Decoding The Superhumans Trailer
If you’re reading this blog then chances are you’ve already been blown away by Channel 4’s stunning new 90-second trailer promoting its coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
If not, feast your eyes on it by clicking this link.
With a thumping soundtrack ‘Harder Than You Think’ from hip hop legends Public Enemy – the finished product is a high-octane mash up of sweaty bodies, unfathomable sporting skill, stumps, prosthetics and super slow mos.
And then of course there’s the controversial car crash and bomb scenes – it’s certainly been no mean feat to get such an ambitious project off the ground.
I caught up with director Tom Tagholm to find out how the concept went from being one line on a page to becoming the most ground-breaking sports promo seen in years:
“The brief came in towards the end of last year and obviously it was a pretty big one. And as with any brief for Channel 4 – but really more so on this than on any other – we knew we had to make some noise. We knew we had to add some edge and grit and attitude.
“And so we narrowed it down to about four or five concepts that we thought could be really strong, but then someone came up with this line – ‘Meet The Superhumans’. We really loved the attitude and the scale and the confidence of it. So we just built up from there to create the strongest, the most impactful concept we could get to run across TV and posters and online and in the press.
“You always have challenges when making films. We did about 15 or 16 days shooting in total, which is a hell of a lot for a project like this. We filmed at a lot of Paralympic test events which was very tricky in terms of access and how close we could get to the competitors and what sort of camera angles we could find that were new and felt special. It was a case of all the camera operators and myself keeping our eyes open at all times because there were people that we found and moments that we saw that we could have never predicted.
“And as well as the live sport scenes, we also storyboarded some of the more iconic shots from the very beginning. There’s one shot of a swimmer diving in to the pool with a camera strapped to her back – we had to invent a rig that allowed the camera to not only go in the water with her but to be sufficiently separated from the rest of her body so that you could see the whole of her back and head and arms as she made her way in to the water.
“There’s also another slow mo shot of two wheelchair rugby chairs crashing crash in to each other. We were shooting that on Phantom cameras and knew that we had to get right in to the middle of the crash, which meant some really careful choreography and great set design. It was a really tricky balance trying to get that feeling of absolute naturalism whilst at the same time trying to get right in the heart of the action.
“But whether it was a live sport shot or a storyboarded shot – we really didn’t want to shoot around the particular physical attributes of these athletes and their disabilities. We wanted to absolutely embrace all of that – their stance, the ways they’ve adapted to their sport, the ways that they use their bodies. It’s very much ‘Here we are!’ y’know? There’s no tiptoeing around anything.
“As for the scenes in the middle with the explosion and car crash and the mother in the hospital – we thought long and hard about how to include them because one thing that we weren’t interested at all in doing was an advert which said ‘Isn’t it great that these guys have made it to the start line?’ That just didn’t interest me and I don’t think it interested the channel.
“What I wanted to do though was just get a flashback moment – to show that it’s a part of what they are now and a part of their physicality. I didn’t want to dwell on it, just to give a hint, a moment of just how tough these characters have had to be. I could have put those scenes at the beginning or the end of the trailer but I think it’d have been weirdly less impactful that way – having them where they are stops you right in your tracks and hits you in the face.”
What do YOU think of Channel 4’s Superhumans trailer? Let us know by leaving a comment!
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There are 93 comments on this post
This ad messed me up! Kudos!
Powerful ! trailer can’t wait for the para Olympics to start
[...] http://blogs.channel4.com/paralympics/2012/07/17/decoding-the-superhumans-trailer/ [...]
Cracking advert – hit me straight up. Great choice of song too. Has me looking forward to the Paralympics big time.
Great stuff from Tom Tagholm…
WOW!! powerful, inspiring…. beautifully crafted for beautiful people. thank you.
[...] Check out this really amazing 90-second spot directed by Tom Tagholm for the Paralympic Games. I love the balance between hard hitting gritty imagery, storytelling flashbacks, and perfectly executed sound design. Read more about the directors creative process in this interview. [...]
[...] the official broadcaster of the games, Channel 4 in Britain, with the help of director Tom Tagholm, has made this incredible trailer, set to the music of Public Enemy, to help advertise the games. [...]
[...] the official broadcaster of the games, Channel 4 in Britain, with the help of director Tom Tagholm, has made this incredible trailer, set to the music of Public Enemy, to help advertise [...]
