Late last year, Nothing announced a line of Apparel: āwork wear we still want to wear when the work is done.ā We celebrated the global launch of Drop 1, which consisted of a Lab Coat and Cap, with a fun film titled A Day In The Life. The film showcased the new range inĀ a fictionalised version of Nothing HQ.
For this interview-style blog post, I sat down with Nic (pictured below on the left) and Matt (pictured below on the right) from Nothingās Brand & Creative team to find out more about how this video was created.
Nic: Hey, Iām Nic Akinnibosun and Iām a Senior Producer here at Nothing. Iāve worked across campaign assets for our product launches from our very first product, Ear (1), all the way up to Phone (2), and most recently: Nothing Apparel. I look after budgets, our whole creative process, timings and branding.
Matt: Iām Matt Fraser, Art Director & Designer at Nothing. I work on campaigns most of the time, working hybrid between designing and art directing. Whether thatās Apparel, or our main product launches.
Nic: Our team is very small, consisting of producers, copywriters, designers and brand managers, and we have a lot of 360 degree output. Weāre responsible for all of the creative output for all product launches - almost like brand guardians.
Natalie: I love that - youāre the guardian of the brand.
Nic: Yeah, since weāre such a small company, we have to be consistent with who we are, so we make sure everyone across the company is consistent: using the right font, packaging, the right tone of voice, pantones, and even our Soho Store. All of those creative things.
Matt: But itāll be interesting to see how our identity evolves over the years. 2024 will be quite interesting with new products and new designs.
Natalie: So, letās talk about Nothing Apparel. When did the project land on your desks?
Matt: We started working on Nothing Apparel a few months back. We knew there would be a range coming, with various drops throughout the next few months, so we were asked to think about how to promote it, and given quite a lot of freedom to do something different to previous product launches.
Natalie: How did you decide to make the film, over other forms of promotion?
Matt: We knew from the start that the first drop would be the Lab Coat and Cap, which felt like an IBM, 70s reference. This lent itself to the laboratory setting that we created: a scientific world. The range itself is super technical with a fashionable edge - like Nothing as a brand. We wanted to transport the viewers to a place where they could see the product being styled, contrasted with a bit of fun and humour. We had lots of original ideas to start with, and explored tapping into the streetwear world, but landed on creating this version of Nothing HQ.
Natalie: Aside from our Design Studio, Iād say the set you created looks much cooler than our actual office in London. How did you find the filming location and design the set?
Nic: Thereās that goes on behind the scenes in order to get a location looking that great on film. The first place to start is with constraints: budget and time availability. Of course, we have a working design studio where our product engineers design our products, but weād be totally disturbing their workspace, so we knew the studio wasnāt possible as a location. But we found a company called Twice Pictures who helped us with ālocation scoutingā. They looked at spaces that fit our brief, but that could also handle the amount of camera equipment and crew weād need. You even have to pay attention simple things like the number of power sockets available on a shoot!
In the end, they found a really cool space, which was the old Transport for London Office near St. James Park. Now itās this big, grand, blank canvas, with really nice decor, corridors, and tall ceilings. We put in a lot of art department props, and me and Matt as representatives of Nothing made sure everything was on brand. The production company had their own art department and vision, so we collaborated with them to get the location as Nothing as possible. A lot of the props you see in the background of the film are actually from our design studio. We borrowed a lot of their stuff for the shoot; inspirational objects that represent the company and its design ethos.
Matt: Because there was that 70s, IBM inspiration for the products, we wanted to pick a setting that looked a little bit old school and nostalgic. An ode to that period in the 70s and 90s when companies like Apple were making tech in their garage. So we wanted to create a space that looked like: what if Nothing was emerging in that period?
Natalie: So once youād shot everything, how did you get the video out and edited?
Nic: This is a really interesting one, because the directors we worked with had already shot an animatic before we did the shoot. They went to the location and shot the whole film, frame for frame, with the crew acting as our characters. So this made the editing process super streamlined because their animatic was pretty much exactly the same as the final edit. All we had to do was colour grade it and put in some bold titles and create the sound design.
Natalie: In the video, youāve got two main characters: the intern and the manager. How did you create these two characters?
Matt: Originally, we had quite a different story. We wanted two opposing characters: one person who feels like theyāve been at Nothing forever, very technical who knows what theyāre doing. And then, the other character whoās stepping into their first day and theyāre a bit chaotic.
What we originally intended was for these two to meet organically and bond over lunch. But we tweaked it so that she was his line manager and he was working with her to create the Apparel range and presenting it to the boss. We originally thought of casting Carl, but then we thought of casting Joseph Horton, one of our Technologists. Heās always working on something amazing at the design studio, creating fun music with Glyph Interface or DJing at events. Everyone at Nothing loves Joseph!
Natalie: And do you have any fun stories from set?
Matt: All the extras you see in the film are actually the film crew. The directors are in the lab scene, lighting crew, it was fun to include the crew in it.
Nic: Another fun fact is the models were wearing my trainers.
Natalie: Your personal trainers!? How did that happen.
Nic: When were thinking about styling, I thought, hm, I have a lot of cool trainers that they could wear. So I brought them in.
Another memory from set was that we had to film the water resistance test scene quite a few times, so we made sure our actor was warm and had a towel. We didnāt want to be wasteful and use loads of Lab Coats, so we shot with two of them.
And another story was that after the shoot we went to a pub with the crew, and one of them asked Joseph how long heād been acting for. He had to explain he was actually one of our Technologists and not an actor!
Natalie: Thank you both for guiding me through the creation of the film!
You can watch the full film on Nothingās YouTube Channel. Let us know what you think of the film, and what you think our characterās next Apparel creation should beā¦
