"I wanna put a little exciting on it."

Happy New Year! Hope the holidays were good to you and your family.

One of my personal goals for 2012 is to blog on a regular basis. We’ll see how that goes. :) The last six months have been non-stop work and allowed little time for new posts about what I’ve been up to. I had been trying to blog at least once a month, but as things got busy this past fall, blogging had to go on the back burner.

After a successful launch back in August, my work with ESPN / Longhorn Network is still charging along at a fast pace. I managed to take a few days off to end the year, but had quite a bit of new elements to build before doing so.

The Longhorns ended up playing in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, so I built some special bowl-specific show elements and designed other new requests for that. In addition, I made edits to show opens and created some new animation elements for the basketball coaches’ shows now that the season is in full swing.

On the Sportsmation side of things, I wrapped up men’s and women’s basketball sideboard packages for Concordia University around the Thanksgiving break. In the weeks leading up to the season, I shot green screen footage with both teams and built player videos along with some new crowd pump elements.

I also designed some new fascia for UT and Texas Tech which included marketing, sponsor and crowd cheer animations.

Sportsmation’s new web site is in the rely production phase and looking at a spring roll out pending other projects. I will be implementing a bit of a re-brand for the company with new logo, look, focus, etc. which should be exciting. I’ve had a lot of interest from potential new clients, which is great. I already have some selected projects for the first half of the year scheduled and will be filling in the rest by month’s end.

Wow, what a busy couple of months.  So much has been going on here since the last blog post. In the last two and a half months, I’ve been designing tons of projects for ESPN and working on client work with Sportsmation Productions. There hasn’t time for much else in between.

The Longhorn Network launched in late August with a big kickoff party. Since then, the network has broadcast two UT football games and a handful of other sporting events. Being the sole designer for the network has kept me pretty busy and involved in a lot of projects. I’ve been doing everything from 3D animation to show logos; fullscreen animation elements to custom monitor graphics, and much much more.  There’s a lot going on here and things move pretty fast at times. I’ve built so many projects that I should have enough for nearly two demo reels to post soon. If I find time to put those together soon, I’ll be sure to post it here.

On the other side, I’ve been staying busy with Sportsmation. A couple months back, I built a package of marketing animations for Texas Tech Football, which also included an animated lineup and roster template build. I also worked with Tech Volleyball to create an open video and animated player videos for both their videoboard and LED fascia boards. In addition to football and volleyball, I’m also working with Red Raider Sports Properties again this season to create LED sponsor fascia elements for basketball events at United Spirit Arena. I also recently completed a set of fascia elements to promote their social media and marketing properties.

I recently also created a small package of videoboard elements for Concordia University (TX) and the Red Deer Rebels, a WHL team from Alberta, Canada. I shot green screen player footage for Concordia’s volleyball team, which was used for animated player intros. I also built in-game elements and some small spots to promote their soccer events. The elements built for the Rebels included noise animations, logo loops and animated player head shots. I also delivered a template for future use that they can update in house.

Like I said, I hope to have some new reels ready to post soon for both LHN and Sportsmation work that has been completed in recent weeks and months. I’ve also been working on a new design for ScottandMon.com, which is in need of an overhaul. Stay tuned.

What a busy time it’s been. I’m now working back in Austin at the new ESPN offices here. The launch of the Longhorn Network is less than two weeks away and things have really, really busy. We moved in three weeks ago and there have been a lot of people here setting up equipment, studio sets and more. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Here’s why (and what I’ve been up to this summer)…

The last week in June, I flew up to Bristol, CT to start with ESPN. I met a lot of new people and really got to see how things run there between creative services, production and the control room. The set up for creative services there is really nice and the campus is huge and really impressive. ESPN is a top-notch company to work, so I’m excited to finally be somewhere that really understands creativity. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air professionally. Thanks again to Matt, Chip, Spike, Al, Chris and Kira (amongst many others) for everything while I was up there.

Oh yeah, I also did a lot of traveling while I was there too…

Monica flew up for the extended July 4th weekend. We caught a train to New York to celebrate our (belated) first anniversary. We got to see our favorite show, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, and were able to visit Times Square, Bryant Park and a little of Central Park before heading back to Connecticut. It was my first real trip downtown NYC and it’s a lot to take in.

Later that week, I headed back there again to visit an agency that’s working on some reel elements for the Longhorn Network. They do really great work and are right on track with the look of Austin and how the feel of the network will be presented. I was really impressed with their ideas and what they’ve been working on. Between their elements and new stuff that I build, the LHN is going to look great.

