Oracle Chessboxing Ball graphics

At this recent fundraising event I was commissioned to not only create a motion graphics pack for the evening, but also fight.

The ball took place at the St Paul’s Grange Hotel in the City of London, and guests paid £200 upwards for a black tie meal and an evening of pugilistic entertainment.

I hadn’t done any mograph for a while, so it was fun to break out After Effects again. London Chessboxing have an existing graphical style, involving tinted red / blue imagery, a “corners” motif and established fonts. I expanded around this with themes of spotlights and clouds of billowing steam – both things I associate strongly with competing at these events.

The fun part of the gig is that I’m essentially designing the video I walk on to – so that was motivation to make it look awesome.
Unfortunately the result of the fight was far from awesome – my opponent Daniel Lizarraga (who had flown in from Spain just of the evening) managed to dominate me in both the chess and boxing. The fight can be pretty much summed up with this photo.

Thanks as always to James Bartosik, the official photographer at the event, for the use of his amazing pictures.