supporters are treated to a spectacular introduction prior to the Trail Blazers starters’ arrival at the Moda Center. This is intended to excite supporters by imaginatively associating the team with a feature that many people associate with the area.
Rain.
The imaginative idea turns the arena into a blue-washed simulated stormscape. Be like water is the famous remark that Bruce Lee’s voice delivers on some nights in his iconic martial arts action film.
There is nothing new about elaborate entrances prior to NBA games. This season, however, the Blazers made an effort to elevate the art from conception to execution, producing one of the more captivating and unforgettable openings in recent memory.
The goal of the Blazers’ creative staff was to create an opener that would appeal to Rip City supporters in ways other than basketball. As a result, a link was established between NBA players and the strength and fluidity of water. But more, too.
According to Billie Olson, director of creative services for the Blazers, it was really more about the idea of playing on us as Portlanders and something that we genuinely believe in and take pleasure in as a strength.
FROM IDEA TO CREATION
Early last summer, preparations for the openings got underway.
Olson is in charge of the Blazers’ motion graphics, design, and video departments.
As a collective, we generate all of the ideas, he stated.
This season, special effects, lighting, and video graphics are used in the Blazers’ pregame introductions to create the illusion of rain at the Moda Center. Bruce Lee’s “Be Like Water” quotation was included in one of the five versions that will be utilized this season. Fun things.JO3ysisu45 on Twitter: #RipCitypic
Usually, they generate a number of concepts that are related to one another.
“Creative openings that pop and stand alongside the best in the NBA are valued by Dewayne Hankins, president of business operations for the Blazers,” Olson said.
Kevin Kinghorn, chief marketing officer, who is in charge of the brand team, marketing, and television, gave the initial instructions.
Kinghorn desired an opening that was exclusive to Rip City’s personality, collective spirit, and mindset. a presentation that might foster a relationship between the city, the club, and its supporters. Something that wouldn’t perform as well in another location.
According to Kinghorn, it’s an intriguing phenomenon in a place like Portland where basketball has a greater significance than in some of the larger cities. It’s not just about the team playing. I believe there to be a sincere relationship there.
Someone made the remark that Portlanders are the only ones who don’t use umbrellas at a brainstorming session.
On October 23, 2024, the Trail Blazers take on the Warriors. With the Trail Blazers, Jaden ColemanWith the Trail Blazers, Jaden Coleman
“Let’s own that,” Olson concluded.
Olson believed that the openings should capitalize on the rain rather than make it a weakness because Portland is one of the wettest cities in the US.
“We’re trying to create a rain-city environment, so we’re playing into the rain,” Olson added. Portland’s water was one of the concepts I wanted to experiment with. And I kept hearing about the rain.
ACT LIKE WATER
Creating five themes under one roof that would change throughout the season was the next task.
According to Olson, all five of them have a connection to rain in some way.
Olson said he would think about the connection between basketball and water when brainstorming. He pictured players like water, flowing on the court but also crashing.
He saw openings in the area with glimpses of water and rain.
Then something profound struck him in the side of the face like a nunchaku.
Bruce Lee, whose martial arts action films of the 1970s transformed the genre, was a childhood favorite of Olson’s.
He claimed that as a child, Enter the Dragon was unquestionably one of his favorite films.
Olson thought of Lee’s well-known statement about his martial arts practice, which contained the phrase, “Be like water.”
Olson stated, “I just kept hearing that quote over and over in my head.”
When Olson originally presented his presentation to the Blazers management team, he had Lee’s quote written at the top. He hadn’t thought of using the quote as an opener until then.
But he came to a clear conclusion when he thought about how basketball could be related to the force and flow of water. to paraphrase Lee from an interview with Pierre Berton in 1971.
I opted to use it since it had such a basketball metaphor, Olson said.
THE ACTIVITY
Following the introduction of the opposing team, the introduction starts.
Fans are instructed by Blazers commentator Mark Mason to “light up your phones to make it rain.”
Before blue lights give the Moda Center a nighttime vibe, it almost goes dark. While the scoreboard video screen and the commercial screens that wrap around the arena above the 100 level employ flashes of descending light to mimic rain falling, the sound of thunder and rain breaks out. The cell phone lighting and those effects combine to create a midnight, rainy scene.
The court below looks like a lake, light blue.
Then, amid ominous noises reminiscent of industrial equipment, is a condensed version of Lee’s quote:
Game highlights were intercut with silent run shots of lakes, waterfalls, rain, and forests on the large screen.
More Blazers highlights are shown as dramatic music plays at the end of the quote. A succession of lighting effects and brief fireworks displays are part of the crescendo, which is complemented by loud and dramatic music.
Next, Mason s voice returns, asking fans: Rip City, are you ready, for your Portland Trail Blazers!?
The player introductions then start.
The intro lasts roughly two minutes and, from Kinghorn s perspective, communicates that Rip City fans value hustle, effort and grit over hype.
I think that s really captured well in that particular open, Kinghorn said.
PRODUCTION DIFFICULTIES
The first few times the opening ran, more elaborate effects were used, such as those to mimic rain clouds. Some of those effects could return in later usage openings.
Trail Blazers face the Golden State Warriors on October 23, 2024. Coral Scoles-Coburn / Trail BlazersCoral Scoles-Coburn / Trail Blaz
Interestingly, the weather didn t cooperate with the production schedule. A few weeks before the season, sunny days dominated the forecast, making it difficult to shoot the footage needed for the video.
Production crews used garden hoses to spray down areas they wanted to appear wet.
It was a challenge to make things look rainy in an irregular three-week period where we didn t have any rain, Olson said.
A tough situation when searching for authenticity.
We really wanted this to feel like the rain, so we had do a lot of shooting really close to opening night, just to basically get real shots of rain hitting the river that you see, he said. That s just something you can t really fake.
Finally, nature cooperated, and rain appeared long enough for the needed shots to be gathered for all five opening videos.
A second opening, Reflections, is also in rotation. It features players watching their highlights shown within puddles on a playground basketball court.
Clips of players posing, flexing, or looking menacing were shot during September s media day.
At games, players can be seen watching the openings.
I want to see what highlights of me were used, Blazers center Robert Williams III said with a smile.
Trail Blazers face the New Orleans Pelicans on October 27, 2024. Coral Scoles-Coburn / Trail BlazersCoral Scoles-Coburn / Trail Blaz
Williams said the overall concepts of the openings were explained to the players, but they don t see the finished product until game nights.
Although Williams, 27, was unfamiliar with Lee s quote but said he appreciated the productions and rates them among the best he s seen in the NBA.
The whole thing with the water and us looking down into the puddle to see our highlights, that s dope, he said.
Each night, he admits, he watches with interest.
You want to see which new highlights they use, he said.
ON TO THE NEXT
Olson, who said he has helped produce about 80 openings, explained that any feelings he retains for past projects never supersede the excitement of moving on to the next creative adventure. For Olson, the biggest thrill comes when a new creation is presented to an audience.
I get so excited for that first time and when it hits, that s the gratification, he said.
The work that goes on away from the court to present the team to the public is similar to writing a chapter in the team s history.
Feels like you put words on the page and then looking at the next season and building for that, Kinghorn said.
The hope, in the end, is that the art resonates.
The concept and the theme, Kinghorn said, kind of lives on.
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