On-air sparkle.(digital video)

When visual effects and design company A52 and Fox Sports teamed up to create a unique on-air segment to promote the network's coverage of this year's college foot ball season, they wanted to create a spot that would "reflect" a collegiate look. The intent, says Fox creative director Scott Bantle, was to design the commercial so it appeared as if it could have been crafted by talented university art students with materials readily available in their dorm rooms.

To this end, Bantle and fellow Fox creative director Chris Donovan wanted the imagery to showcase the reflective properties of tinfoil, an art supply that even money-swapped students can afford. "We considered the foil's reflective qualities to be appealing, and they added an extra dimension to the imagery," explains A52's Patrick Murphy, visual effects supervisor and inferno artist on the project.

Although these effects are meant to simulate inexpensive, real-world materials, the truth is that sophisticated digital editing tools were required to achieve the desired look. First, the group conducted a number of previsualizations, including test shoots using both digital video and film, and found that DV provided the most visually appealing sparkle Then, to re-create the sparkle from the DV test yet maintain quality and control over the project's final look, the team shot all the elements in film and used ...