Music+Sound Awards Winner Spotlight: Sizzer Amsterdam and G-Star RAW's 'The Rhythm of Denim'

The Music+Sound Awards Best Original Composition in Broadcast Advertising’s 2022 winners were composers Mark van Bruggen + Rachel Tauwnaar at Sizzer for their outstanding work on The Family’s G-Star RAW 'The Rhythm of Denim' spot. 

Watch again and you’ll see their win is testament to their great skill, ingenuity, and vision!

Some background info from Sizzer… 

“The narrative of the film is based on how tap can form a conversation between two world-class dancers, separated by space, but echoing each other in a balletic call and response. At first alone, their taps echo and build on one another, as they come closer together, crescendoing in an epic ensemble. 

"The campaign’s choice of tap dance as its central medium was daring for a brand focused on ‘hardcore denim’: for many, the form presents a stuffy, classical image, lacking in the grit associated with G-Star’s ‘raw’ aesthetic. However, the campaign was inspired by the medium’s revival embodied in the urban tap movement as well as by tap offering something unique: of all forms of dance, it is perhaps the most auditive, where the expression and emotions of dancers can be felt most strongly through the sound of their feet. 

"This reinvention of tap demanded that sound should be central to the entire film, and the composition integrated throughout every stage of the production. That meant a careful dance between disciplines: composing every step of the way alongside choreography and shooting, defying convention and turning an industry standard on its head by putting music first. Drawing from a wide range of references (Stomp, Phil Collins, tribal drumming, and more), an initial concept beat set the rhythm for the dancers. Their first rehearsals, in turn, set the tempo for the melodic arrangement. A classical choir approach accentuated – without dominating – the core tapping rhythm, and provided a clear arc for the film’s build-up in intensity. That score accompanied the final shoot, during which the taps you see on film were recorded back into the final mixdown. 

"The result was a uniquely interdisciplinary, dynamic film – a highly expressive conversation between forms, just like that of the dancers in the film.”