A pull-up contest takes on epic proportions in a new Nike Apparel spot. Created by Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore., and directed by Rupert Sanders of Omaha Pictures, Santa Monica, the :30 "Pull Up," depicts a test of strength and a battle of wills.
The spot opens on a shot of a New York City subway car rumbling into a station in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. We hear pounding drums. Down below the elevated tracks, two guys—each surrounded by a posse of supporters—come face to face on the street. The drumming slows. One man—portrayed by Carlos Hernandez—is shirtless. He has closely-shorn hair, a gold tooth and tattoos adorn his muscular torso. The other man—played by Habibi Rodriguez—is clad in a black t-shirt, gray pants and running shoes, all by Nike. He is thinner and less menacing looking, but take a look at his face, and you can see he means business. Like two boxers who’ve just entered the ring, the men stare each other down. They’re practically dripping with testosterone.
Cut to them clinging side-by-side to a pipe suspended off the elevated subway tracks. They’re dangling over the street doing pull ups. Drum beats punctuate the action. The crowd below cheers the men on. The two tough guys exchange looks. Carlos is weakening. He can’t hold on any longer. He lets go of the bar, going down in defeat.
The camera stays trained on the spot he has just fallen from: The Nike swoosh is superimposed on the screen, accompanied by the word "apparel," then we see the swoosh with the tagline "made to move."
You almost feel as if you have to wipe the sweat off your brow after watching spot. "We wanted to create a theater aspect to it just to add more drama and make it more of a story about the old guard vs. the new guard," W+K copywriter Mike Byrne explained. "The tattooed guy is supposed to be the king of the block, and the younger kid comes along and challenges him."
Adding authenticity to the situation is the fact that both Hernandez and Rodriguez are from the neighborhood. Both are amateur boxers found at a local gym. Neither man had been in front of a camera before shooting "Pull Up," but they were both naturals, according to Sanders, who wanted to cast boxers in the roles "because they understand the whole face off at the beginning. You walk into a ring [when you box] and stare each other down, and there are a lot of insults flying around. Then, you have to be willing to throw in the towel, and that was kind of the mentality of the film really."
no losers
Finding a boxer willing to throw in the towel actually took some searching. "All these guys that auditioned for us were so intent on showing us how many pull ups they could do. A lot of them would not lose," W+K art director Monica Taylor shared. "We were like, ‘It’s just a script. Can you lose this time?’ "
In addition to casting locals in the two lead roles, the extras featured in the crowd scenes are also from around the way. "I wanted the people to feel indigenous to the street," Sanders said.
Now New Yorkers aren’t always thrilled when a film crew shows up and commandeers control of their neighborhood, but Sanders and his crew—including DP Peter Donahue—found the residents of Brooklyn cooperative and accommodating. "The thing is if you go into an area like Brooklyn, and you throw off a big shield of defense around you, and you bring in all your own people, then people are going to be antagonistic toward you," Sanders surmised. "But if you go in, and you get everyone involved and make them feel a part of it, they are eager to help you and give their best performances."
It was also important to get the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)—which has jurisdiction over the New York City subways, including train tracks and structures—onboard: Sanders needed not only to shoot under an elevated subway as trains were running, he also required permission to attach a pipe—on which the men would do the pull ups—to the structure.
"The week before [the shoot] we had to go through a whole round with the Transit Authority on what we could and couldn’t do on that structure," W+K producer Andrew Loevenguth said. "Everything we did was okayed by the Transit Authority. There were five of them on the shoot all day long watching us and making sure we didn’t mess with the trestle or the train."
The "Pull Up" shoot began at 8 a.m. and ended before the sun set at 5:30 p.m. Hernandez and Rodriguez were lifted up into position by scissor lifts and attached to the bridge with safety cables which were later erased by the visual effects team at The Mill, New York.
Sanders figured each man must have done at least 100 pull ups over the course of the shoot. "By the end of the day, Carlos couldn’t feel his hands," Loevenguth said. The cold didn’t help: the temperature that day was about 36 degrees with the windchill, Byrne reported.
To ensure that every angle was covered during the shoot, three cameras were utilized, with much of the camera work done handheld. There were also a couple of crane shots.
The culmination of the shoot did not end Sanders’ involvement in the project. The director stayed on to edit a first cut of the spot with Rick Lawley of The Whitehouse, bicoastal, Chicago and London.
Initially, the plan was to simply use sound design to enhance "Pull Up," but during the editing process the need for music became apparent. Brian Bauers of tomandandy, New York, composed the sparse drum track used to complement the visuals. Taylor described the drum track as helping to create a "battle of champions" feeling around the pull-up event. "It is almost like a bell that says, ‘Hey, there’s something going on here,’ " Taylor said. " ‘This is a big event.’ "
Incidentally, no one from the agency or production crew was inspired to take on Hernandez or Rodriguez in a sideline pull up competition. Sanders knew it would be a losing battle. "I’m a three pull up man," Sanders said. "I can do three."
