Title	OSLO2016 TITLE SEQUENCE
Brand	NRK HOST BROADCASTER
Product/Service	IBU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS BIATHLON, HOLMENKOLLEN OSLO2016
Category	G05. Motion Graphics / Moving Images Design
Entrant	NRK DESIGN Oslo, NORWAY
Idea Creation	NRK DESIGN Oslo, NORWAY

Name	Company	Position
Jørn Veberg	NRK Graphic Design	Motion Graphic Designer
Knud Andreas Kleppe	NRK Graphic Design	Motion Graphic Designer
Roy Westad	Go Electra AS	Composer
Melissa Follestad Larsen	Monkey Hill Creation	LED Designer
Rune Hov	Rune Hov	Cinematographer

The Campaign

The designers focused on the special duality of biathlon in their storytelling. - The harrowing, competing skiing and the crucial heart stopping concentration when shooting, described in the slogan as “Thriller in the Snow”. The warm red and cold blue colours were used to symbolize competition. Animated light on the suits and projected on trees symbolized pulse and natural focusing energy. The setting was night time in a snow clad forest; giving full attention to the competitors dressed in pulsing LED lights. At the defining moment in the end the magical nature comes alive with projected animations onto trees aiding the athlete in focusing on the last shot. The sound design should underline the battle between the two competitors, and also within the athlete.

Creative Execution

A predesigned logo, colours + slogan served as a base for the idea work a year before the event. In order to be approved by the client, the creative team created an animated storyboard of the idea also serving as a tool in communicating their vision to the production team. The designers worked simultaneously with the composer, in order to achieve the best energy for the story. It was a challenging production, making LED suits and projection equipment work in harsh environment of minus 25 degrees Celsius. Tests made sure the electrical connections in the LED suits would not break in motion, and that chosen camera equipment would give the best result. An athlete was even put in a deep freezer to check if the LED lights would endure. On TV, the title sequence was used as a start of each competition shown in 24 countries on 68 networks.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The client was very satisfied with the energetic and dramatic look of the title sequence, truly depicting biathlon and strengthening this event’s status compared to other World Championships, as cool and exciting and very different from the sports existing image. For Men’s Relay, the market share in Norway reached nearly 90%, and the Host Broadcaster was very pleased that slightly more female viewers (51%) watched the broadcasts. The title sequence proved to be a great show starter in the streets of Oslo during the medal ceremonies. – Creating touching moments when thousands of people turned silent when experiencing the LED pulsing, energetic action beating through the crispy cold air. – Giving them an intense sensation of the true nature of biathlon.

Sports audiences are used to fast digital and graphical title sequences. - The designers wanted a tactile and real look in order to stand out from other championships. They decided to use physical animated light effects on real athletes and real snowy nature, filmed by a full camera crew. The footage was edited together and slightly colour corrected with no other post production tricks. The digital work was all done in pre production, cooperating with LED designer and projection designer. The title sequence should give a visual push in the strategy of bringing biathlon to a wider audience. The creative team was convinced that younger audiences, used to either scruffy Instagram videos or high production value videos of snow boarders in close encounter with nature would appreciate the tactile quality of their filmic approach. – And older audiences would not be put off by this visual language.