Studio AKA Ignites Olympic Torch Relay For BBC

LONDON — Studio AKA completed a dazzling trailer sequence for the BBC as part of their Olympic Campaign 2012 coverage. The sequence depicts an impressionistic world rendered with nothing more than shimmering golden dots of light, and dramatically traversed by Olympic torchbearers.

Inspired by the striking 2012 Olympic torch design created by Barber Osgerby, RKCR/Y&R & Red Bee Media set STUDIO AKA a challenging brief to create a sequence that referenced the graphic signature of the torch as it is carried by the myriad of relay participants to the spot where the Games begin.

AKA director Kristian Andrews caught the tone perfectly by focusing his approach on the perforations in the torch design — wherein each of the 8,000 small cut-out circles represents the 8,000 people who will carry it on its journey around the UK — and proposed a stripped back aesthetic in which the flame particles of the Olympic Torch create a world in its entirety, reflecting a mood of excitement, and elation befitting the commencement of the games.

Pushing the boundaries once more, the creative design team at STUDIO AKA excelled themselves working with ICE particle plug-ins & visual effects, creating the 3D character & set elements in XSI & then compositing an eye watering array of dots, patterns and overlays in Adobe After Effects to create the distinctive world so effectively.

Enigmatic and beautiful, the resulting piece is set to a teaser of the specially commissioned Elbow track, “First Steps,” and will be aired on the BBC from May 1st onward.