest, these elements were integrated into the set graphics to provide variety in the set visuals. As the set features such warm hues from the gold, we found that the lights on the set needed a cooler tone to bring
a more balanced colour to the screen. The set displays fighters on tower screens, with similar colour treatment as the opener for consistency and is streamlined for change.
Fellow designer Owen Cutbush paved the way for the set graphics.
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Thank you!
