Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NBA Finals 2023: ESPN Updates Championship Series With New Mixed-Reality Open

01/06/2023

NBA Finals 2023: ESPN Updates Championship Series With New Mixed-Reality Open Unreal Engine powers the cinematic feature By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Thursday, June 1, 2023 - 12:33 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

When the 2023 NBA Finals tip off tonight between the highly favored Denver Nuggets and underdog Miami Heat, ESPN will highlight the sport's ultimate prize with a new mixed-reality (MR) open for its broadcast.

Every NBA Finals Champion has a story that is paired with their own historic journey, says Lucas Nickerson, creative director, ESPN. The trophy holds a collection of memories, and this is the curation of rare moments that generate greatness.

Beyond the Traditional: Team Generates Multiple Creative Ideas A championship series like the NBA Finals deserves an impressive open to attract casual basketball fans as well as supporters of both teams. The open is new every year, and, with each one, creating a brand-new version gets a little bit harder. This year, a handful of ideas and technological workflows were thrown around, and finding the singular internal message was key.

We talked about a traditional animated open, says Nickerson, but, as we worked through the boards and creative brief, we knew that the story had to be executed in a different way. We wanted to direct an open that had flexibility in unique storytelling and involved the expertise across all of ESPN Creative Studio.

The mixed-reality set for ESPN's new NBA Finals open

The history of the league is vital to understanding the NBA's complete story. Players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James solidified their legacies by winning multiple championships. Although they played in different eras and won the NBA Finals at different phases of their respective careers, the common denominator between them is the Larry O'Brien trophy. Creatively, the final vision of this year's open will explain not only the journey of this famous trophy but also each team's road to this matchup.

ESPN on ABC is the home of the NBA Finals. It's where champions become legends, notes Nickerson. This new open takes you on a journey for the title run through a combination of visual techniques driven by ESPN's Creative Studio.

Constrained Timeline: Short Turnaround Becomes the Biggest Challenge As with many championship productions, ESPN Creative Studios had a quick deadline to figure out the creative direction, determine the technologies necessary, shoot the project, and finalize any last details before Game 1. Fortunately, the broadcaster has been deploying the same workflows during its live broadcasts as it's using for the new open.

The new open follows the journey of the NBA's biggest prize, the Larry O'Brien trophy.

For our primetime ABC games, says Nickerson, we implemented extended reality and augmented reality with an editorially driven brand creative in the fall of 2022. The goal of virtually capturing the 3D-animation identity allowed us to springboard our creative aspirations for the NBA Finals this summer.

Although the production and operations teams were familiar with the workflows, it was critical that they work collaboratively with the editorial team to tell the story with stunning visuals.

These new workflows turned into many working sessions to solve creative questions, notes Nickerson. The biggest challenge we encountered was finding a balance of imagination and editorial content within the restraints of one day of filming.

Ultimately, the crew was able to overcome the compressed timeline and strike that balance to achieve the desired product.

We knew this was a strong team of artists that were up for the challenge of exploring a new approach to this project, says Jeremy Anderson, creative producer, ESPN.

Players' jerseys - including those of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Tim Duncan - tell the NBA's story for ESPN's new open.

From a technology perspective, the crew leaned heavily on the power of Unreal Engine as well as on partnerships with Panoply Studio, Two Fresh Creative, and Silverspoon Animation to establish the MR environment. The project was captured via five cameras: two XR cameras, two in-arena AR units, and one CG camera.

Full-Scale Effort: ESPN Creative Studios Pitches in To Enhance Televised Product Nickerson and Anderson played a large role in making the project a success, but others under the ESPN Creative Studios umbrella provided vital expertise: Art Director, NBA Finals, Dale Harney; the finalized look through Unreal Engine by Lead Designer Colin Moore and Senior Designer John Siciliano; and editorial direction by Editors Rabia AlGhani and Adam Schaub. Support for the project also came from Senior Director, Animation and Graphics Innovation, Mike Spike Szykowny; Creative Director David Sparrgrove; Associate Art Director Jeremy Simches; Manager, Motion Graphics Design, Charles Collin; Senior Concept Artist Renata Sedzimir; Animation Supervisor Matt Tucker; Supervising Real-Time Graphics Developer Brad Griswold; Colorist Pat Strenk; and Sound Designer Ben Ayotte. Overall, the entire team came together to pull off a new open for one of the network's most high-profile shows of the year.

