Client: New Balance
Agency: In-house
Production: Topspin Studios
Director: Greg Mionske
New Balance brought us in to create stills for the launch of the 996v5 tennis shoe with American tennis player Tommy Paul, with a loose plan to grab motion if timing allowed.
The offseason window was tight, so we met Tommy near his place in Delray Beach and kept everything as simple as possible. We sourced a pristine hard court and a hitting partner who could handle Tommy’s world class ball. We initially planned a full lighting setup, but scrapped it almost immediately once we saw how good the natural light was. Thank you Florida.
From there, it was just about paying attention. Tommy was generous with his time, but we didn’t want to pull him too far out of his routine, so we worked quickly and let things happen instead of forcing them.
We ended up carving out enough time to shoot a motion piece alongside the stills, which turned into one of the better-performing assets for New Balance Tennis and an internal favorite.
The work itself is pretty straightforward. Good light, clean environment, and a subject who knows exactly what he’s doing.