How Hyundai Journeyed across the Ages of Women’s Football
With the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final approaching, it’s clear to see that this tournament has amplified conversations around women in sports, particularly football. As an official partner to the tournament, and to show how it’s been supporting the sporting event since 1999, car brand Hyundai partnered with BONAPARTE’s director Nicole Ackermann to create a tale of the ages of football.
Beginning in 1895 when the first women’s football game took place, the 60-second campaign travels through time to show how women haven’t just played the game, but truly changed it. As the main character Jeannette begins by dribbling a football, it’s clear that the creative team behind the scenes were mindful to keep things historically accurate, with shoes, footballs and wardrobes evolving through the ages to represent just how far we’ve come. With different filmmaking techniques used to show each era’s unique style, the tonality captures each time period as its own entity, while also seamlessly transferring through the ages.
To hear more about how the campaign was created, and go behind the scenes into the creative process which solidified every shot, Nicole speaks to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani.
LBB> What is Hyundai’s association with women’s football and how did you tap into it in the spot?
Nicole> Hyundai is an official partner of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and has been since 1999. There were a few different concepts that we were exploring for this spot, but when Jung von Matt came up with this script, it was a YES from everyone on the team. I think we all just really connected with the meta-narrative of the strength of women told through this journey. This is about so much more than football - this is a story of women claiming their space in the world and fighting to stay in the game.
LBB> How does the original brief compare to the final film?
Nicole> It's a completely different script from when I first saw the brief! The film features the third script that we ended up working on. The previous scripts all had merit, but I was just blown away by this last one; the Jung von Matt creative team wrote this within half an hour. I loved the fact that this traced women's football through history. It’s not only about football, it's about the journey of women and the strength of women and how women kept playing football even when they weren't able to.
LBB> How did you distinguish between the different time periods in the piece and what were some of the details you used to emphasise this?
Nicole> We were mindful of the wardrobe and art direction in each era, and the team went deep into researching these details to make the film feel as authentic as possible. Diving into the wardrobe for each era was particularly fun; we did a lot of research to see what women’s teams were wearing, from the shoes to the hairstyles, and manufactured all the uniforms from scratch.
LBB> Each scene in the spot has a different feeling, enhanced by the lighting you used. Can you talk us through these decisions?
Nicole> We wanted to give each scene a tonality that captured the essence of each era, whilst retaining an overall sophisticated look for the whole film, which was a fine balance. A lot of the time we were at the mercy of the weather, but Khalid Mohtaseb [director of photography] did an amazing job of supplementing and creating beautiful shapes with the light and shadow. We wanted each scene to feel like a painting - rich and distinct - with lots of detail in the mid tones.
LBB> How did the edit play a part in creating the pace and tempo throughout the spot? What techniques did you use to ensure that an explanation wasn’t needed in the form of narration or subtitles?
Nicole> Amanda James, our editor, did such a great job crafting the pace of the edit. I had planned the transitions from the start, as I wanted to seamlessly transition between eras in a way that showed off Jeanette’s football skills and made it super clear that you were following one game throughout time. We also added the rough high shutter shots in between to give the game rawness and dynamism.
Khalid and I worked closely with Bohdan Pylypchuk, our football choreographer, to work out moves through each scene to build the rhythm and energy of the spot and show off women’s football skills.
LBB> How did you land on the backing track for the spot and why was it the right fit?
Nicole> Jung von Matt came up with the ‘Riot Grrrl’ genre from the start - so this became our anthem through the pre-production process. It created such a great undertone of strength, rebellion and girl power for the team. Our composer, Markus Wormstorm, created a track which we all just loved - especially the fact that we could write our own lyrics. I think it adds such a great layer to the spot. We also weaved sound design into some of the eras, in order to bring in some of the historical accuracy.
LBB> Can you talk us through the process of selecting the cast and crew for this spot??
Nicole> Concerning the crew, we had mostly come from Riga and had a local production designer and wardrobe stylist. They were incredible and had a really good eye for historical detail. Khalid Mothaseb was was especially amazing. He was so passionate, so detail-oriented, and so caring about every aspect of the film.
In terms of casting, we actually did a Europe-wide scout to find our lead. It was important that she was an incredible footballer; I really wanted to represent women's football in the best way possible. So we looked for footballers who were essentially professionals already. The challenge, of course, was then finding a footballer who could act.
Our lead, Jeannette, was amazing. She gave such an incredible performance because I believe the subject matter was so close to her heart. She's really living and breathing women's football. It was so interesting hearing even just the daily challenges that Jeannette faces as a professional athlete.
I learned from her that there's not necessarily full support for women's football, and that also just financially, that's also a big challenge for women. Advertisements like this really help. A level of awareness is really helping the women's World Cup, now getting bigger and bigger every year.
LBB> How was your experience working with Jung von Matt and Bonaparte?
Nicole> JvM was great. They were a part of a lot of the decision-making, which meant it felt we really were a team in it together. They came with a lot of knowledge to support understanding the film’s historical perspectives.
Working with Bonaparte Films was amazing. As a female filmmaker, I tried to bring on as many women onto the team as possible, from the ground up. And this is what the crew ended up looking like; it was mainly all female, all the way up to our EP.
LBB> How did this challenge you creatively?
Nicole> I would say the greatest creative challenge was to get the audience to understand the era that we're in. It was crucial to have a sense of realism come through. This was difficult as, of course, the footballer is moving really fast through each frame, but simultaneously, we really wanted to avoid putting explanatory titles in. As a result, we had to be very mindful of the art direction, the colours in the frame, the wardrobe in each era and also the sound design layered.
LBB> In the film, which scene was the most enjoyable for you to shoot?
Nicole> I loved filming the 1918 scene, where there is a standoff with the policeman. It was really beautiful directing Jeannette, because we had done a lot of work on the back story of this moment beforehand. Jeannette had actually written a paper on the history of women's football in Germany, so she knew a lot of the stories and was connected to the subject matter. In the scene, we pulled a lot from her own experiences; which was really powerful.
