01 Oct Recreating over 100 years of ASU Football
True Story Films has often been tasked with finding all sorts of ‘out of the ordinary’ props for our clients’ film projects: twenty obedient dogs for an Arizona Lottery spot, ninja swords for a DriveTime video and superhero apparel for ASU’s WP Carey Degree Series. So when Cary came to me with: “We want to recreate ASU football history… oh, and we’d like to start with 1899”, it was just the latest challenge to conquer on a growing list.
No Problem! How hard could this possibly be? First step: find period images that would guide me in replicating a series of vintage uniforms, and second, sourcing the vendors to create the uniforms that would reflect eight decades of proud ASU football history for the new intro. Now, where to find all those pictures from 1899?
After lots of research we found a few excellent photos that gave us the references we needed to have the oldest jerseys designed. As the decades progressed, reference photos became more plentiful, but to accomplish this task we needed a great partner. Enter Tiedman & Formby, a vintage athletic company based in Boulder, Colorado. They sent us some great mock-ups, created vibrant storyboards and, working under a serious time crunch, completed some beautiful jerseys. But hmmm…that was just the jersey. Not wanting half-dressed football players running around, we also needed vintage pants, helmets, cleats and an abundance of accessories to bring this all to life.
My favorite item of the shoot happened to be a pair of 1899 football pants that I was able to get at the very last minute from Sports Studio, a wardrobe house out of Culver City. I feel as though getting accurate vintage apparel and not settling for something that just could’ve ‘worked’ is what’s going to make the finished intro seem that much more realistic.
Looking back, we had to use seven specialty vendors to put together our line up of uniforms. That’s a lot of research! But not to worry, alumni and past players should find their era accurately represented in the new ASU Football intro. Who said football jocks aren’t fashionistas?
If you are lucky enough to have game tickets, you’ll see True Story’s work on the big screen at Sun Devil Stadium for the home opener on September 1st and all season long! Of course, you can check out the finished intro right here at truestoryfilms.com too.
By Katelyn Edmonds
In a tough economy, colleges across the country are looking to differentiate their institutions from the competition, and True Story is in the thick of this trend with a slew of video projects that are geared toward new student recruitment. Click here to check out some of our latest education projects.