Nexus' Smith & Foulkes create BBC 2018 Winter Olympics film

Nexus Studios’ Smith & Foulkes have directed ‘The Fearless are Here’ for the BBC’s 2018
Winter Olympics coverage.

BBC Winter Olympics 2018 from Nexus Studios on Vimeo.

The film was made in collaboration with Y&R London and follows the abstract journey of a luger, skier, curler, snowboarder, ski
jumper and ice skater. The film depicts the “psychological and physical obstacles Winter Olympics athletes face in their quest to be the best in the world.”

Smith & Foulkes researched live action filming techniques for action sports to achieve an authentic sense of movement through a 3D space and a team of
artists at Nexus Studios worked to create the entirely 2D spot which was drawn and animated in a virtual environment using emerging VR cinematography
software.

Working in this way with a perceivable depth enabled the team to consider different camera angles, as if shooting in live action and with the sensibility of having a handheld camera.

Alan Smith notes: “There have been many memorable BBC Olympic title spots created over the years so the pressure was on from the start to bring something
special to the party. It’s impossible to completely rewrite the story of the Winter Olympics; there are after all only so many sports to choose from. For starters, skiers
were always going to hurtle down mountains. We just tried to bring a new visual approach to portray the intense drama of winter sports.”

CREDITS:

Client: BBC Winter Olympics

Title: The Fearless Are Here

Agency: Y&R London

Executive Creative Director: Mark Roalfe

Creatives: Gavin McGrath
Jim Bolton
Psembi Kinstan

Agency Producer: Kat Maidment

Production Company: Nexus Studios

Directors: Smith & Foulkes

Executive Creative Director: Chris O’Reilly

Producer: Tracey Cooper

Production Manager: Rebecca Archer