London International Awards
2022 Winners and Finalists
Silver
Music & Sound
Original Music - Score
Entrant: | Sizzer, Amsterdam |
Brand: | G-Star RAW |
Title: | "The Rhythm of Denim" |
Corporate Name of Client: | G-Star RAW |
Global Chief Marketing Officer: | Gwenda van Vliet |
Agency: | The Family, Amsterdam |
Executive Creative Directors: | Ed van Bennekom/Joris Kuijpers |
Senior Agency Producer: | Vanessa Janssen |
Agency Account Director: | Louise Mathlener |
Content Companies: | rare/medium/welldone |
Content Producer: | Julia Llamas |
Production Company: | Halal, Amsterdam |
Director: | Paul Geusebroek |
Executive Producer: | Job Sanders |
Producer: | Gijs Determeijer |
Line Producer: | Shelter Film |
Director of Photography: | Menno Mans |
Post-Production Company: | Ambassadors, Amsterdam |
Edit Facility: | Kapsalon, Amsterdam |
Editor: | Brian Ent |
Color Company: | CRABSALAD, Amsterdam |
Colorist: | Laurens Orij |
Sound Mixer: | Sauvage Sound |
Music Production Company: | Sizzer, Amsterdam |
Music Executive Producer: | Michiel Marsman |
Executive Music Supervisor: | Sander van Maarschalkerweerd |
Music Supervisor: | Rachel Tauwnaar |
Music Composers: | Mark van Bruggen/Rachel Tauwnaar |
Choreographer: | Jack Evans |
Dancers: | Lee Howard/Kamira Samuel |
Description:
The campaign’s choice of tap dance as its central medium was daring for a brand focused on ‘hardcore denim’: for many, the form presents a stuffy, classical image, lacking in the grit associated with G-Star’s ‘raw’ aesthetic.
However, the campaign was inspired by the medium’s revival embodied in the urban tap movement as well as by tap offering something unique: of all forms of dance, it is perhaps the most auditive, where the expression and emotions of dancers can be felt most strongly through the sound of their feet.
This reinvention of tap demanded that sound should be central to the entire film, and the composition integrated throughout every stage of the production. That meant a careful dance between disciplines: composing every step of the way alongside choreography and shooting, defying convention and turning an industry standard on its head by putting music first.
Drawing from a wide range of references (Stomp, Phil Collins, tribal drumming, and more), an initial concept beat set the rhythm for the dancers. Their first rehearsals, in turn, set the tempo for the melodic arrangement.
A classical choir approach accentuated – without dominating – the core tapping rhythm, and provided a clear arc for the film’s build-up in intensity. That score accompanied the final shoot, during which the taps you see on film were recorded back into the final mixdown. The result was a uniquely interdisciplinary, dynamic film – a highly expressive conversation between forms, just like that of the dancers in the film.