I was in CT for a total of three weeks, staying down the street from ESPN in Southington. While there’s not a whole lot to do around that area, I managed to get out to West Hartford and a couple other towns nearby. The last weekend I was there, I drove into New Haven and hopped the train to Boston. I stayed at the W Hotel overnight and caught a game at Fenway between the Red Sox and Orioles. And yes, there will be photos. I ran around the ballpark snapping shots and have some great photos of Fenway. There’s nowhere else like it. The next day I headed down Newbury Street and did a little shopping at the’47 store before catching an Acela train back to New Haven.

After a crazy and exhausting pair of flights, I made it back to… the heat. Ugh.

But I was glad to be back and see Monica and Coco at the airport. Coco celebrated the next day by taking a nap on top of me for most of the day.

Lots of photos from the trip and more info on happenings at the LHN coming soon. :)

“Ten Things Every Longhorn Should Know” is the last big project I’ve created for the Texas Exes before leaving for ESPN in another week. The site launched over two weeks ago and has received some great feedback since.

The concept was taken from the ScottandMon.com site I built over a year ago for our wedding. The entire process for that site involved a 3D model being built and used as a large image map of sorts for users to click on different aspects of Mon’s and my life and get wedding info. (ps – And yes, a much -needed update to that site is on the way this year.)

The Texas Exes wanted to use the same idea for a project aimed at incoming freshman with ten traditions that every UT student or alum should know. After the idea was pitched to me, I went to work building a 3D model of a dorm room that houses the “ten things” (ex: colors, UT Tower, Hex Rally, etc). I made the design scheme of the actual site to try and blend with the colors inside the dorm room. The intent was to make the room and it’s perspective be what really sticks out (no pun intended) when the user opens the site.

Following the design process, I took content pieces from external sources and built the actual site, which includes modal window content called up with jQuery functions. The embedded videos were made by Tower PR, a student group on the UT campus. The Exes contacted them a while back to create quick videos to use on the site I was developing. Student-made videos for other students to watch was the idea that they were looking for.

The Ten Things site is intended to be a side door to the Texas Exes’ UT History Central site — another site I designed a year ago when I first started with the Exes.

You check out “Ten Things Every Longhorn Should Know” at http://texasexes.org/tenthings.

Our miniature dachshund, Coco, has recently started “her own” photo blog on Tumblr. To see what Coco’s been up to lately, check out “They Call Me Coco” at http://getcoco.tumblr.com. It’s amazing how she can work with modern technology and post updates on the go, but still has problems remembering that peeing inside the house is not a good thing. Hmmm…

I also have a Tumblr mini blog at http://scottpaull.tumblr.com if you want to check that out as well. I take a lot of photos. No seriously, a lot. Just ask Monica. On the site I usually post random photos from where I’m traveling to, projects I’ve been working on, and yes, fun photos of Coco too. :)

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog as of late, but I’ve been really busy on a number of projects the past couple of weeks. I recently got back from a week in Minnesota where we split time between Minneapolis and Rochester.

The big news to announce upon returning from the Midwest is that I have recently accepted a job offer from ESPN / Disney. I’m really excited to be working with the best in the business. Their creative services department does amazing things and I’m really looking forward to working there. I’ve given notice to the Texas Exes and will be flying up to Bristol later this month to get started.

Thankfully, I will be able to stay in Austin and work with ESPN. I’ll be working in the designer role for their new Longhorn Network that begins broadcasting this August. The network will be a 24-hour ESPN HD channel that is dedicated to all things UT. For more information and to request that your cable or satellite provider carries the network, visit GetLonghornNetwork.com.

Of course I will be honoring contracts with current Sportsmation clients this summer which have already been signed for the fall. I’m unsure of my work schedule with ESPN at this time, but will hopefully have a better idea of what to expect in a few weeks.

I’ll try to blog when I can over the next couple of weeks as things get started. Here are some places where you can check out updates and photos from me on the go…

About.Me
http://about.me/scottpaull

Twitter
http://twitter/scottpaull

Tumblr
http://scottpaull.tumblr.com

Instagram
Username: scottpaull

I just put together a quick demo reel of a couple new and old client motion graphics projects and samples. You can find the low-res version abover and on Sportsmation’s Vimeo page along with a couple others. Lots more stuff coming soon. Just need time to post everything. :)

There are a couple new items on the portfolio section of my personal site, ScottPaull.com. I moved a few things around as well, so be sure to check that out when you have some time to browse around. I’m working on a couple new design mockups for a couple sites which has kept me pretty busy, but will be adding those soon as well.

