Is Sir Chris Hoy Man or Machine in Nissan's Sci-fi Cinema Spot?

Today, Nissan launches cinema commercial ‘Hoybot’, created by TBWA London. The 60 second film will play out in cinemas before the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Directed by Bob Harlow at Somesuch, the spot exposes a fictional secret behind Sir Chris Hoy’s power - he’s not human. The futuristic mockumentary reveals Hoy’s robotic side in a dramatic short for the automotive brand.

“The brief for the music was something powerful and cinematic,” explains Clare McGrath, executive producer at Finger Music. “We wanted the music to emulate that of a movie trailer and of course, this had to be something that could sit side by side with the epic music associated with Star Wars. We knew we’d need someone with movie experience so we turned to the very brilliant composer, Daniel Lenz, to create the track for ‘Hoybot’.” 

Finger Music composer, Daniel Lenz (Daniel Lenzmeier) has had music licensed for multiple high profile movies and TV shows as well as movie trailers including; A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, X Men Origins, Terminator Salvation, Twilight, Saw V and Resident Evil to name but a few.

Clare adds: “Finger always strives to get the most authentic sound, so when we got the brief for Nissan, we knew we had to use one of our top movie guys! Daniel Lenz has a list of credits as long as his arm. He understands how an epic movie score should work and has the sounds to back it up! We needed a track that would be impactful and believable, with Daniel’s expertise we think we achieved this.  In the words of Darth Vader himself: ‘The force is strong with this one’!”

However it was not only the style of the music that had to be carefully considered but also its technical composition. Cinema environments have powerful sound systems installed which can have a huge impact on the mood of a song. 

Composer Daniel Lenz explains how he adapted the composition for the silver screen: "I had to pay close attention to the low and sub frequencies in order to fill the room and make sure it rattled!”