Brand New School (BNS) announced the delivery of their latest work for FUEL TV, the only cable and satellite television network that features the exciting world of adrenaline and thrill-seeking sports and the stories that surround them.
The relationship between BNS and FUEL TV began in 2003 before the network's launch, when BNS founder, executive creative director and director Jonathan Notaro and his colleagues collaborated with FUEL TV to design and produce the network's original broadcast identity package. Also tasked with delivering a set of network IDs, BNS suggested that the network introduce a "Free Form Film Festival," where every ID is unique instead of following channel-wide guidelines. This anti-brand approach BNS proposed involved using 10 IDs with tones ranging from comedic to contemplative to musical, and with techniques ranging from film to stop-motion to CG. BNS produced the very first FUEL TV IDs, and since then, the network has commissioned dozens of iterations in tandem with other design studios and artists, and FUEL TV's world-acclaimed IDs have earned countless awards.
"Obviously, we were already very familiar with the brand," Notaro said, "so when asked how we felt the network should evolve, we decided to approach it as a 'rethink' instead of a 'refresh' or a 'redesign': We kept some of the strategies, but took the visual language from the paint, ink and doodle elements of the 2003 package into the digital realm. Now the whole visual language is about video making and remixing. I'm amazed by how far we were allowed to take the graphics package, which is a real testament to FUEL's commitment to their visually literate target audience."
The concept for the broadcast graphics was essentially to create a machine that would generate new artworks from all the fantastic FUEL TV station IDs artists from all over the world have helped to create, and to treat that video stylistically. Internally referring to the technique as "datamoshing," the BNS artists designed their own visual language.
Just as the art's initial visual inspiration comes from digital compression visible on web videos, the graphic design and typography follows the crudeness of HTML type and MySpace layouts. For competition-related content, additional design elements favor black-and-white line drawings and graphics over the colorful pixel paintings of the rest of the package.
As they did in 2003, BNS artists then conceived and wrote the latest IDs themselves. "We couldn't wish for more open-minded and inspiring clients than the creative team at FUEL TV," Notaro acknowledged. "Their feedback definitely helped us shape our ideas and make them better." BNS has already delivered the first round of new IDs. Here are details on the IDs which have so far debuted on the network; more IDs representing BNS talents on both U.S. coasts are set to follow over the weeks ahead.
Working with director of photography Pat Notaro, each BNS director employed the RED Digital Cinema Camera for the live-action components of their projects, and shot in 2K resolution on their respective locations before beginning post-production. For HD design and finishing of the IDs, primary artistic tools for the BNS artists in Santa Monica and New York have included Adobe Creative Suite, and Autodesk Maya and Flame.