2026
For the second consecutive year on the UEFA Club Competitions Finals, this time art directing as well as animating. Same four competitions as in 2025, same unforgiving timeline between the semi-finals and the finals. Having been through it the year before made a real difference in how I approached the front-loading and design development.
I led the animation and compositing across all four competitions, taking on the Champions League films on my own, with Paul Goldsmith alongside me for the rest. Paul took on the bulk of the Conference League films and all the cel animation for the Women's Champions League, as well as rotoscoping, footage treatment and transitions across Europa League and beyond. We worked in roughly two-day blocks per film, splitting shots to keep things moving through a pretty relentless three-week window in May — with editors Alex Oliver and Martin Macdonald and producer Rob Heath rounding out the team.
The films were made for FANTV — shown on the giant screens in the stadiums in the build-up to each final — and also published on UEFA.tv and offered to all broadcasters covering the competitions.
Credits
Robert Heath - producer
Vijay Patel - researcher
Alex Oliver and Martin Macdonald - editors
Andrei Staruiala - art director and motion designer
Paul Goldsmith - motion designer and cel animator
Vijay Patel - researcher
Alex Oliver and Martin Macdonald - editors
Andrei Staruiala - art director and motion designer
Paul Goldsmith - motion designer and cel animator
2025
For the 2025 UEFA Club Competitions Finals I worked as motion designer alongside art director Ken Clark and the same editorial and production team. Across all four competitions we produced a set of stadium films shown on the big screen in the build-up to each final: team and match hypes, road to the final title cards and celebration edits. The tight delivery window — particularly on Europa League and Conference League, where we had as little as six days between the finalists being confirmed and final delivery — meant a lot of front-loading and quick turnaround once the semis were done.
Credits
Robert Heath - producer
Vijay Patel - researcher
Ken Clark - art director
Alex Oliver and Martin Macdonald - editors
Andrei Staruiala - motion designer
Vijay Patel - researcher
Ken Clark - art director
Alex Oliver and Martin Macdonald - editors
Andrei Staruiala - motion designer
