2005 – RobWinfield

June 25, 2019June 19, 2020

Video Game Vixens

BROADCAST: SHOW OPEN
ROLE: Lead Flame Artist | Senior Broadcast Designer
VENDOR: G4 Media | Comcast
ART DIRECTOR: John Hudson

A beauty pageant for sexy female video game characters …

Honestly, the premise for this show was completely ridiculous … and most likely, inappropriate … particularly, when viewed through today’s “me too” filter. But it happened back in ’05. And despite the titilating “filler” aspect being the predominant force in its inception, this show’s graphics package was a lot of fun to design and execute, offering some unique animation challenges, and a particularly entertaining live action intro I got to supervise.

The premise was simple: video game characters crash a traditional beauty pageant, kill the competition, literally, and steal the crown. Lara Croft’s shooting the place up. Bloodrayne is making short work with her dual wrist blades. And there’s another character I don’t recall, who steals the crown.

The graphic open was a bit tougher, since I was restricted by the sanctioned stills for each character/contestant. But through some simple and direct 2D animation techniques, somewhat inspired by anime techniques, this portion came together strongly.

June 25, 2019June 19, 2020

Filter Holiday Hitlist

BROADCAST: SHOW OPEN
ROLE: Lead Flame Artist | Senior Broadcast Designer
VENDOR: G4 Media | Comcast
ART DIRECTOR: John Hudson

The directive behind “Filter’s Holiday Hitlist” was to do something completely different from every other product-oriented show out there. Of course, that’s a fairly typical ask. You know, do what hasn’t been done, as if that’s even a possibility these days.

Nevertheless, being young and bold, I clearly took that as creative license to do whatever I the hell I wanted … and I did.

A bit of backstory, for context … G4 had just acquired the deceptively innocent animated series “Happy Tree Friends,” which was remarkably subversive and ridiculously violent, once you peeled off the feel-good happy surface.

Coincidentally, I was really into collage animation. And since, the powers-that-be were looking for an unconventional take on Christmas, it all kind of clicked. And in a spontaneous evening of rapid-fire design, I opted for a punked-out Santa and a reckless staff of snowmobile wielding delivery Squirrels as my premise.

There was no grand plan to make all this happen. Just a week on the schedule and the freedom to run with it. Surprisingly, it went pretty smoothly. And it was a ton of fun.

June 25, 2019June 19, 2020

G-phoria: “Pre-phoria” | “Crashing G-Phoria”

BROADCAST: SHOW OPEN | ON-AIR PROMO
ROLE: Lead Flame Artist | Senior Broadcast Designer
VENDOR: G4 Media | Comcast
ART DIRECTOR: John Hudson

G4’s annual video game award show “G-Phoria” was a major event for the popular pop-culture network. They wanted to “own” the video gaming audience. But in order to do so, they needed to steal the thunder from MTV and Spike, to name a few of their more successful competitors.

So they went all out, getting the Black Eyed Peas and the Bravery to perform, adding some “star” talent like Dave Navarro, Carmen Elektra, and Anna Nicole Smith to be presenters, and broadcasting the entire show live from an outdoor location in downtown Los Angeles.

For the graphics package, they also hired some expensive firm to shoot punk-styled footage in the spirit of “The Warriors.” A great idea in theory. But also some of the worst footage I’ve ever seen, not to mention unintentionally hysterical as well.

As lead designer, I was told to fix it however I saw fit. To make a long story short, I sort of winged it in Flame until something worked. And that’s how I ended up with this monochromatic punk-out flyer-style treatment of animated scribbles and bleached out streets.

June 25, 2019June 19, 2020

Attack of the Show

BROADCAST: SEGMENT TITLES
ROLE: Lead Flame Artist | Senior Broadcast Designer
VENDOR: G4 Media | Comcast
ART DIRECTOR: John Hudson

“Attack of the Show” was G4’s somewhat irreverent variety show, emphasizing pop culture entertainment and emerging tech from a hip youth-oriented slant. There’s gadget segments, movie and dvd reviews, comic book coverage, video game features, comedic skits, interviews, musical performances, etc.

When these segment headers were commissioned, the show’s look and feel had already been established. The directive was to expand upon that foundation … specifically, embrace the subversive tone, explore the deconstructivist style, and utilize old cold war propaganda-styled imagery, while mixing in a little bit of ’80s punk rock attitude and humor.

As one might guess, these segment headers were a heck of a lot of fun to design and animate, particularly “What’s Up with Japan” and “The Feed.” It’s refreshing to be able to create without limitations, where the freedom to try anything is encouraged.