Game-day graphics: Digital Dimension opens this year's Super Bowl with legendary effects.(Broadcast)

For decades, the Super Bowl has crowned world champions and football legends. This year, visual effects studio Digital Dimension kicked off Super Bowl XXXIX with a dazzling 80-second animated/live-action segment featuring a new legend in the making.

The spot, aptly titled "Legends," begins with an all-CG shot of waterfront Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. As the camera pans across the shimmering water and up to the arena, spectacular fireworks explode into the night sky.

The scene then cuts to a live-action segment of a lone player standing downfield waiting for the kickoff. At the opposite end is the player's ultimate goal: a towering digital version of the coveted Lombardi Trophy. As the player surveys the field, towering images of past Super Bowl greats erupt from the turf, reminding him that this is no ordinary game. Rather, it's a monumental struggle against the sport's best, during which a defining play or a shining moment can establish a new legend for eternity.

The player receives the ball and traverses the field, battling past greats such as Mike Singletary, Reggie White, Jack Lambert, and Lawrence Taylor, until only one more figure, Ray Nitschke, remains between him and the trophy. The player breaks the tackle, shattering the ghostly image of Nitschke into millions of crystal-like shards before crossing the goal line. As he raises the ball in celebration, the camera tilts up to the scoreboard, where video of other Super Bowl legends play on the screen.

"We wanted to create something special that captured the spirit and excitement of this event," says Ben Girard, Digital Dimension's founder and visual effects supervisor. Doing so, though, meant topping their previous presentations for Super Bowls XXXIII and XXXVI, both of which earned Emmys for the studio. Adding to that pressure was the fact that the segment had to set the tone for a game seen around the world by millions.

So instead of crafting an all-CG animation, Digital Dimension decided to combine live action, video, and computer graphics. "This time we took more of a visual effects approach," says Girard, "as opposed to an animation approach."

Game Plan