Behind The ScenesNBA

Working with Lakers’ photographer, NBA Countdown produces 3D Kobe Bryant sculpture feature

Memorable NBA schedule on ESPN platforms

Tonight, ESPN will be the home to some of the most significant games in NBA regular-season history.

The Golden State Warriors will attempt to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ all-time regular season wins record by going 73-9 this season as they host the Memphis Grizzles (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN). (ESPN’s telecast will be subject to local blackout in the Golden State Warriors’ television territory).

Simultaneously, ESPN2 will televise NBA icon Kobe Bryant’s final game as the Los Angeles Lakers host the Utah Jazz (10:30 p.m.) The game also will be available on WatchESPN. ESPN has day-long coverage and career retrospectives on various platforms.
Prior to the Golden State game, ESPN will televise the Miami Heat at Boston Celtics matchup at 8 p.m. in a matchup that could be a first-round playoff preview.

How do you best capture Kobe Bryant? It’s a question that’s befuddled his NBA foes for years and one they thankfully will not have to answer again as the high-scoring Los Angeles Laker bids farewell to the NBA tonight (Lakers versus Utah Jazz, ESPN2, 10:30 p.m. ET).

But the question also was posed to Dominique Goodridge, ESPN associate producer. The network’s basketball production unit wanted to showcase Lakers team photographer Andrew Bernstein’s work – but the idea was to make the project unique.

Goodridge answered the challenge.

She enlisted a camera crew, a Brooklyn artist and studio space in Houston, Texas – it was the best location to catch the Lakers on an off day during a recent road trip – to produce the making of a virtual 3D sculpture composed of Bernstein’s photos.

The resulting feature, a video essay Bernstein wrote and narrated as well, will debut tonight on NBA Countdown charged by Mountain Dew (7 p.m. ET, ESPN, WatchESPN). That’s just one part of ESPN’s comprehensive NBA coverage tonight on multiple platforms (see sidebar).

Front Row asked Goodridge for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the feature (see the finished product revealed and a time-lapse video of the sculpture’s construction below).

When and how did this idea come together?
NBA Countdown had asked us to look into doing a feature on the Lakers’ photographer for Kobe’s last game, so the challenge was how to do that and make it stand out from the many other Kobe pieces airing this week.

I knew I wanted to do a visual specialty shoot with Andrew Bernstein’s photos, hanging them in a way that would provide depth. The piece was shot by one of my favorite freelance crews, 2nd Decade Productions, and director of photography Alex Birnie had the idea of reaching out to an artist out of Brooklyn who makes incredible sculptures by hanging materials in way that creates the image from a certain perspective. The theme of my piece was how Andy has had a unique vantage point for Kobe’s career through his lens, so I knew it was the perfect creative match.

Why was Michael Murphy the right fit for a collaboration on this?
When I saw Michael’s art, the fact that perspective was such an integral theme of his pieces was so intriguing and Alex and I knew that we had to work with him on this. We have never worked with Michael before. . . But we got in touch and within 24 hours, the three of us plus co-director of photography Matt Cozza were in Houston hanging hundreds of photos to make Murphy’s design. It took four of us around 10 hours to hang all of the photos but it was all worth it in the end.

What do you think this art will add to ESPN’s Kobe Bryant Farewell coverage?
This is a completely different take on Kobe’s career, not only by leaning on photos instead of video to tell the story, but also by using a different voice and giving the audience a personal peek behind the curtain of Andy’s experience covering Kobe.

What was the process like selecting all of the photos used and how challenging was that?
Andy has taken literally thousands and thousands of photos of Kobe Bryant throughout his career. We asked Andy to write his thoughts down in an essay to narrate in the piece, so choosing the photos was a combination of some of my favorite photos, Andy’s favorites and the moments Andy referenced in his essay.

Video produced by Dominique Goodridge

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