Monday, May 9, 2011

Various Nike Commercials



Building off of my other blog post, I want to focus on a few Nike commercials with no words, just all music and sounds. The first two are very similar, just involve different sports. Both have a nice mix of stars and random people which I think really adds to the commercial. Instead of just seeing these superstars doing these incredible tricks, there are regular people in there also. You can’t help but smile when you see all the synchronization and choreography among all the people. One of my favorite parts of either commercial is in the soccer one when at one point it’s just a goalie standing there, kind of bouncing from side to side trying to get into the rhythm with balls being kicked at him. It’s a sharp contrast to the rest of the commercial but it’s hilarious and makes it feel like they just found a random guy on the street who’s trying to fit in with everyone, but clearly doesn’t have the skills to.

As mentioned before, what really steals the commercials is the music. All the sounds are made up with sports noises. The beat in the basketball commercial is set early on with the bouncing of the basketball. Throughout the commercial, there’s the familiar squeaking of basketball shoes against the hardwood floor, a loud grunt every now and then from a player, and other noises you’d hear at any basketball game. The soccer version is pretty much similar with a few slight changes such as some whistles/fans cheering and even a bit of some Brazilian flair with a little samba.



The last video is an incredibly simple and elegant video. It’s Tiger Woods (before his fiasco) simply bouncing a golf ball on his club. He does all sorts of tricks and makes it look like it’s no big deal. The best part about the commercial isn’t actually seen though. The commercial idea was actually created impromptu. Tiger was just messing around in between takes for a different commercial and was entertaining some of the camera crew when an executive saw it and thought it’d be a great commercial. The combination of the easy-goingness of the music and the way Tiger makes everything look so simple and elegant make this an incredible commercial which gives the viewer a feel-good vibe.

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree that the use of sounds and music in these commercials are what make them unique and great. The basketball sounds commercial is my favorite not only because I am a basketball fan, but because the sounds of the basketball bouncing and the squeaking of sneakers on the hardwood floor make music that I can't help bobbing my head to. In addition, all the athletes look like they are having so much fun dancing a playing around with each other. You get the sense of a fun, basketball community and I want to be a part of it.

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