No Limits

I was commissioned by the BBC to create a brand identity for their new strand of programming on BBC Knowledge - No Limits. This included designing a logo, creating a 60" and 30" promo, ATV's and endboards, with versions in English and Polish. It would be launching in South Africa then being rolled out through the other BBC Worldwide territories.

So the brand needed to be very bold and direct without being 'adrenalin fueled'. Thankfully the brief was to create somthing engaging and exciting while staying away from any clichéd extreme sports references. As both the logo and overall look would have to be created in Polish as well, the simpler the better.

The concept I came up with was based on 'the endless road' as much of the content had some element of travel or moving through harsh environments. The ideas evolved to the point of creating these orrey machines with the program footage featured in the centres.

For clips of sun-baked treks over the Sahara I used grinding cogs and chains rotating around artificial suns moving round an endless circuit.

For rain-drenched water-worlds featuring survival training in crashed helicopters the programs are encased in a perpetual rain storm.

And for the polar explorers, I made them blast their way through ice walls in an endless blizzard!

The cyclic nature of these elemental machines was the inspiration behind the circle in the logo.

For the promo I wanted to make these machines feel as real as possible, so for each of the scenes a real life element was shot and then composited with the 3D and the footage.

For the sun scene the chain and light bulb were shot on a chroma key as were the fans and chains for the snow scene, and for the water scene a circular fish tank was used rim lit in front of black and composted using an additive layer.

For the logo each individual letter was cut in polystyrine, then papier-mâchéd. Dried cellulose thinners were then injected into the foam to dissolve it leaving hollow translucent letters. Each letter was internally lit with wheatgerm bulbs and shot against black on a model turner.

The shoot took place at Pirate studios, London (www.pirate.co.uk). The DOP was Peter Scoones (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1167521/). We shot on a Sony HW750 and a Phantom HD.

The 3D elements, including the camera moves, were created in C4D and the shot elements and program footage was composited in After Effects.

This was a great project to work on encompassing all of the elements I most enjoy working with: concept generation and script development, visualizing, planning shots, modelmaking, lighting and shooting, sourcing the appropriate music, 3D animation and putting the whole lot together.