Speaking of site updates… the new 2.0 redesign for Sportsmation.com is almost ready for launch. The company has done so much client work since the original site was built and I’m implementing a better way for visitors to see recent client work and demo reel content.

It’s almost here, stay tuned!

Sportsmation Productions recently designed a videoboard package for a high school baseball team in Pennsylvania. The Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chargers play at the Youthtowne sports complex in Clinton, PA.

The Youthtowne ballpark recently installed a new scoreboard/videoboard, but the Chargers didn’t have any custom logo or themed content available to use during games.

The package that I built for OLSH included in-game elements, 3D logo animations and player intro motion graphics. A couple sample builds from the package are below…

One of the videoboard spots that I built for Concordia Baseball via Sportsmation was on the front of the sports page in yesterday’s Austin-American Statesman. CTX dedicated their new ballpark before sweeping a doubleheader against UT Brownsville, 7-6 and 6-2.

This past weeked, I headed out to Concordia University to capture footage for the team’s opening video that Sportsmation Productions is working on for this fall. CTX had two teams playing in a spring tourney with a couple of other schools. Shooting both photos and video over a six hour period, I’m guessing we probably have enough footage now for the opener. :)

The Tornados will be installing their new videoboard soon and Sportsmation will be creating some eye-catching content for volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball teams come this fall. We will also be working on openers for all three teams and green screen player intro videos.

Below are a couple photo outtakes from the volleyball tourney if you’d like to check them out…

I took a quick roadtrip up to the DFW metroplex last month to visit with UT Arlington. The staff there are great and again, thanks to Jason for setting everything up.

Sportsmation was contacted again to design videoboard content for the Mavericks baseball program for the second year in a row. The latest project for this season included two sets of motion graphic player head shots.

Below are a couple photos taken on the trip if you want to check them out. A big thank you to Jason for setting everything up (and letting me work out of his office for a couple hours). :)

Sportsmation recently signed a contract with a new client, Concordia University, here in Austin. They’re a D3 program that recently moved their campus out to northwest Austin and just opened a brand new ballpark. It’s really a nice facility, and is sure to be a playoff tournament destination at both the collegiate and high school level soon.

I contacted CTX about their new ballpark a year ago, and to my surprise, was contacted back at the end of last month about designing the content for the school’s new video boards going in at two facilities.

Two weeks ago, I shot around 40 player video green screen head shots with the Tornado baseball team and have been designing video board content at the same time.

It’s been a lot of fun thus far working with them. The new animation and video package has been rolling out at the ballpark, and will post that here soon. Here are some quick photos taken while working with CTX baseball over the past couple of weeks in the meantime…

Still playing catchup on my blog posts.  It’s been a busy couple of months as mentioned in previous posts. Here’s some more fun stuff produced recently…

I completed another animation and graphics package for Texas Tech Athletics through my company, Sportsmation Productions a few weeks ago. Last fall, I designed a package of LED fascia and table basketball/volleyball animations (which can be seen in this demo) for United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. That was followed by interest from Tech’s sponsors in animating their LED spots which run during events.

Texas Tech contacted me again late last year about designing and producing an animation and video package for their video board at Dan Law Field, home to the Red Raider baseball team. The final package consisted of in-game elements, motion loops, animated player intros for each player, and a team intro video.

Below is a (low-res) video of samples from the project. More work will be posted soon. Stay tuned.

I recently created an intro video for Texas Tech Baseball via Sportsmation Productions. The client had a specific song in mind that they wanted to use and 90+ minutes of footage. After editing out the audio track, the final video was shaved down to 1:17.

Check the low-res web version below, and don’t forget to visit Sportsmation.com for other projects the company has worked on recently. Hope to have the new site up for that soon. Again, lots going on here right now. :)

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to blog. I had been trying to post an update at least once a month, but the past couple of weeks have been extremely busy. Sportsmation Productions has been doing a lot of projects with multiple clients. I’ll probably post all the latest news in a couple different posts to break everything up (if time allows).

To kick things off, here are some UT baseball and softball wallpaper themes that Sportsmation designed for TexasSports.com. I chose three players from each sport and may add more as the season goes along… again, time permitting. :)

To download any of these wallpapers for your desktop, click on one of the samples or visit TexasSports.com.

More news and a couple videos on the way soon about other projects we’re working on. Stay tuned!