ALBA BERLIN
Arena Experience
Arena Experience
Scalable motion systems for an immersive multi-screen arena experience.
Transforming the Uber Arena Berlin into a high-octane visual powerhouse: This project for 11-time German basketball champion ALBA BERLIN turns every home game into an audiovisual spectacle that fires up both the fans and the players. By synchronizing every screen in the building—from the giant video cubes to the 360° fascia boards—I created a seamless multi-screen ecosystem. The result is a perfect blend of premium art direction and a scalable technical engine that keeps the game-day vibe alive.
The Challenge
Getting to deck out one of Europe’s largest arenas—with over 14,500 seats—entirely with animations is a total privilege. The real challenge in my long-term collaboration with ALBA BERLIN was the sheer scale and variety of formats. From giant video cubes and 360° fascia boards to the LED court-side displays, every screen had to be perfectly synced.
Plus, the window between Media Day and the start of the season is tiny, leaving almost no time to produce hundreds of individual assets for the whole team and different game situations.
The Solution
To keep this complexity under control, I developed a scalable motion system based on technical efficiency and strategic direction.
- Direction & Content Creation: As the Co-Director for Media Day, I supervised the player shoots to ensure the footage would blend perfectly with the later motion design. I took the base screen designs from the ALBA in-house team and transformed them into a dynamic animation system.
- Scalable Workflows (MOGRTs): To manage the massive number of deliverables—from player intros to live triggers for three-pointers or blocks — I used highly optimized Motion Graphics Templates (MOGRTs). This allowed for fast updates of footage, names, and colors within a consistent design framework.
- Multi-Screen Experience: Design and implementation were handled for various custom formats (e.g., 13,824 x 64 pixels) to create a seamless, immersive brand world across the entire arena.
- Player Signatures & Social Integration: Each player received up to three individual "gesture animations" (for 3-pointers and blocks) that took over the Cube and Fascia boards in the arena. I also developed dynamic "crowd hype" videos to drive arena engagement. To extend the experience beyond the physical space, all gestures and "Let’s Go" animations were exported as high-quality GIPHY stickers and GIFs, allowing the club’s digital team to use them across all social media channels
The Impact
The result is one of the most professional game-day stagings in European basketball. The seamless integration of social media assets (GIFs/stickers) and arena graphics ensures a consistent brand experience across all channels.
The system is so flexible that ALBA Berlin can react to roster changes almost instantly with high-quality content.
CREDITS
Client: ALBA Berlin Basketball Team
Role: Creative Direction, Motion Design, Shooting Supervision
Role: Creative Direction, Motion Design, Shooting Supervision
Cinematographer, Media Day Camera Setup: Jan Buchholz (ALBA BERLIN)
Season Graphic Design: Ilho Jung (ALBA BERLIN)
Season Graphic Design: Ilho Jung (ALBA BERLIN)
Gesture Animations
A tiny selection of the developed Giphy Stickers:
