Harry Peluso

01

Concept

The U.S. Open is the one tournament where all of New York shows up on the same campus — preppy and elite, edgy and street, corporate hospitality and kids on the practice courts, everything in between. Culture Tennis covers the sport from exactly that intersection of tennis and culture, and for its flagship U.S. Open recap the brief was to capture the whole atmosphere, not the scoreboard. Not a highlight package of who won, and not fan interviews about their day — a piece that brings the viewer onto the grounds through the screen and lets them feel the crowd, the city, and the vibrancy of the event at once.

01

Concept

The U.S. Open is the one tournament where all of New York shows up on the same campus — preppy and elite, edgy and street, corporate hospitality and kids on the practice courts, everything in between. Culture Tennis covers the sport from exactly that intersection of tennis and culture, and for its flagship U.S. Open recap the brief was to capture the whole atmosphere, not the scoreboard. Not a highlight package of who won, and not fan interviews about their day — a piece that brings the viewer onto the grounds through the screen and lets them feel the crowd, the city, and the vibrancy of the event at once.

02

Capture

One shoot day, run and gun, moving across the grounds with the camera rather than setting up at one court. The spine of the piece is hyperlapses and timelapses of the venue — Arthur Ashe filling, the walkways surging between sessions, the light changing over the campus — which show a place most people have only seen from a broadcast angle. Between those are the moments: players winning points, fans celebrating, the fashion and the street culture unfolding in the crowd. The edit pulls every element into one portrait of the event’s energy rather than sorting it into segments. To hold the first seconds, the intro was animated in Blender — a 3D open that gives the film a hook before the first real frame and signals that this is a produced piece, not a phone recap.

02

Capture

One shoot day, run and gun, moving across the grounds with the camera rather than setting up at one court. The spine of the piece is hyperlapses and timelapses of the venue — Arthur Ashe filling, the walkways surging between sessions, the light changing over the campus — which show a place most people have only seen from a broadcast angle. Between those are the moments: players winning points, fans celebrating, the fashion and the street culture unfolding in the crowd. The edit pulls every element into one portrait of the event’s energy rather than sorting it into segments. To hold the first seconds, the intro was animated in Blender — a 3D open that gives the film a hook before the first real frame and signals that this is a produced piece, not a phone recap.

03

Campaign

Ran on @culture.tennis, a 140,000-follower account, as its flagship U.S. Open recap — the one piece that summarized the tournament for an audience that follows the sport for its culture as much as its results. Published as the event wrapped, while the Open was still the conversation, so it sat in the feed as the definitive look back rather than one post among the week’s coverage.

03

Campaign

Ran on @culture.tennis, a 140,000-follower account, as its flagship U.S. Open recap — the one piece that summarized the tournament for an audience that follows the sport for its culture as much as its results. Published as the event wrapped, while the Open was still the conversation, so it sat in the feed as the definitive look back rather than one post among the week’s coverage.