Twister/GFX recently did packaging for the Jan. 29 CBC 2001 Genie Awards broadcast as well as the 13-part documentary series TSN Profiles.

The latter program spotlights various sports heroes and currently airs on The Sports Network. T/G, a Toronto-based subsidiary of Creative Post, designed and created the show opening and all the bumpers and transition elements. Michael Churchill, executive producer at T/G, notes the difference in design approaches between doc and current affairs-style shows.

"With news-type shows there’s more in the packaging," he says. "[As with docs] they have standard "coming up" bumpers, but they also have headings when they go out to a feature story and more key-plate and over-the-shoulder stuff. It’s two different looks."

T/G shot the TSN Profiles opener on a small set it decorated with athletic gear including footballs, trophies and skates. It filmed some motion-control moves over a pile of scrapbooks, onto which they projected video footage of athletes featured in the series. The sequence comes to a stop atop the scrapbooks, revealing the "TSN Profiles" logo burned onto the uppermost album. T/G then edited everything together and added glistening effects and fire elements in its Flame [Discreet’s F/X and compositing system].

For the Genie broadcast, T/G’s graphic elements were incorporated into the actual stage.

"They went with a monitor motif," Churchill explains. "A bunch of video panels formed the one back panel in the 16 x 9 format, on which you saw the main category nominee clips. There were also two 2 x 7 column monitors where you would see spinning 3D Genie statues and category packs. When they announced best director, you would see the T/G ‘best director’ design and animation in those monitors."

T/G says it was going for an "edgy, cinematic feel" for the Genies, and to that end called upon its Maya and NewTek LightWave software technology. Post-production was managed in its new Avid Dual Stream uncompressed editing system.

T/G has also provided visuals and IDs for the Toronto International Film Festival, The Weather Network and Discovery Channel Canada. In the six months since its merger, T/G says it has surpassed projected revenues and as a result is reinvesting in an expansion anticipating high-definition TV. The shop has begun construction on a 4,000-square-foot facility that will include HDTV design and post suites as well as a new media department. The facility is set to open by April. *

-www.twistergfx.com