The Paralympics still has to work hard to attract excitement, taking place every four years in the wake of its larger sibling, which is hungry for attention and tends to dominate world news and brand support.
This year, Los Angeles motion design studio, BIEN, is adding its creativity to the job of making the Paralympics stand out. The studio has produced an animation that highlights both the athletic prowess of the Paralympians and the thrill of watching them perform.
The Paralympics is close to the heart of BIEN, whose work supports the world’s best ideas, brands, and causes and this was a passion project crafted with meticulous care. Even the wheelchairs were recreated using a vast array of references, from action shots to catalogue photographs. The goal with this project is to tell the story with the kind of passion and creative excellence that communicates how heroic and powerful these Paralympic players truly are,” stated Ricardo Roberts, executive producer at BIEN.
The work was originally intended to become part of the studio’s “Make it BIEN” internal project series. When the project came to fruition, the creators decided to pitch it to the Paralympics. This was the organisation’s response:
View this post on Instagram
“The inspiration for this animation came from our desire to give Paralympic sports the same polished treatment that mainstream sports enjoy. To achieve this, we went for a sleight-of-hand visual setup. Then we surprise viewers with a big reveal that shows wheelchair basketball players have the same energy, strength, and spirit as NBA players,” commented BIEN creative director, Hung Le.
To make sure that the animation was truly authentic, BIEN worked with disability consultant and sound designer, David Jeffers, at Quadriphonic. “We learned wheelchair basketball rules, researched the right kind of wheelchairs to depict, and showcased the various types of players with disabilities who play the sport. As a quadriplegic sound designer, David used an iPad Pro to create the soundscape, using sound effects and music to bring the visuals together and develop a sense of drama. He is very proud to be a voice for the community and to have the Paralympics endorse the end product is a dream come true,” Le explained.
“This type of project is our passion and why we exist as a studio – advocating for diversity and inclusion at the grassroots level,” Roberts added.
Credits:
Client: Paralympics
Creative Director: Hung Le
Executive Producer: Ricardo Roberts
Producer: Elena Dreyer
Illustration: Nico Piccirilli
Animators: Alejandro Imondi, Deanna Reilly, Chris Saez & Ricardo Mendes
Research & Consultancy: David Jeffers
Sound Design: Quadriphonic
You might also like
