The film was aired during the NBA All-Star 2023 at the Dunk Contest. Used for the first time by Kenyon Martin Jr., Houston Rockets.
The challenge of capturing the unique creation process of the Wilson Airless Prototype was one that we were excited to take on.
The team's expertise in creating visually stunning and technically complex projects enabled us to fully capture the complexity and beauty of the ball's manufacturing process. With the full trust and creative freedom granted to us by Wilson, we were able to leverage our skills and produce a film that accurately captures the essence of the Wilson Airless Prototype.
Creative ChallengesThe film had to build suspense and tell an emotional story, while at the same time, it had to focus on explaining the innovative technology used to create the basketball. The challenge lay in finding a way to combine the functional with the aspirational storytelling.
Getting the balance right between the different scales in the film was a journey. It involved merging the scale of the super close-up shots featuring the dust and particles with the wider shots of the basketball and the raw printing materials.
Behind the scenes
A look into the development of the physical ball and our visual approach.
There was a short timeframe to produce the film - only 2 weeks from kick-off to final delivery. We first took 2 days to storyboard, find style references, conduct research and development, and build style frames. Then we quickly moved into rough animation, after which we kept polishing shots and the edit all the way until the final delivery.
Publications:
Credits