MPC Brings Life to Shanghai’s Past for Nike

Made in collaboration with creative agency W+K and production company The Loft Films, the spot is a love letter to Shanghai, made with passion by people who have grown up there or have come to embrace the city as their home.

Launched on Shanghai Marathon Sunday, the spot opens on Mr. Lin’s shop in old Shanghai as he reminisces about his “finish line” store, and follows how Nike has caused today’s athletes to never stop chasing what’s beyond the finish line. Director Nick Gordon’s vision for this particular project was to tell the story of Shanghai’s history as an allegory to personal transformation and success through the Nike lens.

A fun challenge for the team was a time-lapse that captures the journey of Shanghai to show the energy of the city over six decades of development through CG and DMP. This is an impressive VFX time-lapse, compiling 95 unique frames together to create the illusion of history in 4 seconds. Zeroing in on Mr. Lin’s shop, it depicts the city around the shop transforming and exploding into modern day Shanghai, with the shop remaining steadfast.

“Quite simply, the time-lapse shot is the ultimate VFX challenge. Not only due to the schedule, but just the task of creating 60 years of Shanghai history in 4 seconds” says Jamie Loudon, MPC Executive Producer. “Building a time-lapse sequence is like a jigsaw puzzle; you have to bounce back and forth between the beginning and end, and adapt each frame to each era in a way that flows logically,” he adds.

The MPC Shanghai team assert that the challenges only bring more satisfaction with the final product. MPC’s Creative Director Barry Greaves said: “This was a really wonderful campaign to work on,” adding, “Getting to recreate Shanghai through 6 decades and create such unique work was a great experience and achievement. The team is thrilled with what we accomplished — it was a meticulous undertaking, and we’re very proud of the result.”