Stars of Euro 2004 ignite titles by BBC Broadcast

BBC design teams have created a fast-paced title sequence to mark the BBC’s coverage of the Euro 2004 football championships.

The 52-second piece, which will appear on 12 June, depicts leading European players as larger-than-life superheroes bursting out of various Portuguese locations.

Each player shows his trademark football skills as he vaults over rooftops or volleys off castle walls, and is linked by a vapour trail that echoes his movements.

‘Thierry Henry is very nimble, so we show him running across the roofs in Porto. Michael Owen is a quick runner, so we’ve used his speed and have him [dribbling a ball] through the streets of Lisbon,’ says BBC Broadcast design director Paul Mitchell.

The sequence was created by overlaying scenes of Portugal with footage of individual players, who were filmed in front of green studio screens over four days.

‘We shot the locations in slow motion and the players at high speed to give the whole thing a surreal look,’ says Mitchell. He says the vapour trails are drawn from footage of the players’ extremities.

Meanwhile, BBC Broadcast has created trails promoting the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage. The work features John McEnroe drawing parallels between the tournament and a movie script.

The Euro 2004 sequence, which carries a £70 800 budget, is a collaboration between BBC Broadcast, BBC Sport and BBC Post Production.

Mitchell, BBC Broadcast design producer Janet Smith, BBC Sport title sequence producer Jason Bernard and BBC Post Production post producer Ashleigh Lane are creative leads on the project.

See Euro 2004 branding feature, page 20