Concept and creative process
An ambitious and sophisticated animated trailer for the 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia was conceived by BBC Creative designers, Edward Usher and Xander Hart, working with animation director Nicos Livesey at Blinkink. The creatives came up with the tagline 'History Will Be Made' and the idea of using the well-known traditional Russian folk song 'Ochi Chernye' to accompany the visuals. The designers chose images from iconic moments in the history of the World Cup and depicted great players of the age in a montage which became the blueprint for the animators to work from. The overall graphic style and colour palette took inspiration from Russian visual arts. The creative concept of the designers was to have it appear like an embroidered tapestry brought to life by the art of animation. They achieved the desired aesthetic by replicating the finished animation artwork frame by frame on an embroidery machine and then refilming and editing the resulting frames in post-production at Freefolk, colour graded by Duncan Russell. The music was arranged by Alex Baranowski and recorded at Abbey Road Studios by the London Metropolitan Orchestra, featuring the rich bass voice of Sir John Tomlinson. The designers' tagline 'History Will Be Made' became manifest in the unique tapestry which emerged as a cultural by-product of the creative process and which was subsequently put on public display.