Siri Bunford Runs the Show for Nike

Knucklehead director Siri Bunford recently helmed a selection of spots for Nike through W+K Shanghai to encourage the Chinese population to take up running.

An main 60-second spot [which can be seen here] and some vignette films [which can be seen here] documented the reasons why people run and the feeling it gives them.

Below, Bunford discusses the project, the shoot and why China needs some encouragement to get running.

What was the brief you received from the agency/client?

They wanted to make a TV spot that would compel people to go and run but without telling them why. I liked it because it wasn’t about trying to rationalize running and it wasn’t about glorifying the elite athlete - to me it felt truthful. The 60-second spot acted as a teaser to bring people to the long form films interactively. 

Did you know how you wanted to approach the project straight away?

From the very beginning, I was very much for an approach in which there would be no cutaways at all, so the spot would be just one continuous chase, with the runner centre frame. Having the constraint of just shooting it this way made it challenging on many levels but also good fun. 

Was there always a plan to shoot five separate films?

Yes. The intention was to use the 60 as a springboard to those real stories. 

How did you find the people who featured in the spots?

The people who feature in the long form films were found and approached by Nike or W+K through Twitter and local news stories. There were many stories and we whittled them down to these five. 

Was there ever an issue with the language barrier?

No, because there were many Singaporeans in our local production company and they speak fluent English as well as Cantonese and Mandarin. But the camera crew spoke no English; very little English is spoken outside of Hong Kong.  

I found the Chinese to be incredibly polite; the production company were worried about our etiquette and on arrival gave us a little booklet called RULES AT THE CHINESE TABLE, which included such useful advice as:  “Do cover your mouth when you pick teeth”. 

Had you ever shot in China before and what was that process like?

Yes, a few times before but nothing as intense as this job. 

From the UK we brought Ben Smithard [DP] and Xavier Perkins [editor], but everyone else was Chinese.  We would fly into the city, recce locations, shoot the next day, then fly off and do it again somewhere else.

We shot in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan and in a small town close to the Mongolian border. We did this for three weeks, then edited in Shanghai for two weeks. We were constantly on the move, and at times it was very full-on, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  I'll never forget the experience.

Production in China is very different to the UK for one thing there’re a lot more people involved, (but then the population of Beijing is 24 million). It prides itself on being very organized, sometimes too much so. Everywhere I went I was followed by 16 young Chinese girls with clipboards.

The choice of music for the main The Run spot is unusual, was that always the first choice track?

It was one of the tracks the agency chose and I think it’s great too. 

What was the most difficult part of the process on this campaign?

Lack of sleep. 

What are you working on next?

I'm pitching on a few things for next year. And I just moved into a big tumbled-down wreck of a house, infested with mice. So at this moment I’m dealing with them. 

Are you a runner yourself and could you relate to peoples’ reasons for running?

No I’m not a runner, but sure I can relate to why they run. This campaign is more radical in China than it would be here because running is still quite uncommon and viewed as indulgent - if you’re running you’re not working. Girls or women who run are stigmatised because running is deemed unfeminine.

Fortunately, things are changing. So it will be interesting to see what effect the campaign has in China.