2023 Stampeders Open "Ready For War"
The song this year for the Calgary Stampeders opening video was picked to be Ready For War by 2WEI. After listening to the song over many times I started to get visions of the strategies that come along with the war theme. The board-game, Risk, was originally my first inspiration but after storyboarding the video out I decided to use chess as the main metaphor in the project. I wanted to represent all nine CFL teams and have it so the Stampeders could slowly and strategically take each one of them out.
I have never learned how to play chess but I always really enjoyed looking at the art of the pieces used in the game. I searched for 3D objects online and rearranged them into chess pieces based off of each teams themes. The goal was to have the red horse chess piece destroy each of the away teams while being intertwined with a highlight of us versus said team. At the end of the video I wanted the horse to be the last one standing in the debris left over from the other teams.
Below you will see an uncut 3D renderings of each CFL team being knocked over by the horse. It was a fun creative process in trying to find what 3D objects would best represent each of the teams. I used INSYDIUM’s plugin called xpShatter to make each 3D object fall apart. The process in doing this was long and tedious as I needed to find the best simulation for each and have a well recognized part of the object left over for the final scene.
I worked with Calgary Stampeders videographer & editor Spencer Fortier throughout the project. Spencer did a great job at editing the highlight portion and finding the best footage to be used with the 3D clips.
A big thank you to Geordie Macleod, Austin Shaw, Carlo Petrini and Peter Stewart for the support, direction and guidance. Credit goes to Pam Petrini for the amazing sound effects, mixing and mastering.
Programs: After Effects + Premiere Pro + C4D + Redshift + X-Particles + xpShatter
READY FOR WAR VISION BOARD
The vision board I mocked up before the project started.
