Australians… we bloody love our sport.

We’ll give sport stars medals right alongside scientists, heroes and icons because there’s something in our DNA that loves competition. Nothing better than watching an underdog come from behind and upset the rest of the field. Or hearing the street erupt in cheers when someone knocks a 6 off the last ball to win the game. Or hugging family members after Thurston sinks a field goal in golden point.

But glory don’t come easy. And it’s becoming more and more evident just how much of a toll this life can take on athletes not only the competition but just living as an athlete in the age of social media. The Australian Institute of Sport wants to make sure that the sports heroes of future generations are as mentally well prepared as possible.

So, of course, they knocked on our door.

“work it harder”

It’s no surprise that the team that pushes people to their physical limits and demands every ounce of awesomeness out of them would exact an equal toll from the people making their videos.

We went back and forth on the script. Threw out suggestions, they threw them in the bin. Went away and regrouped, we came back with more ideas, some got selected, some got cut.

Eventually, we locked the scripts and it was time to get it up on its feet.

“make it better”

We made characters, backgrounds and began building out the world and delivered them with sweaty palms and butterflies in our stomachs.

How good was the response? I hear you ask…

Honestly, I don’t like the one style presented and I don’t have any feedback to make it better.

Ouch! We went down like a boxing Justin Hodges. Luckily, we aren’t glass jaws and we popped back up ready to take another swing.

It was like a Rocky training montage – We stripped it all back. New ideas. Different references. Pulling cars in the snow. Reconceptualising.

In the end, we slammed new ideas down on the table and even we had to admit… they were cooler.

“makes us stronger”

Now that the style was as tight as a diver’s camel toe we were ready to make it move. The audience was young and they wanted the videos to pop. Sports is about that electricity, the personal and the communal. The buzz that rings out through a stadium when the gun goes off, the whistle blows or the siren sounds. But how to capture that in animation?

Luckily, the foundation was solid and our animators know their shiz. Add to that, a banging soundtrack and the videos went over an absolute treat. The client was so thrilled we’re working on a whole new set of videos right now.

“work is never over”

So as those wacky masked Frenchies say, work is never over. We’re back in the proverbial gym, stretching the muscles and making sure that the new set doesn’t just match the expectations of the last set… it blows them out of the water. Game on!