Responses by Alex Cook, director.
Background: For weightlifting athletic gear brand Onyx, our vision for this spot was to capture the clash of dreams and effort that many athletes face on the road to national competition. We wanted to showcase the blood, sweat and tears that go into chasing the dream of a medal and hopefully inspire athletes currently on that path.
Design thinking: Every five-second clip that we see of someone winning a medal or receiving an award is usually the culmination of years—sometimes decades—of struggle and persistence. We wanted to expand that idea to connect the initial childhood inspiration with the final moments before achieving victory, in an impressionistic blending of the two.
Drawing from the personal experience of our subject, we structured the piece as a hybrid between documentary, commercial and short film. We mirrored a real athlete’s journey in the sport, guiding the process with her experience.
Challenges: Strangely enough, the most challenging part was simply getting to set. The shoot was originally planned the week that the Los Angeles fires happened. We had to postpone and replan the whole shoot to avoid any potential dangers or health risks.
The shoot itself was quite smooth. We had a small but nimble crew that was a pleasure to work with. Ironically, we got as much of a physical workout as the talent, constantly shifting weights and equipment across locations to get the shots we needed.
Favorite details: I worked closely with cinematographer Iain Trimble to hone in on the look of the piece. We spent a lot of time scouting and finding ways to reflect the character’s experience in the visuals.
We tried to be intentional with everything we shot—both because we were shooting on film and because we wanted to put the audience in the athlete’s POV. I think the amount of pre-production that we put into the piece helped us bridge what we wanted the project to be and the scrappy nature of the shoot.
New lessons: Shortly before the project was released, one of the gyms where we shot the project was destroyed in a structural fire. With the shoot sandwiched between two tragically similar events, I’ve been reminded of the importance of zooming out and appreciating the small moments in the present. When filming, everyone is working hard to make the day or execute the plan, and I think it's useful to look around and appreciate the people and the work you’re making in the moment as well.
Visual influences: Going into the shoot, I was less interested in the action sports nature of the visuals and more focused on her drive, her fear and her obsession with greatness. We wanted to be inside the character’s head rather than focusing on flashy movements.
Within that, we wanted to create a few fragmented and impressionist moments that tried to visualize the feeling of exhaustion and dissociation that comes in the middle of training and otherwise traumatic moments. To create those impressionist moments, we used a variety of filters and strobes as well as a time shift box to streak the film in a few places—like going from competition injury to the doctor’s office.
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