How Nike Trainers Created Their Own ‘Sneakerhood’
We as audiences are used to Nike’s slick, ultra-cool content, which the brand is renowned for no matter if in live-action or not. So it comes as a bit of a surprise not only to us, but also to the directing duo Johnny and Will at Blinkink, that this time they have opted for a playful, whimsical script for the Jordan brand and Nike Greater China.
The sporting brand, agency Studio NOWHERE, and the directors were keen to make two films full of joy and craft, as well as create a memorable, charming world that sneakerheads worldwide can appreciate.
This is how the ‘Sneakerhood’ came to be - a setting built and designed by the shoes for the shoes, “lived-in and gritty,” but not “dirty and oppressive,” as Johnny and Will put it. The two films – ‘Barbershop’ and ‘Handshake’ – reveal various aspects of the sneaker-inhabited city as we see the shoes interact with each other through rod-and-wire puppeteering mixed with some stop-frame animation.
LBB’s Zoe Antonov spoke to Johnny and Will to find out more about the huge feat that was the creative process behind the films.
LBB> What was the brief for this campaign, and what was the initial ideation process? Did you know that the characters would be the trainers themselves from the start, or did that emerge as an idea later on?
Johnny and Will> The brief was to create a world inhabited by Nike trainers, full of details that Sneakerheads would pick up on and enjoy.
It felt clear to us that there should be no humans in this world, so the idea of people wearing the shoe characters was something we pushed back on early in the development process.
The idea of creating a place designed and built by the trainers themselves felt interesting: long bespoke barber chairs, skateboards instead of cars, an architecture based on shoe boxes, and lots of subtle cues that gave these 'real' environments a more stylised original feel.
When realising these characters, there were various routes we could have taken, possibly rebuilding the trainers as animatable models or creating CGI versions. For this project, it made sense to us to use actual trainers and create expressive characters by manipulating the shoes in ways they naturally flex and move.
LBB> Tell me more about the world – or the ‘Sneakerhood’ – that we see throughout and what informed its creation.
Johnny and Will> For these scripts, there were two settings from the same world, one external and one internal. We wanted to set the external scene on an urban street corner, this just felt like the right vibe for a chance encounter between a gang of mates; it also offered a nice shape to play with on-screen, seeing into the distance on both sides of the corner.
The Sneakerhood needed to feel lived-in and gritty but not dirty or oppressive. We added an underpass bridge, as that upped the ‘urban’ feel and created lovely long shadows that lead the eye to our hero sneakers. We also added street art and stickers that worked well on the brickwork and lampposts. For the architecture, we referenced Nike shoebox designs and an interesting orange staircase from a Nike flagship store.
The styling of the internal set was a balance of a traditional heritage barbershop and a cool, inviting hang-out den. We referenced elements from one of the Nike head offices which is a beautiful wood-cladded space covered in posters and ornaments. Leaning on sub-culture cues like records, posters, skateboards and designer toys, the salon feels like a place any sneakerhead would love to hang out in.
A crucial part of getting the live action elements sitting well in the CG backgrounds is getting the lighting right. We designed the lighting in both CG environments and matched that when we shot the trainers. We were keen that the Sneakerhood scene felt uplifting and sunny with lens flares, in the barbershop it felt right to have a mixture of cool practical lights and hazy warm natural sunlight flooding in.
Another way we embedded the trainers into the setting was to have them (and their shadows) connecting to real set elements, so on the street a section of pavement and in the barbershop beautifully made bespoke rotating barber chairs.
LBB> What was it like collaborating with Nike China and how involved creatively were they?
Johnny and Will> The initial brief and script were so exciting and original that we weren’t surprised when meeting the team from Nike China, who were super enthusiastic and full of ideas for these films. In terms of the characterisation of the sneakers and the look and feel of the environments, Nike were very involved. Luckily we were all very much on the same page, and the development process was fun and rewarding. We gained lots of insights into how the brand likes to present itself through the details that were requested.
LBB> How did puppeteering bring life to the campaign in ways that other types of creative approaches wouldn't have?
Johnny and Will> When performed with subtlety and nuance, we usually find that live-action puppeteering adds an element of tangible 'realness' to most characters, particularly if those characters are familiar objects. We looked at CG renderings of trainers and how they could potentially move and be lit, and they did look great; they just looked too perfect, too slick, and a bit boring. As soon as we brought a real pair of Jordans to life with rods and wires the characters felt special and appealing.
LBB> Are the trainers entirely puppeteered through rods and wires, or is there some animation involved as well?
Johnny and Will> Each trainer was brought to life using a mix of rod and string puppetry techniques, this worked well for the main 'body' movements but for additional intricate lace or 'arm' motion we integrated stop frame animated elements. These twirling entangling lace movements proved very hard to achieve with rods, but immediately looked dynamic and charismatic during the initial stop-frame tests.
We worked with a fantastic animator called Andy Biddle for the final performances, he referenced our very cool hi-five routine and lined up his performance with chosen takes from live action sneaker footage.
LBB> Tell me more about the process of puppeteering and how it worked practically.
Johnny and Will> Each trainer had two or three puppeteers to bring it to life, there was a main sturdy rod coming out of the back of the heel to control body movement, walking and bending forward. The trainers’ tongues represented faces and turned out to be very expressive, these too were controlled by various rods, and additional lace movements (if not animated) were controlled using fishing lines on a bow mechanism.
LBB> Did you write specific characters for each of the trainers? If so, what were they and how did you come up with them?
Johnny and Will> The trainers used in these spots were very specific, and each style of Nike has its own 'personality' so we brought that into the performances. The Jordans are chilled, laid-back and street-wise, the Dunks are into skateboarding and have an energetic vibe, the AirForces are more flamboyant and well into street dance.
It's pretty subtle, but we do find it useful to have a set of rules for each character and to know how we bring them to life.
LBB> What role did sound play in this campaign and where was it most important?
Johnny and Will> With puppets the sound design is always hugely important when grounding characters in the real world – all the steps, creaks and shuffles immediately give them weight. We also trick the audience into seeing more than what's on the screen. The city sounds in the background bring the Sneakerhood to life and the whip sounds of the laces add a dynamic energy.
In the barbershop, the cleaning sound effects – the scrubbing and the hot steam – help punctuate the key beats and overall pace.
We went into a recording booth with various pairs of Nike trainers and recorded the actual sounds of their whooshing laces, creaking leather and bending rubber. After having performed with the shoes on camera it felt right to perform with them in a sound studio. And it was fun.
LBB> What was the most challenging part of the production of this campaign?
Johnny and Will> By far and away the most challenging aspect of this production was the time frame. We had about three weeks from winning the job to delivering the offline edits.
That includes storyboarding, rigging the puppets, planning the animation, designing and building the CG backgrounds and shooting all the elements. I'm surprised our producer didn't have a nervous breakdown.
