December 10, 2024
Behind the Scenes of Every Shift Season 3
This third season of Every Shift captures both on-ice and off-ice moments and Banner brings the creative collaboration and storytelling like never before. Our in-house investigative team caught up with the Banner production team and asked them those hard hitting questions to learn what makes this season so special.
The Power of Collaboration
Working closely with the Blackhawks’ internal team of producers, the goal is simple: tell stories that fans can’t find anywhere else. The challenge in capturing those stories is maintaining creative freedom without interfering with the players’ routines. Trust has to be created with these players before we shine the spotlight on their day-to-day lives.
Ben Sabal, lead producer and editor on the project said, “As with any sports documentary, the biggest challenge is finding the right balance of getting behind the scenes access but not interfering with the player’s job on the ice.”
From off-season training to a behind-the-scenes pickleball tournament with the team, we embrace human stories. The season is much more than game-winning goals. It’s personal goals, preparation and moments fans rarely see.
Capturing unforgettable moments
One of Banner’s favorite moments this season was capturing Ryan Donato in his hometown Scituate, Massachusetts on a boat off the shore. The crew wrapped before the rain hit but got soaked on the boat on the way back.
“Ryan and Bradley (Ryan’s wife) were nice enough to throw our soaked clothes in their dryer before we hit the road back to our hotel for the night,” said Sabal.
A New Visual Identity
This season’s intro offers a fresh take while staying true to the look and feel of the previous season’s. “Playing on the meaning of ‘shift,’” Jessica Conquest, Design Director here at Banner said, “I aimed to invoke the word’s literal meaning on a visual level. I executed this by simply shifting the typeface, and then playing off of that angle in design decisions for the other graphics.”
The windows of negative space formed by the letterforms become visual storytelling spaces, adding intrigue to the sequence.
“Overall, the goal was to create an intro with depth and visual interest that would set the tone for what was to come: a serious, bold, and interesting story,” said Conquest.
We used b-roll of the players in the weight room, the United Center, the locker room and even the Stanley Cup banners in the rafters, all framed with the negative space of the graphics.
Erinn Casey, lead cinematographer and assistant editor on the project said, “The new theme music strikes a more serious and dramatic tone than last year’s which conveys the shift in the team’s mentality this season.”
With a more deliberate mind-set than previous seasons, the new title sequence aligns to capture the team’s preparation and focus, previewing what’s to come this year.
Final Thoughts
Now three seasons in, Every Shift has hit its stride.
Grace, a motion graphics designer on the project said, “I think that this project is a big team effort on all fronts. It’s been so fun to be a part of and learn how many moving parts truly go into something so big like this.”
As the season unfolds, we are excited to see both the storytelling and the players evolve and we can’t wait to bring fans along for the journey.