believing
MLS season kicks off this weekend, so it seemed a good time to finally post a project to the website I did at the end of last season for the Angel City Brigade, a supporter group of the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy won the MLS Cup in 2011, but then went on to a disastrous beginning of the 2012 season, losing strings of games and falling to the bottom rankings of the league. But the team righted ship and started playing like champions again, and successfully made their way into the playoffs. This video was finished and released the same day of the first playoff game to help build excitement to push the team forward. The Galaxy would not clear the usage of any footage, so the imagery had to come from still photos, most of which are the work of ACB member Sylvia Despertó. Graphically the video references the stuff of pipe dreams unexpectedly forming into a reality, then a weaving of people and motivations together with a feeling of hope and excitement. One big dilemma ended up being balancing the motivations as a producer vs those of a fan. On one hand, the video needed to project confidence in going all the way to the championship and be able to stay relevant through all the playoff games and into the cup, assuming the team won their way through. On the other hand, a fan often doesn't want to jinx things by declaring wins before they happen. Balancing those led to treating the final line of "this is our time" as outlines with a subtle, but confident, "again" as the final button. Likewise, the image of Robbie Keane holding the MLS Cup was a quick subtle image - perhaps a vision of the future, or maybe just a remembrance of the year before. The celebratory tone of the end was not in question, however, as it reflected pride in the team, win or lose. Happily, the team went on to win the 2012 MLS Cup, giving several weeks of life to the video and fulfilling the hopes it projected. You can see the full piece here: