A Finite Amount of Time
When the National Hockey League approached us Mid-May 2020 during the initial planning stages for their Return To Play we faced one of our most challenging design & production feats to date.
Obstacles
“Fill” an Arena without fans
Maintain a high level of energy that can translate both for broadcast and players on the ice
Execute design/build/production in a finite amount of time – games started July 28th
Host cities were unknown until two weeks prior to load-in
Two locations – In a foreign Country – During a Worldwide pandemic
While no major League had returned to play, we knew that this problem would be solved in a variety of different ways in the months ahead. Our goal was to produce the best answer for the National Hockey League. Knowing that fan energy has always been an integral part of the game experience, how could we replace it while enhancing the at-home fan experience?
Our client, NHL Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer, expressed his vision for this new frontier of sports entertainment; we worked with him diligently to make it a reality.
Early on we decided against ‘faking’ an audience in the arena. It was no secret that fans would experience the games from home this year. Instead of masking off the empty arena or pulling the focus in to avoid filming the void we chose to push everything back from the ice – light it – and treat it with scenery. The result felt natural in the space, it enhanced the grandeur of the architecture and made the game feel expansive.
To address the empty seats we covered the first ten rows with a graphic wrap, the light color of the graphic allowed the puck to stand out against the background. We added layers of Semi-Transparent screens, lighting towers, and built a central stage as an iconic backdrop for play. The screens provided the perfect canvas for content from teams and fans to activate the arena in between play, the lighting design further energized the space and created hundreds of new looks that had never been possible for broadcast before.
Two Locations
Foreign Country
Pandemic
Splitting 24 teams into two hub cities meant that we needed to design for two locations and make them as similar as possible on camera. This was no easy task as the two buildings were very different in layout and seating rake. Each production team faced different challenges based on location – in Toronto it was a lack of venue drawing information and rigging points – Edmonton was more remote which created difficulty for vendors to source materials and equipment.
This was uncharted territory for everyone involved. After weeks of working remotely we had set the final plans into motion – then we had to turn our attention to making sure the production environment would be as safe as possible. We traveled 19 supervisors to Canada to lead this effort on the ground, and have proven that with the right guidelines in place, production during Covid-19 is entirely possible.
