The brief was to transport our viewers to Tokyo and immerse them in a city where the games have taken over, whilst celebrating some of the athletes who will be there in a seamless, authentic way. Due to the COVID19 situation, this was more important than ever, considering no spectators were allowed to attend the games, and everyone had to view the show virtually.

We needed to get viewers excited about an Olympic Games which, despite being on the other side of the planet, would explode on their television screens and bring joy, surprises and unforgettable moments to their living rooms

The Olympics is the greatest show on earth. A combination of amazing talent and a city putting on its best face for the world. Tokyo is a city rich with pop culture which allowed us to draw upon the cultural cues and styles of the host city.

So we made a fast paced single shot Tokyo tour. Every frame of the film is packed with authentic, custom designed detail, fully immersing our audiences in a Tokyo where the Olympics has already taken over, just as it took over all our lives in summer 2021.

Using multiple animation techniques, we created a vision of Tokyo not often seen, soundtracked by Japanese composer Kenji Kawai.

We worked with Japanese designer Fantasista Utamaro to make sure our version of Japan was authentic, right down to the directional signs on the sides of buildings, and even the Japanese manhole cover which opens our film.

Japanese culture is one which idolises celebrities, characters and culture and turns them into endless merchandise, which is what inspired the concept behind the film.

Given that this was for the Tokyo Olympics, it was essential that all the production design was as authentic as possible. We worked closely with Japanese artist Fantasista Utamaro across all scenes. We built a world that brought together the sports and athletes of the Olympics with as much contextual Japanese appropriation as possible, featuring key athletes as manga illustrations, 3D figurines, video game characters and city neons. Bespoke designs included manhole covers to gachapon toy labels, arcade machines to J-Pop sets. Fantasista’s input allowed us to push our ideas in ways we wouldn’t have considered ourselves.

This process was echoed digitally through the CGI and VFX scenes, working into each with details and easter eggs to cram as many sports and athletes as possible

Authenticity was paramount in the design and execution of the film. Hundreds of Japanese designs were created by a team of Japanese designers led by Fantasista Utamaro to ensure it was culturally sensitive.

The opening scene includes a custom manhole cover as well as hundreds of bespoke signs added in camera and in post production. Manga comics and merchandise featuring Sky Brown fill the shop. The J-Pop set, costume and choreography was designed to echo real J-Pop music videos, often inspired by Americana. The arcade machine covers were custom designed as well as unique illustrations for the characters in the game. Every Gachapon machine was styled with a unique sports inspired cover label. Each poster in the bedroom was created from scratch to feel authentic as well as a bespoke cycling game. Each neon sign was created individually to represent as many different sports and athletes as possible.

The film premiered to an audience of over 21 Million at half time in the Euro Quarter-Final between England and Ukraine in 2021. It has been seen by 35m+ UK adults, making it one of our most popular and influential BBC Sport films.

As well as the film, components of the film were released separately across social media, such as a Sky Brown manga comic, TikTok music videos from the gymnastic J-Pop sequence and an Adam Peaty themed video game from the arcade scene, with a reach of over 11m on social media.

The film also used as the opening titles for all the BBC coverage throughout the games, for which we made a bespoke version that transitioned seamlessly to the BBC’s Live CGI virtual studio for the first time. It has subsequently been BAFTA nominated for Best Title Sequence.