ESPN Creative Studio has thrived because of innovative ideas developed by our teams, says Szykowny. The team that worked on this project showed extraordinary ambition and passionate pursuit of creativity, which remains the heart of everything we do. I could not be more proud of what this team has accomplished.

Stay tuned for plenty more coverage of the NBA Finals on SVG in the coming days.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/06/01/nba-finals-2023-espn-updates-ch...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

18/07/2025

Live from the 153rd Open Championship: SMT Enhances Video Board Experience; Enables Practice Scheduling for Players

Live from the 153rd Open Championship: SMT Enhances Video Board Experience; Enab...

18/07/2025

ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross on Revolutionizing Basketball On the Court and Beyond Through Tracking Tech

ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross on Revolutionizing Basketball On the Court and ...

18/07/2025

Home Pitch: How the Danish League Brought Its Live Match Production In-House

Home Pitch: How the Danish League Brought Its Live Match Production In-House Matchday Production produced 800+ matches across Denmark in its first year By Geor...

18/07/2025

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: EMG Debuts Spidercam for Golf, Expands Support for NBC Sports

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: EMG Debuts Spidercam for Golf, Expands Su...

18/07/2025

Usyk vs Dubois II: Bringing the Fight to Life with State of the Art Cameras and Graphics from DAZN and Gravity Media

Usyk vs Dubois II: Bringing the fight to life with state of the art cameras and ...

18/07/2025

Usyk vs Dubois II: DAZN's Head of Boxing Chris Glanville Talks Helicopters, a Ringwalk Spectacular and Directing the Action

Usyk vs Dubois II: DAZN's head of boxing Chris Glanville talks helicopters, ...

18/07/2025

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: NBC Expands Unilateral Effort; Shared Studio Gives Live From,' NBC Sports a Great View

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: NBC Expands Unilateral Effort; Shared Stu...

18/07/2025

Warner Bros. Discovery's Anne Graham on Training New Professionals to Ensure the Future of the Business

Warner Bros. Discovery's Anne Graham on Training New Professionals to Ensure...

18/07/2025

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: How R&A Spidercam Became a Reality for Golf Coverage

Live From the 153rd Open Championship: How R&A Spidercam Became a Reality for Go...

18/07/2025

ESPN Bulks Up Onsite Studios, Cameras, Player Mics for WNBA All-Star Weekend

ESPN Bulks Up Onsite Studios, Cameras, Player Mics for WNBA All-Star Weekend Besides the game, four studio shows will be produced onsite By Jason Dachman, Edit...

17/07/2025

SVG Sit-Down: OpenDrives' Sean Lee, Michael Wilsker, and Jason Matousek on Evolving Data Management

SVG Sit-Down: OpenDrives' Sean Lee, Michael Wilsker, and Jason Matousek on E...

17/07/2025

Oracle's Geoff Tognetti on Staying Ahead of the AI Curve Through Further Adoption

Oracle's Geoff Tognetti on Staying Ahead of the AI Curve Through Further Ado...

17/07/2025

NBA's Summer League Is a Hot Bed of AI, Immersive Innovation Testing

NBA's Summer League Is a Hot Bed of AI, Immersive Innovation Testing Audio mixing, intelligent camera framing are among AI-driven efforts By Ken Kerschbaum...

17/07/2025

SVG's TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 21; Register Today!

SVG's TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 21; Register Today! By SVG Staff Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 8:29 am Print This Story | Subscribe St...

17/07/2025

Gravity Media Chosen as Group Name for Merged OB Business

Gravity Media chosen as group name for merged OB business By George Bevir Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - 11:30 Print This Story Gravity Media executive chairm...

17/07/2025

SES Closes Deal to Acquire Intelsat, Creating New Giant in Satellite Connectivity

SES Closes Deal to Acquire Intelsat, Creating New Giant in Satellite Connectivit...