[...] the official broadcaster of the games, Channel 4 in Britain, with the help of director Tom Tagholm, has made this incredible trailer, set to the music of Public Enemy, to help advertise the games. [...]
[...] the official broadcaster of the games, Channel 4 in Britain, with the help of director Tom Tagholm, has made this incredible trailer, set to the music of Public Enemy, to help advertise the games. [...]
[...] take place from August 29 until September 9, in London.As the official broadcaster of the games, Channel 4 in Britain, with the help of director Tom Tagholm, has made this incredible trailer, set to the music of Public Enemy, to help advertise the games. [...]
Absolutely brilliant, moving, powerful and inspirational.
I am the Executive Director of Limbs for Life in the US and I’d like to compliment your work and the powerful way you delivered the message. It inspires me.
[...] offers some background about the spot on Channel 4's blog. "We really didn't want to shoot around the particular physical [...]
[...] offers some background about the spot on Channel 4′s blog. “We really didn’t want to shoot around the particular [...]
[...] Channel 4’s adrenalin pumping, unapologetically graphic 90-second spot, the producers invite you to stare at the stump of a one-legged runner and the eyes of the blind [...]
[...] Channel 4’s adrenalin pumping, unapologetically graphic 90-second spot, the producers invite you to stare at the stump of a one-legged runner and the eyes of the blind [...]
[...] Channel 4’s adrenalin pumping, unapologetically graphic 90-second spot, the producers invite you to stare at the stump of a one-legged runner and the eyes of the blind [...]
Simply superb.
[...] Read more about the advert here. [...]
[...] Channel 4’s adrenalin pumping, unapologetically graphic 90-second spot, the producers invite you to stare at the stump of a one-legged runner and the eyes of the blind [...]
[...] En España no puede verse el spot que han colgado en su cuenta de YouTube, pero he dado con él en Vimeo y ya acumula más de 325.000 visionados en solo una semana. Son 90 segundos que implicaron 16 días de rodaje. [...]
Awesome!
The fact that prenatal diagnosis – a discovery of a fundamental fact about an unborn baby – is held up against acts of immense violence and traumatic, life-threatening events is incredibly disturbing.
Don’t compare the arrival of a wanted, welcome, celebrated child with war or car crashes.
Lovely message that gives to our young disabled people.
This was the most powerful 90 seconds of images I’ve ever seen. I was left speechless.
As to the comment by Raf, I didn’t quite read the prenatal diagnosis scene in the same way. In very much the same way that today’s superhero movies show us the backstory… how the hero came to be… those brief scenes actually contributed in my eyes to giving these people their incredible strength.
And back to the prenatal diagnosis, it gave me pause and made me reflect in a way I hadn’t before when I related that to the other two events.
Raf… the celebrated child may have been wanted and welcome… but so, probably was the soldier, and the car-crash victim… both before their life-changing accident and after.
Thank You
Really helped me a lot. Thanx
Interesting but I am not sure if I agree with it.
Cool ! Can’t agree more. Great Article!
Awful, full of stereotypes.
Haha right….
Brilliant promo -cant wait to watch and to the paralympics
Pretty Damn cool ! I would say.
Interesting but I am not sure if I agree with it.
Why isn’t the video available in the U.S.? The YouTube link says “the uploader has not made this video available in your country”. The reviews are incredible, and I wish I could watch it.
[...] Vía Channel 4 Blogs [...]
Pretty much the best sports ad ever!
[...] Decoding the Superhumans Trailer [...]
Absolutely brilliant, moving video. Powerful stuff.
[...] Check out an interview with the director here: http://blogs.channel4.com/paralympics/2012/07/17/decoding-the-superhumans-trailer/ [...]
Every time I see that advert I think it’s got to be one of the best adverts C4 have ever done for anything. I went to the Paralympic flame festival in Cardiff and that was the first place I saw it played, and being on a big screen it was even more impressive.
Love the idea of the flashback, showing how some of the people ended up as paralympics, and despite being paralysed they still manage to give 110% and even an entry into the Paralympics is an amazing feat, never mind actually winning a medal.
[...] James Ballardie’ s BLOG. He was Channel4′s blogger for the games and this post is dedicated precisely to that [...]
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[...] Informations on that Topic: blogs.channel4.com/paralympics/2012/07/17/decoding-the-superhumans-trailer/ [...]…