Nike And Passion Give The World Cup Its 'Last Game'

The World Cup is now over and, as the dust settles, the brands that sponsored the tournament, teams and players can finally see if the investment was worth it. One sure-fire winner in the popularity stakes was Nike's fantastic 'The Last Game' – a Passion London/New York co-produced animated short that's been winning over fans since the competition began.

The film follows a team of the world's best footballers (Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrés Iniesta, Franck Ribery, David Luiz and Tim Howard) as they battle against an evil scientist (known as … er … 'The Scientist') as he attempts to fill the footballing world with stat-based clones. Packing a cracking story and outstanding animation into its five-minute running time, the short stands out due to an overwhelming attention to detail, from the well-designed charactertures of the footy protagonists to the intricate crafting of textures and backgrounds throughout.

 

The film delighted us when it was released, so we caught up with director Jon Saunders (the director of the piece – based in the US and repped by both Passion’s London and New York offices) to chat football filmmaking.

This strikes us as a project that's been on the go for a while. When did you first get involved and how did it come about?

This project first came to Passion at the beginning of October. I was involved from the very first call about it with W+K. Essentially W+K wanted to work with studios that they knew had feature experience, and fortunately for me, Passion was on that list of studios. We took part in a very large-scale pitch for the job and were lucky enough to win!

What were the early conversations like? Was the concept always to be a longer-form spot?

The concept was for it to be a short film from the onset. W+K wanted to do something unexpected and different from what is expected of Nike in particular. We had the basic parameters of it being a film about safe vs risk and the star players were to face their clones. From there we needed to generate a story that would bring us on a fun journey but also keep that core message of Risk Everything very clear.



We're guessing that the design process for the spot took a long time, as the piece has a stylised look. Where did you start? Were there any issues in the design?
 
The caricatures of the players are playfully micky-taking. Were you worried at any stage that they might get a little miffed at their portrayal? Did everything have to get run past them first?

The characters are definitely a play on the real guys. What we didn't want it to be is just a straight caricature of their facial structure, but more so a characterization of each athlete's essence. So for example, we looked at Cristiano as being the Portuguese Superhero. His sculpt was perfectly symmetrical, he has a perfect smile and holds himself with his chest out and hands on hips like he has come to save the day.



How did the script for the film come about? There's a real 'underdog' tale told in the 5-minute duration, so succinct storytelling must have been important.

The script came about through months of head-banging-against-the-wall work! We had several round table meetings, working with writers one-on-one and writing myself to get over the first hump of just figuring out the pieces to the story. At the very beginning it was the simple matter of how to tell this complex story with an ensemble cast in a few short minutes. Once we got a basic outline to the story and put it to visuals, (storyboards and edit) a whole heap of things changed again! Later it came down to dialogue and constantly rethinking gags and funny lines that would add to the experience. We really wanted the film to be absolutely loaded with jokes, so we kept on pushing. It really kept evolving right up until the end.

What were your influences for the film, both visually and in a storytelling sense?

There were several influences on the film. I wanted it to feel a bit more like a Spielberg adventure film more than anything. I wanted it to have a mix of suspense, action, humour and to just be a fun film to sit and watch. On top of that are a mountain of references and influences ranging from Any Given Sunday to 40 Year Old Virgin.



How long did the animation process take? Were there particular scenes or elements that took longer?

Animation took about 3-4 months, but really longer with all the testing and development work we did. In terms of elements and scenes that were particularly difficult, well, there were lots! The two biggest challenges were developing the animation language off the pitch and the language on the pitch. Off the pitch we had to find that right place that felt like nice complex animation, but still struck solid poses that would bring the characters to life and feel like the right performance for each individual. On the pitch we had to ensure that the football skills the players performed felt authentic to each individual, felt real, but also could be pushed into the impossible without the end game feeling too cartoony. The animation team did a very good job of learning these nuances. Once they had it they took off!

The film has a Hollywood-quality finish. How did you enhance the sheen of the visuals? Was it just a case of intricately designing everything, or were there any tricks you added at a later stage?

Oh, I'm sure the team wishes there were tricks! No, just hard work and everyone working on the film being obsessed with each part they were in charge of. Like the story, we just kept adding more and more detail right up until we had to deliver. Everyone just took their scenes very personal and wanted to take ownership over them.



Did anything have to be dropped from the film? What's your favourite moment?

There was loads dropped from the film. Our first version was about 15 minutes long and dived far more into the creation and testing of the clones (we made an amazing lab filled with gags), an elaborate Indiana Jones-style obstacle course in the temple, an impromptu mad dash freestyle football game down the mountainside by our stars, a G4 jet and Cristiano lying on a tiger skin rug. Oh, and at one point we had secret police and a very 1984 style world... I could go on.

*whispers* Don't tell the others, but loads of places are calling this the best World Cup spot of the tournament. How does it feel to get an accolade like that?

Yeah, that's a pretty crazy one. Honestly, I give that credit to Alberto Ponte and Ryan O'Rourke of W+K, they knew that everyone was going to copy the success of Write the Future (their big World Cup spot from 2010) and they wanted to be ahead of the game and do something completely different. Without them being so open to changing the game, we would have never made this good of a film.



Are you happy with the results?

I'm very happy with the results! Of course I'm built to always see the worst and try and improve, so I know all the little things that I felt I personally messed up and would have changed, but I have to say this is the proudest I've ever been after a project.

What's up next for you?

Who knows, hopefully more like this! Right now I'm on vacation with my wife and dog and trying to enjoy that as much as I can!