SDA Pro Tour
Season Tour Promo
Client
SDA Pro Tour
Disciplines
Creative Direction, Motion, VFX
Tools
After Effects, Illustrator
#01
Discovery
For the 2020 Season, SDA tasked me with taking archived assets from previous tours and breathing new life into them. I focused on organizing these assets by usability and impact, adding original vector art that drew from the sport's iconic elements, stylized type, heavily graded footage and a high-intensity soundtrack to drive and capture the dynamic energy of the tour.
A look at some early sketches, explorations, style frames, and look dev for the SDA Season Tour Trailer.
#02
Design
This project was full of explorations into bringing stylized type, duotone footage, and a high-intensity soundtrack together seamlessly.
As an avid user of Sander Van Dijk's incredible Ray Dynamic toolset, I saw an opportunity to bring some additional functionality to Ray Dynamic Color. With some custom AE expressions, I could link the duotone adjustment layers to the global palette. This custom workflow ensured consistency and reduced the burden of client changes as the project evolved.
#03
Delivery
The duotone grade and custom racket animations came together into something that genuinely felt new for the SDA's visual identity — without losing the brand equity they'd built over previous seasons. Repurposing archived footage is a creative constraint I've come to enjoy; it forces inventive solutions you wouldn't arrive at starting from scratch.
When the Tour Director wanted to air it at the U.S. Open final the next day, I knew we'd landed something special. That kind of reaction from a client who's seen years of their own highlight footage is the best benchmark you can get.
"I think you'll be excited about the direction your artistic vision is pushing us in for future marketing. I would LOVE to air this at the U.S. Open final tomorrow. How soon can I get my hands on this file?"