drama mamas
You may have seen elsewhere that I recently posted the open and graphics package for the TLC show "Cheer Perfection" to the website. This was a fun and unusual project in how we ended up handling the process and some of the challenges it presented. The biggest of these was that the show is set around a competitive cheerleading training center for teenage girls, but the real focus of the show is the drama among the cheerleaders parents, or "cheer moms." So it became a dilemma where bright upbeat imagery of cheerleading didn't match tension and drama wanted for the open. The black and orange colors of the training center made perfect sense as a palette, so that became an easy starting place. Using tactile imagery of the small-town southern location was a way not only to set the location, but also to add some grit and texture. The nylon weave texture typical of a cheerleader uniform also became a consistent tactile feature in the open. Normally, show opens go through a few rounds of approval as still frames before ever moving into animation. With this one, I had an idea to pull quotes from the mothers and use them typographically, but I also knew that as still frames or "boards", you wouldn't get a sense of how quick clips of mothers and cheerleaders would balance with those typographic segments. So even from the first round, I created and sent basic test animatics of how the quotes could play out to go along with the boards of this and other design options. Whether that made the difference or not, I don't know, but the idea was approved early in the process and allowed for a lot more time to be spent polishing the details and refining the cut, a luxury that often doesn't happen. Throughout the open, panels and type tumble and fall, and the show logo forms in a perfect formation much like a cheerleading stunt, intermixed with quick pops of the main players in the show and shots of the cheerleaders in action. In the end, while the open is still somewhat upbeat and poppy, there is an edge of darkness and grit to it to match the tension and drama of the show. Cheer Perfection just finished its first season on TLC, but has been renewed for a second season that should begin airing this summer. If you haven't seen it, you can check out the open and package here: