The Olympic Games Paris 2024 has come to an end and we’re going to miss watching all the incredibly talented athletes doing what they love.
If you’re not sure what to do with all your free time now that the Games are done, why don’t you take a deep dive into this six-part docuseries by Adidas: ‘Road To Paris’ that our team of Audio Pioneers handled the Sound Design and Final Mix for.
Five of the six videos are live for you to watch and enjoy. We eagerly await the release of the sixth and final video.
This inspiring series, conceptualised by IMA Agency, gives us an inside look at six South African athletes as they prepared for the Olympic Games. Each unique and personal story is about dedication, determination and the pursuit of excellence. We’re honoured to have been a part in bringing these to life.
This was another project where we applied our ‘getting in early’ approach. We love getting involved in projects from the conceptual stage and we feel it can bring so much value to the job for everyone involved.
We were so amped about the project that we asked the female powerhouse behind the series, Director Hallie Haller and Producer Jess Schipper, to answer some questions for us so that we could share some ‘behind the audio insights’ with you:
What was your vision for this project?
Hallie: I wanted the films to take the audience on a ride. I wanted people to watch this and walk away thinking, damn that athlete is a badass.
What was your brief to Pressure Cooker Studios for the Sound Design?
Hallie: I wanted the audio to create a really full world where we hear all the textures: whirring bicycles, splashes, hockey ball resounding in the goal. I wanted to capture all of that but still also have a lot of contrast to give the story an arc that feels exciting and full.
How did the audio elevate the storytelling?
Hallie: We thought really conceptually about the audio – distorting vocals when our hero is underwater, or playing with the sound so that it feels like you’re traveling into the distance with the javelin as it moves. I really, really loved working with Alex Smillie (Pressure Cooker Studios Commercial Audio Engineer) because we got so deep into it. And the audio does really take us on a ride in each piece.
Tell us about the audio process on this job:
Jess: A major challenge on this campaign was identifying how to make sure each piece was given their own treatment in sound design and yet still live side by side as equal parts of a whole.
It took many weeks from initially briefing Pressure Cooker Studios (April) to joining them in studio (end of June) and the support throughout those months was constant. In documentary land where you rely on the character’s “inner voice” as the main storytelling technique the aim is to be able to listen to the film without any visuals, and follow it much like a podcast episode. Alex and the team went above and beyond crafting this work with Hallie and each time we were in an audio session I really enjoyed closing my eyes and listening to the story of each athlete.
When we finally got to the audio phase of this project, the Pressure Cooker Studios team felt like our supporters, genuinely cheering us on at our very own finish line. From the get go they took this work on with an inspired approach and that approach was felt loud and clear through their execution of the work. By getting Alex and the team on board earlier, we got to have conceptual conversations and think over the work properly, instead of jumping straight into the doing and that really helped make the work stronger.
Chloe Ellis and Alex Smillie – our dedicated commercial duo – had this to say about working on this series:
“We loved getting in early to assist with the VO recordings while the Olympians were in France already. We got to hear their full interviews and it was extremely inspiring. This also allowed us to ensure we could get everything we needed for the final mix stage.”
