How the Spot of the Summer Spliced Together: A Conversation with the Creatives from Nike, W+K, A52, and JOINT
WORKING NOT WORKING
Last month, social media was buzzing from Nike’s latest spot, You Can’t Stop Us. Conversations were popping up across every channel imaginable, consistently touting not just the inspirational messaging but the remarkable craft on display in all 90 seconds of the viral ad. The virtuoso editing was an obvious shout-out for serving up a seamless split screen of repurposed and new footage that offered more than 50 athletes from almost 25 sports.
So how did it all come together, in the middle of a pandemic no less? We caught up with editing team Jessica Baclesse and Peter Wiedensmith (JOINT), as well as VFX Supervisor Patrick Murphy (A52), copywriter Dylan Lee (Wieden+Kennedy), and art director Naoki Ga (Wieden+Kennedy) to help piece together the behind-the-scenes process that went into making the ad of the summer.
What were the biggest creative challenges in editing “You Can’t Stop Us”?
PETER: We did this the hard way, by eye-matching shots together. So the basic building blocks of the edit—one pair—could be extremely slow to make. Creating a narrative arc and a sense of pacing for the whole film was a challenge because we didn’t know if we would be able to find pairs for some shots, or how long the action in the pairing would stay in sync. The creative team had a great script which at times needed to be interpreted very specifically—not just any pair would work.
NAOKI AND DYLAN: It was almost as if we concepted an idea for animation. Because the bar for in-action athletes matching was ridiculously high. We reviewed an exhaustive amount of pairs that ended up on the cutting room floor. When a match was “pretty good,” we always said, “Let’s find something better.” And if something we imagined couldn’t be matched, we’d think of a new pair of athletes in action instead of settling for an okay execution.
JESS: The biggest challenge was finding pairs of shots that worked not only on a technical level but also had an emotional impact. The shots had to support the amazing script and concept that had been conceived by creatives Dylan Lee and Naoki Ga. They had a saying “no easy pairs” which meant it wasn’t enough to have something where the subject’s movement matched. We had to find pairings that worked with camera lenses, depth of field, shot size, backgrounds, as well as the movement to make the shot work. Even when we found all of that, it still wasn’t enough because the most important part was that the shots had to tell the story of what it means to come together in an emotional sense, not just a visual one.
“We reviewed an exhaustive amount of pairs that ended up on the cutting room floor. When a match was ‘pretty good,’ we always said, ‘Let’s find something better.’”
“You Can’t Stop Us” was a hit right out of the gate. What about the finished product and putting it together makes you proudest?
PETER: What’s cool is seeing people’s faces light up when they watch it. They want to see it again because they can’t believe we pulled it off. As an editor, I’m also proud that people notice the editing. How often does that happen?
NAOKI AND DYLAN: We spent a lot of time writing and searching and editing the film, so we entered the phase of production where you really don’t know how special the idea is anymore. To see people’s reactions was really satisfying. And then we said, “Oh, yeah. We forgot. This idea is good.” And these are particularly tough times in the world for everyone. It feels great to put such a positive message out there.
PATRICK: I’m enormously proud of our team, as well as our partners at Nike, Joint, Wieden+Kennedy and beyond—this has been an incredible, exciting challenge from a creative perspective and to see how much the spot resonates with the public is extremely rewarding.
JESS: I’m so delighted that during this really hard time in history that we were able to make something that brought people a feeling of connection and hopefully a little bit of hope. I believe the audience can feel how much work and care was poured into it. There were many many people who pulled together and worked insanely hard to build this spot. By everyone pulling together and using their unique talents, we supported and cared for each other and created something that was meaningful. In a lot of ways, the process of making ‘You Can’t Stop Us’ is a mirror to the message of it.
“I believe the audience can feel how much work and care was poured into it. There were many people who worked insanely hard to build this spot. By everyone pulling together and using their unique talents, we supported and cared for each other and created something that was meaningful. In a lot of ways, the process of making ‘You Can’t Stop Us’ is a mirror to the message of it.”
The shots were so seamless. How much of the footage was archival versus shot specifically for the spot?
PETER: The spot was a mix of found footage and filmed content, though mostly found footage.
JESS: The majority of the footage was archival. With that said, the director Oscar Hudson had so many beautiful ideas for pairs and some amazing creative challenges to get the pairs to line up. We all loved the variety of textures that archival brings when you lay them up next to each other since every side would have a difference in quality of source footage and that difference was embraced as a part of the aesthetic.
The editing in “You Can’t Stop Us” takes center stage. Do you generally find projects easier or more difficult when the editing is a character itself?
