Sound design for the New York Knicks
This commercial was produced for the New York Knicks during the time the Knicks were struggling and fighting to get back to where they belong: amongst the top teams in the NBA. Postoffice Sound & Music was responsible for the creation of music and sound design. This film is a message to the team to fight the best fight they can, even with their backs to the wall. Because: “This is New York!”
Director Billy Pols and DOP Vikash Nowlankah took it the streets downtown and to the infamous basketball cages of New York City where basketball is played at it’s toughest and roughest to capture the essence of New York City basketball and they involved the fans as well cheering on their team like real New Yorkers telling them how they really feel when the Knicks arrive at Madison Square Gardens in the team bus. The voiceover recites a poem by Charles Bukowski, The nights you fight best. It’s almost as if Bukowski wrote the poem for this film, with appropriate lines like: “…The nights you fight best are when all the weapons are pointed at you…”
New York Knicks TV commercial and stadium film
That’s how the Knicks must have felt at the start of the season. For the soundtrack we closely cooperated with composer Erik-Jan Grob creating a dark driving soundtrack intertwined with the sounddesign and voiceover transmitting a strong powerful message. We chose for an orchestral soundtrack with electronic elements and a driving beat representing the work and struggle that lays ahead and is similar to survival in a rough city like The Big Apple. Our aim was to match and enhance the feel of the images capturing the perseverance and power of New York. The film was aired as a television commercial at the start of the season, but is still played in the stadium as a motivational message to the fans and the team. It’s been an incredible honour to play a small part in the resurrection of the legendary New York Knicks.