Image courtesy of Troika Design Group

Strategic design and creative production company Troika Design Group has created four new on-air promos for TV Land which involved concepting, scripting, design, animation, editing, sound design and original music composition.  The campaign entitled Take Me to TV Land premiered at the taping of the second annual TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV, and made its debut during the ceremony’s initial telecast on March 17.

The challenge presented to Troika’s project creative director and lead designer Sonia Lamba and her team was creating a story that combined original animation and illustration with existing brand elements and show clips to promote some 20 classic American television shows.  “It's an interesting challenge to bring a new spin to such classic shows,” Lamba explained.  “Our approach focused on highlighting the personalities from each show while creating an abstract, visual journey.  The spots are both soundbite-driven and use a graphic world to create the concept of ‘Take Me to TV Land.’”

“We were looking for a visual idea that represented the network tag line, ‘Take me to TV Land,’” said Kim Rosenblum, TV Land’s senior VP for creative.  “From the initial storyboard presentation we knew that this approach, combining graphics, clips, illustration and with dynamic animation would create a fantastic world that captures the feeling you get from watching TV Land.  It's a familiar, but better than real, place where all your favorite characters live together.  A place you can go to escape.”

Project Approach
In her first assignment as Troika’s newest creative director, Lamba relished her unique position.  Raised in the U.K. and unfamiliar with most of TV Land’s offerings, she quickly became an ardent fan of the network’s shows – and its promotions.  Commenting that, “TV Land’s promo campaigns are among the best I’ve ever seen and were a great influence for the personality of our spots,” Lamba was further inspired by the clarity of vision of the creative brief.  Soon after reviewing it, her idea for “Everlasting Journey” began taking shape.

To present the concept to TV Land’s executives, Lamba created a five-foot storyboard that showed a left-to-right progression through four different eras (50s, kitsch, the wild west and fantasy).  “For the storyboard, I created a literal journeyscape which was essentially the basis for all the spots,” she said.  “The board was created in such high-resolution, it allowed us to use it as an actual animation element, where we zoomed in and out, went back and forth, all the while discovering different characters, shows and environments.”

Production
Troika’s team watched hours and hours of footage from hundreds of episodes to identify soundbites and clips that conveyed the story of the journey to TV Land.  The results of that process helped Lamba write scripts for promos entitled “Everything Television,” “Kitsch,” “Classics” and “Zany Comedy” (all :30s except for the first, which is a :60).

Tipping her hat to editors Bryan Hargraves and Luis Martos for their invaluable help in building each spot around its theme, Lamba also added, “It was quite a technical feat to composite all of those elements in After Effects and to travel through the 3D worlds in a dynamic and engaging manner.”  She also acknowledged the work of her other Troika collaborators:  executive producer Mandy Martin, associate producer Steiner Kierce, designer/animator Richard Eng, animator Jayson Whitmore and Robert Cairns, who composed the original music and handled each spot’s sound design.

“We knew that this campaign will live on-air for an extended period of time, which is why we all worked so hard to make them intricate and multilayered,” Lamba concluded.  “Our hope is that you'll discover something new and exciting each time you watch them.”

TV Land credits include in house senior producer Shakira Peterson and production assistant Dan Frome, who also screened hours of shows and culled through TV Land's massive show notes library to find key shots.  In house creative direction was provided by vice president and creative director Kenna Kay, as well as senior vice president of creative, Kim Rosenblum.

About Troika Design Group
Troika is a multidisciplinary, award-winning design company in Hollywood consisting of more than 20 designers, producers, animators, editors and conceptual thinkers who specialize in network branding, promotional and advertising campaigns and show packaging.  Established in the spring of 2001 by industry leaders Dan Pappalardo, Mark Bohman and Chuck Carey, Troika has emerged as one of the premier providers of strategic design and creative production for television.  Troika works closely with television and cable networks including ABC, E! Entertainment, UPN, Food Network, ESPN, Comedy Central, HGTV, Fine Living, Style and VH1.  For more information, please visit www.troika.tv or call Brett Ashy at 323-965-1650.

About TV Land
TV Land continues to fulfill its promise to present the best programming from all of television's history through the network created by TV experts for passionate viewers. The network's daily dose of hit shows, classic commercials and rarely seen television gems have resonated with viewers to make TV Land one of the highest-rated cable channels launched on both a household and A25-54 demo basis. Now seen in over 82 million U.S. homes, TV Land's program mix features popular dramas, sitcoms, westerns, Retromercials(r) and a TV-referential interstitial environment, all programmed with a specific audience in mind - the first generation of Americans to grow up watching television, and features all time classic hits like All In The Family, The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.

About Viacom
Viacom is a leading global media company, with preeminent positions in broadcast and cable television, radio, outdoor advertising, and online. With programming that appeals to audiences in every demographic category across virtually all media, the company is a leader in the creation, promotion, and distribution of entertainment, news, sports, music, and comedy. Viacom's well-known brands include CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, Paramount Pictures, Infinity Broadcasting, Viacom Outdoor, UPN, Spike TV, TV Land, CMT: Country Music Television, Comedy Central, Showtime, Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster. More information about Viacom and its businesses is available at www.viacom.com.