Gold PromaxBDA Arabia Award Winner: Best Sports Promo
Gold PromaxBDA Arabia Award Winner: Best Special Event Promo
Gold PromaxBDA Arabia Award Winner: Most Outstanding Promo of the Year
Gold US International Award Winner: Entertainment Craft/Production : 3D
Silver PromaxBDA World Award Winner: Art Direction & Design : Special Event Promo
Bronze PromaxBDA World Award Winner: Art Direction & Design : Sports Promo
Bronze PromaxBDA World Award Winner: Special Project Award
Nominee Dubai Lynx Awards: Film Craft : Special Effects
For the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar, we created a two-minute VFX epic that told the origin story of Doha itself. Two elemental teams – the Sandmen representing Qatar's Bedouin heritage and the Watermen representing its fishing traditions – emerge from the desert and sea to chase a football across the country, from the beaches to historic Lusail Village, through modern downtown Doha, and into Khalifa Stadium for a final showdown. Shot on location over four days and completed in just eight weeks, the spot pushed the boundaries of what was technically possible in fluid and particle simulation at the time.
Role: Concept. Design. Direction. Motion-Capture. 3D. VFX. Editorial. Music.
Qatar was built by two peoples: the Bedouins of the desert and the fishermen of the sea. When Al Kass – Qatar's premier sports network and a longtime partner since we rebranded their channel in 2008 – approached us to create a promo for the 2011 Asian Cup, we pitched a concept that turned that founding story into a football match between elemental forces.
The spot opens on a beach, where local Qatari kids kick a ball around. The Watermen rise from the sea, tackle the boys, and steal the ball. The Sandmen join the chase. What follows is a two-minute journey across Qatar – through the historic streets of Lusail Village, past I.M. Pei's Museum of Islamic Art, through the glass-and-steel canyons of modern Doha – culminating in a full match at Khalifa Stadium, complete with a CG crowd of thousands. The Watermen score. The nation cheers.
This was the most technically ambitious project we had ever undertaken. The sand characters required approximately 15 million particles each; the water characters, around 2 million RealFlow particles per shot. Every scene demanded individual simulation tuning – the way sand disperses in sunlight versus stadium floodlights, the way water refracts its environment as it moves through frame.
We shot all live-action plates at 4K on the RED One across four days in Qatar – desert dunes, traditional architecture, downtown streets, and Khalifa Stadium itself. The stadium sequences required full day-for-night treatment, with CG lighting projected from night reference stills to simulate the illumination of the actual venue. The crowd is entirely computer-generated.
The bulk of post-production was completed in eight weeks – a timeline that pushed every aspect of our pipeline to its limits. Our lead water and sand effects artist would later join Weta Digital, eventually heading their water effects department and contributing to films including Avatar.
The spot debuted on December 18, 2010, and became the most-awarded project in METAphrenie's history at the time – earning multiple Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards at PromaxBDA Arabia and World, a Gold at the US International Awards, and a Dubai Lynx nomination for Special Effects.
More than a decade later, it remains one of our proudest achievements – proof that a small studio with the right concept and relentless execution can compete at the highest level.
The four-day shoot took us across Qatar – from the sweeping dunes of the inland desert to the ancient streets of Lusail Village, from traditional fishing boats to the gleaming towers of West Bay, and finally to Khalifa Stadium itself. Every plate was captured at 4K on the RED with full HDR coverage for CG lighting reference. Helicopter aerials. Beach shoots. Rooftop setups in 45ºC heat. And one very committed client who showed up on set dressed as Darth Vader – because when you're making something this epic, why not.
Copyright © MMIV-MMXXVI METAphrenie Inc. All rights reserved. Images from this site may not be reproduced without prior written permission. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