17/07/2025

How MLB Pulled Off That Unforgettable Hank Aaron Tribute at the All-Star Game

How MLB Pulled Off That Unforgettable Hank Aaron Tribute at the All-Star Game Vintage content, state-of-the-art projection/processing combine in marvelous mile...

16/07/2025

Deltatre Acquires Endeavor Streaming in Major Streaming Industry Move

Deltatre Acquires Endeavor Streaming in Major Streaming Industry Move The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 By Brandon Costa, Direc...

16/07/2025

SVG Regional Sports Production Summit 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG Regional Sports Production Summit 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch ...

15/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: FOX Sports Aims To Capture Chatty Players on the Field and at Bat

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: FOX Sports Aims To Capture Chatty Players on the Fi...

15/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: From Live Event Coverage to Studio Shows, MLB Network Covers the Gamut in Atlanta

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: From Live Event Coverage to Studio Shows, MLB Netwo...

15/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: FOX Sports' Francisco Contreras and Tom Lynch on the Tools That Will Impact the Broadcast

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: FOX Sports' Francisco Contreras and Tom Lynch o...

15/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star: FOX Sports' Production Is Bigger Than Ever in Steamy Atlanta With UmpCam, FlyCam, Drones, and More

Live From MLB All-Star: FOX Sports' Production Is Bigger Than Ever in Steamy...

15/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star: FOX Sports Director Matt Gangl and Producer Pete Macheska Break Down Their Production Strategy at the Front Bench

Live From MLB All-Star: FOX Sports Director Matt Gangl and Producer Pete Machesk...

14/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN Preps for Home Run Derby Broadcast While Producing Seven Shows in Atlanta

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN Preps for Home Run Derby Broadcast While Produ...

14/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN Operations on Supporting Monday's Home Run Derby, Seven Studio Shows Throughout the Weekend

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN Operations on Supporting Monday's Home Run...

14/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN's Home Run Derby: Statcast Edition' To Track the Homers With Live Drone AR Smart Tracing

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN's Home Run Derby: Statcast Edition' T...

14/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN Producer Scott Matthews Goes Inside the Home Run Derby

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN Producer Scott Matthews Goes Inside the Home R...

14/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN's Phil Orlins on Adding Live Drone AR Smart-Tracing at the 2025 MLB Home Run Derby

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: ESPN's Phil Orlins on Adding Live Drone AR Smar...

14/07/2025

Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL

Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL Featuring a custom dynamic boom mic, the headset will debut in the fall By Dan Da...

14/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on the Weeklong Efforts in Atlanta

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on th...

13/07/2025

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB Draft Coverage

Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB...

11/07/2025

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks Adjusts Broadcast Booths for Rangers, Devils

Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...

11/07/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Clients' Needs With Scalable Cloud-Based Storage

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...

11/07/2025

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transition to the Cloud

2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...

11/07/2025

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP

A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff Friday, July 1...

11/07/2025

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimbledon

CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...

11/07/2025

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-Serrano 3 Card at MSG

Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...

10/07/2025

5G for All? What the DFL's Use of Easy5G, RefCam Could Mean for Events in the Future

5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...

10/07/2025

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-15

Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...

10/07/2025

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New Era

Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...

10/07/2025

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions In-House

Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...

10/07/2025

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First Production

FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...

10/07/2025

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint Venture Targeting Local-Sports-Media Market

SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...

09/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Venture as Regional Sports Market Transforms

Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Ven...

09/07/2025

SVG Europe Audio - State of Wireless Mics Forum: If We Lose the Spectrum, It's Going Back to the Boring Stuff

SVG Europe Audio State of Wireless Mics Forum: If we lose the spectrum, it...

09/07/2025

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players

Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players From locker room to field of play, personalized systems help rev up the athletes By Dan D...

08/07/2025

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control Room Production Palace

Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...

08/07/2025

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN's Direct-to-Consumer Streaming Service Monumental+

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN&#...

08/07/2025

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an Eye to 2026 Men's World Cup

Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...