shots Awards 2016: Best Use of Sound Design

Channel 4's epic campaign We're The Superhumans for Rio 2016 Paralympics lived up to expectation once it was released, instantly capturing TV viewers' hearts and minds.

So you can imagine that it was quite a rigorous process to make sure the right tone was set. shots caught up with Factory's founding partner and creative director Anthony Moore to discuss winning Best Use of Sound Design at the shots Awards - making it the company's third shots award in as many years - as well as working with such a big team to release something that could inspire future athletes.

shots Awards 2016: Best Use of Sound Design

Gold winner: Channel 4 We Are The Superhumans

At what point did you get involved with the spot and what was the brief you received? 

I was approached by 4Creative and Blink to work on the project quite early on in the process. In the weeks leading up to the shoot, Dougal shared his (rather brilliant) animatic of the storyboard with me and my team here at Factory. This allowed me to get a really clear vision as to how the film was going to work with the chosen Sammy Davis Jr. track. It also gave me time to start formulating ideas on the sound design and our approach.

After the mammoth shoot schedule for this project finally concluded, I got a call from Joe Guest at Final Cut to come over and see the edit. It had already been presented to the agency where it was received with a standing ovation, tears of joy and all round dropping of jaws. It had the same effect on me - it was nothing short of awesome.

At this point, the recorded cover version of the track was in place, but there was very minimal sound design across the film. Dougal’s brief was beautifully simple… let’s fill every scene up with sound and see where it takes us. So, with that, I got to work.

What was the process behind working out the role of sound in this spot and how did you decide which sounds to use to intercept the Sammy Davis Jr’s Yes I Can track?

Initially, no-one was quite sure how the sound design would work across the edit, which was already working brilliantly with just the track. But, as is our way at Factory, we had other ideas! For me, I strongly believed that the sound design would add a rich layer of storytelling to the film. I wanted to hear the struggles, achievements and emotions of the featured Superhumans. 

I wanted the sound to highlight the amazing talents on show and celebrate it. I wanted to hear our Superhumans shout ‘Yes I Can’ - the spot absolutely demanded it. A week was spent creating a sound design bed from scratch for each and every shot in the three minute film. Wild tracks of the ‘Yes I Can’ shouts were laid up to fit the in-vision sync footage and if we didn't have that person recorded, we set about doing so to ensure a genuine level of authenticity. The
rushes were scoured for snippets of sound that could enhance each scene, whether that be our ‘dough-nutting’ car, right through to our underwater shouts of ‘Yes I Can’. Each shot was carefully crafted with sounds that really helped to tell each Superhuman story.

One of the shots jury judges said that the spot’s sound design struck the “perfect balance between celebrating the Paralympics and the sheer agony it took to get there.” How did you approach the sound design on this project and why did you decide to incorporate music together with sound? 

I’m really pleased and proud to hear that feedback, it’s something we definitely set out to do and I’m glad that it resonates with people in such a way. I think the sound design really elevates this film into being a celebration of what we are seeing; the crowds cheering the shouts, the effort, the agony and the joy; hearing all this really makes you feel something special.

The sound design was the final member of the Superhumans band - the fifth Beatle if you like!

One clever technique that was employed between the sound, music and picture cut, is the way in which everything is rhythmically edited to the track. Dougal and Joe had already made this sing from a visual point of view, so when creating the sound design, everything had to have a rhythm and a flow that worked with the music and what we were seeing. Dougal and I spent a
long time perfecting this to ensure that the sound design and music worked perfectly in tandem with each other. The sound design was the final member of the Superhumans band - the fifth Beatle if you like!

Could you tell, when you saw the finished film, that it was going to be something special? 

We could tell this film was special from Dougal’s animatic. Seriously, it was that good! Things just kept getting better and better as the process moved on. I think what you really get from this film, is a feeling of teamwork and pride from the people involved. There was an immense amount of love put into this project and I think you really feel that when you watch it.

What was the most challenging part of the process and how long did your part in the commercial take?

The most challenging aspect was the first week of track-laying. Across the three minute edit there was a lot of sound design to create from scratch and hours of rushes to sift through. But, once we all began to see how the sound was enhancing the film, I just wanted to push things as far as we could. All in all, I spent about four weeks in total on the job from track-laying to final mix across all versions. On a personal level, the project was an absolute joy to work on due to the amazing people involved. I suppose the real challenge was borne out of us all wanting to make it as brilliant as it deserved to be. 

How did it feel to win Gold at the shots Awards for sound Design three years in a row?

To win Gold at shots for the third year running was an amazing honour for me personally and it’s an achievement that I’m very proud of. The award wins are testament to the brilliant team that we have at Factory - they absolutely rock! To have won the shots Sound Design Gold in 2014 with Honda Inner Beauty, followed in 2015 by Gold and Silver for Honda Ignition & The Other Side respectively; well, that was already pretty darn great!

So, to round that off in 2016 with more Factory wins including a Shots Bronze for Jon Clarke’s stunning work on Save The Children’s Still The Most Shocking Second A Day plus my Gold for We’re The Superhumans… well, I’m properly chuffed to say the least!