Nike: Innovation Summit

In a 200ft dark tunnel of mirror and iridescent material we used projection, light and sound to create an overwhelming and disruptive journey, lead by a 3D soundscape of athletes’ voices and an ever-growing army of fanatical athletes running towards their supreme being: the sphere.

The Journey

It is dark in the tunnel, heightening the guests’ sense of hearing. It is cold and there is the smell of fresh rain on a pavement. It’s not yet dawn, a moment of solitude where the earliest runner is up and out. We start up-close-and-personal with macro, textural sound design. We hear a distant alarm clock, their breath, the rustling of clothes, lacing of sneakers and rain. Their voiceover adds a thread of narrative with a central theme of lighter, stronger, faster, longer. Projection is nature–subtle fog, rain and macro elements. As light refracts through rain we see iridescent thread begin to flow through the tunnel...

Guests progress to an intense, ever-growing army of fanatical athletes running either side of them. They are within the action and can feel every breath, every bead of sweat. This sequence builds with a visceral intensity and feels like the ‘running of the bulls’ festival in Pamplona, Spain. More and more athletes join the pack, creating tens of athletes running through the tunnel, immersing the visitors. There is so much overwhelming energy the image starts to glitch and there is a subtle offset of iridescent colour. Iridescent threads weave, forming material that surrounds our runners. We use the voice of athletes and sound design elements embellish the scene–sneakers squeak on a basketball court, there are impacts, dunks and tackles. We hear a bigger and bigger crowd. The tunnel is noticeably warmer.

As guests enter the last part of the tunnel there is a crescendo of emotion and the tunnel is very warm. The sound is intense with 80,000 chanting fans cheering as a goal is scored. We see a net made from iridescent material bulge with an invisible football. All our runners suddenly stop at the end of the tunnel as if they have reached the edge of a cliff. They look into the distance and into the sphere room, panting heavily we see their breath in the air.

The Sphere Room

The sound for the sphere room is sleek, clean and ethereal with lots of anticipation with sound design that suggests the robotic arms are inside and trying to get out, as if they are alive and trying to hatch out of the sphere. The sphere has power and gravitas, as if it has drawn our army of supporters here for a new dawn and the birth of something new.

Client
Nike

Agency
Bureau Betak

Director
Nathan Prince at Silent

Music
Liam Paton at Silent

3-D Audio Design
res.lab

Content Production
Friends Electric

Post
Electric Theatre Collective