PETER: When the concept for a spot is the way it will be edited, I both get very excited and very humble. We editors are oftentimes introverts, avoiding attention. When someone trusts me to take on an “editor's project” I try to wedge the specific concept we are working towards as deep into my unconscious as I can. I love when we commit to a concept completely, set the rules for the audience, and let an emotion and narrative reveal on screen.
JESS: Honestly, I’ve never thought of it like that! Every project has its own style and its own process and in the making of it, the editing should live in the world in which the original story idea was born. Sometimes that means it is front and center but sometimes a more subtle style is going to get you the best story that connects with the audience.
“We editors are oftentimes introverts, avoiding attention. When someone trusts me to take on an ‘editor’s project’ I try to wedge the specific concept we are working towards as deep into my unconscious as I can. I love when we commit to a concept completely, set the rules for the audience, and let an emotion and narrative reveal on screen.”
What do you see as the most important part of your job as an editor?
PETER: As an editor, I try to draw as much genius out of the people around me as possible. What I care about most, though, is how the edit feels. That big emotional response is why I do this job, and what I am always trying to build around.
JESS: I think the most important part is to keep the creative possibilities flowing. There is always a new idea, a new way to cut, a different way to put a scene together and by working with your director and creative team it’s possible to build the original intention and be true to the original concept but also to discover delightful surprises in post which thrill everyone.
What was the collaborative process like, both with each other and the larger team?
PETER: This was a true collaboration, top to bottom. The creative team, Dylan and Naoki, put forward ideas for pairs, the researchers found the footage, the editors and assistant editors and VFX artists put the shots together, the director shot the missing pieces, the producers and BA team wrangled the licensing and kept us sane. Without any of those spokes the wheel would not have turned. We created 900 pairs from thousands of shots and used 36 of those pairings in the end.
NAOKI AND DYLAN: So many people had to kick ass to make this happen. We approved such a miniscule percentage of paired footage. But the entire team—so many people—understood how high the bar was. And the stamina would be hard to ever match again. We can’t believe how the team kept going as hard as they did, everyone from Peter and the other editors, Pat’s team, to creative directors, to producers, brand managers, Nike, and so many more. What sucks is we still don’t know how long it will be till we can hug them “thank you” in person.
PATRICK: Once we had proof of concept and it was clear that a52 could do these big, heavy VFX shots but have them feel seamless.The process required a very close collaboration with our partners at Joint in order to make the work feel effortless, but many of the moments took a couple weeks to put together.
JESS: Working with Peter was a really wonderful experience. We’ve known each other for a long time but this is the first time we were able to collaborate in this way and I felt like we were able to keep each other balanced between the sheer volume of material, the tricky technical complexity of building the shots, and keeping the emotional core. We also were able to make each other laugh during the late nights which is always the sign of a good partnership!
How was the editing process impacted by working remotely?
PETER: Instead of reviewing the work in one or two edit bays, the pairs went onto online review boards. Local media was kept by everyone on the edit team, with the heroic assistant editors constantly pushing the new footage out to us. A cloud-based project made sharing cuts easier. We would then spend hours with the creative team on live streaming sessions where they could see our edit monitors and have conversations. When the internet connection was stable, it wasn’t super different than being in an edit bay together. I’ll just say that it wasn’t always stable, and leave it at that.
JESS: Working remotely takes a different level of patience especially when dealing with a large volume of material. I think every editor in the world right now is trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t and how you keep the creative spark going when you all can’t be in the room together.
“You Can’t Stop Us” has viewers embracing the possibilities of editing in brand storytelling. For readers hoping to be floored by more feats of editing, what are a couple ads that you personally consider first-ballot, Hall-of-Fame editing jobs?
PETER: Wow, there are a lot of spots I admire editorially. Guinness “Surfer” is classic. I know how difficult and important the edits were on Nike “Instant Karma”, “Write the Future”, “Before” “Move” and “Tag”, and Chrysler “Halftime in America.” All of those spots were truly shaped in the edit bay, and each of them I wish I would have cut. The trailer for “The Force Awakens” is brilliantly cut, and I watch it for inspiration at times when I’m feeling in need—that’s an ad, isn’t it?
JESS: Many of Nike's spots use editing to really embrace the emotional power of sports. The Nike “Dream Crazy” spot that Peter cut is very powerful emotionally as well as tricky technically, and the rhythm and pacing of "Wake Up Call" directed by Lance Acord and cut by Kirk Baxter is not only a joy to watch but uses sound design in a fantastic way. I also love spots that twist the traditional idea of what a commercial is and make it into something new like Levi’s “America” directed by Cary Fukanaga and cut by Elliot Graham, and Spike Jonze’s “Kenzo World” cut by Eric Zumbrunnen who was a wonderful editor and mentor and is very much missed.
