AFL Goal animation – MCG

Introduction

Goal animations take over the big screen, LED and IPTV and have specific spec, content and duration requirements.

Review and follow our best practices guide to ensure your content displays correctly at the stadium. Example videos and images are available for reference..

Need assitance? MKTG Creative is here to help..

Submission & Deadlines

All content is submitted via our content management portal MKTG Drop.
Instructions for uploading and re-using content via MKTG Drop can be found here..

Club deadlines

Club content, club commercial partners, club form.

First Home Match Deadline
Round 1
23rd February 2024
Round 2
1st March 2024
Match day Deadline
Thursday
Monday 12pm
Friday
Tuesday 12pm
Saturday
Tuesday 12pm
Sunday
Wednesday 12pm
Monday
Wednesday 12pm
Tuesday
Thursday 12pm
Wednesday
Friday 12pm

Commercial deadlines

AFL commercial partners.

Start of season Deadline
Round 1
23rd February 2024
Round 2
1st March 2024
Match day Deadline
Any
Monday 12pm

Contact MKTG immediately if you are unable to meet these deadlines.

Content guidelines

Legibility

Maximise scale

Content should fill up as much of the LED height as possible.

There are no safe areas on the LED, all pixels will be seen.

  • Utilise the full height of the LED
  • Don’t leave excessive space above/below content
Big and bold is best

Text and graphics should be large and bold to maximise legibility from a distance.

Shorter messages perform better than longer creatives with a lot of copy.

  • Thick and large text is the most legible
  • Thin or cursive text can be hard to read
High contrast

Maximise contrast between the background and foreground elements.

  • Maximum contrast
  • Not enough contrast
Dark or colourful backgrounds

Dark or bold colour backgrounds perform best on broadcast.

White and lighter colours should be avoided as the white can overpower the content.

  • Dark and bold colourful background
  • White or light background
Animation tips

Animated content can be a great way to draw the eye and display multiple messages over the duration of the content.

However animations must not be too distracting, scroll too fast, feature too many messages or flashing graphics.

Consider having your branding/main message on screen for the majority of the duration.

You can use photos, product images and video on the LED, however using these elements exclusively isn’t very effective in this space.

  • Smooth and simple animation
  • Animation too fast

Layout

Ensure even spacing

Making sure your elements are evenly spaced ensures that you don’t leave large empty spaces on the LED.

Take into consideration your content will be back to back with another file.

  • Even spacing between elements
  • Uneven spacing between elements
Use the whole space

Make sure to populate the entire LED and not leave large gaps.

You may miss out on exposure if too much space is left blank.

Do not put two lines of text on top of each other on the LED.

  • Good coverage
  • Poor coverage
No content on edges

Do not use your elements to cover up the seams between files. Content will end up cut in half.

This does not apply for scrolling / moving content.

  • No stationary content on edges
  • Stationary content on edges
Have consistent sizes

You should keep all logos and assets the same size throughout your LED and across all files.

Field and parapet can have different sizes to each other.

  • Same sized elements
  • Differently sizes elements
Order of content

Consider your designs not only on their own but in relation to each other.

If you have a tile that starts and ends with a logo such as below:

When it is tiled, you will end up with two logos next to each other before the text repeats.

There is nothing wrong with this, but it is something to keep in mind.

Including lower logos

Some designs include a set of small logos along the bottom of the field LED.

This option can be useful if there is a close up near the LED.

File creation

How to ensure accurate duration

Due to the way the LED are played out, it is important that all files are the same duration.

Where a spec requires a certain duration, the files must all be exactly that duration, and not a frame more or less.

For example if you are required to make content that is 15 seconds long, you can check the duration in After Effects in the composition settings. The duration should read ‘0.00.15.00’

  • After Effects composition settings
How to render large files

Sometimes when creating files in Adobe Media Encoder or Handbreak, the large dimensions of the LED files can be restricted by the default settings. Make sure to double check the output dimensions.

You may need to change the following Media Encoder settings to the following:

Profile: Main

Level: Unrestricted

  • Adobe Media Encoder settings

Full screen spec

Goal animations take over the MCG big screen and IPTV screens.

Example big screen graphic with title safe shown

Timing

The content runs for 20 seconds exactly, with the following breakdown:

Club branded celebration Goal sponsor celebration End frame hold
5 seconds
5 seconds
10 seconds

After the 5 seconds of club content and 5 seconds of commercial partner content, the graphic will stop and replays will begin. As this graphic is manually triggered it needs a tail hold so the directors can safely return to the live feed / replays before the graphic runs out.

Dimensions

Asset Dimensions Title safe
Big screen
1920x1080
60 pixels

File format

File type Codec FPS Duration
.mp4
H.264
25
20 seconds

Audio

Channels Sample Rate Max
2
48kHz
-24 LKFS

MKTG Drop asset

MKTG Drop Asset
AFL Big Screen - Goal

360° LED Spec

The 360° spec allows you to create unique content that covers the full width LED at the MCG. You will need to create 5 field files and 8 parapet files to fill out the stadium. 

MCG Out of Game LED map

Timing

The content runs for 25 seconds exactly with the following breakdown:

Club branded celebration Goal sponsor celebration
10 seconds
15 seconds

Parapet live stats

During the 15 seconds of goal sponsor celebration parapet files 4 and 7 are used for displaying the goal kicker stats. You will also be required to provide a backup version where these parapet files are the same as the other parapet creatives, in case there is a problem with the live data source.

Data options include:

Required Optional
Name
Jumper number
Goals
Behinds
Disposals
Kicks
Marks
Handballs

There are several options for working with this requirement.

  1. Design an LED where the relevant parapet sections have designated sections for the data to be injected. You will need to provide a sample of how you intend the data sites to look as well as share the font and text colour. Non data backup required.
Example clean render
Example with live data
  1. Create your LED without taking the statistics section into account and MKTG Studio can create these live data sites for you, keeping in line with provided brand guidelines and assets
  2. Create your LED without taking the statistics section into account and MKTG will create a generic un-branded parapet for the statistics to display

Field dimensions

MCG-FGG1 MCG-FGG2 MCG-FGG3 MCG-FGG4 MCG-FGG5
7744 x 96
7744 x 96
13824 x 96
9058 x 96
9058 x 96

Parapet dimensions

MCG-PGG1 MCG-PGG2 MCG-PGG3 MCG-PGG4 MCG-PGG5 MCG-PGG6 MCG-PGG7 MCG-PGG8
7760 x 64
1552 x 64
2160 x 64
5808 x 64
13936 x 64
4096 x 64
5200 x 64
1952 x 64

File format

File type Codec FPS Duration
.mp4
H.264
50
25 seconds

MKTG Drop asset

MKTG Drop Asset
AFL LED MCG 360 - Goal Animation

Contact

Elizabeth Cook

Content Director

Isaac Moores

MKTG Creative / Specs

Kelvin Giraldo

MKTG Creative / Specs

Create content with
MKTG Creative

We craft content for a broad range of clients across a comprehensive suite of assets. From design to stadium to social media, our in-house studio is a time efficient and cost effective solution.

MKTG Creative can help not only create content, but provide expert advice on best practice.

Elizabeth Cook

Head of Content

Isaac Moores

MKTG Creative / Specs

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