How Sam Walker put Formula E in pole position

From a creative and ECD point of view, what is it you wanted to achieve with No Turning Back?

We wanted to make a bold, defiant, unapologetic film that loudly announced Formula E is here to stay. The journey towards an electric future can’t happen soon enough for the planet and this film is a metaphor for the race towards that future. 

We wanted to make a bold, defiant, unapologetic film that loudly announced Formula E is here to stay.

Equally, we also wanted to make the most exciting, dynamic film we could. A film that starts in the most intense way possible right from the first frame. And then a shocking crash moment, which in itself is against conventional motorsport advertising. But then, this is really the catalyst for the odyssey that follows. The most insane race ever. That was our goal.

Does being a creative and a director on a project make it more or less challenging?

A lot of the best projects are when the creative and director are totally in synch. So, on that basis, for me it makes it easier. There is one less voice and the vision can be more singular. I know what Nils [Leonard, Uncommon's CCO]and I are trying to achieve and I have an exact vision of how to get there.

Above: No Turning Back, Formula E's new campaign from Uncommon London and Pulse director Sam Walker.

It's an epic film, with action elements that are Bondian in their approach; have you shot scenes like this before, and can you tell us a bit about how you approached them?

It’s very flattering that some people are making that comparison. My only aim was to make a film with genuine scale that evolves from scene to scene and keeps the viewer guessing. Each scene came with its own challenges, usually involving stunts.

The staircase fight scene was probably the most challenging for me; how to shoot something that felt visceral and violent, without showing any actual violence.

The staircase fight scene was probably the most challenging for me; how to shoot something that felt visceral and violent, without showing any actual violence. No one actually connects with their punches or gets hurt and that was super-important for Formula E, but also to make sure it could actually go on TV. All of the stuntmen are instructor-level martial artists so fight choreography comes second nature to them. I had originally boarded a corridor fight scene but the staircase gave it an added dimension and one I hope is surprising to the audience bursting out of the glitzy Monaco fashion party.

Rascal

The racing scenes were created using Unreal Engine; had you worked with that technology before and how did you find overseeing that process?

No, but once [post house] Rascal had shown me it opened up a whole new level of possibility for the project. We’d started off assuming we’d be limited to only using stock footage, but once Barnsley [Andrew ‘Barnsley’ Wood, Lead 2D Artist] and Russell [Tickner, Lead 3D Artist] had suggested it we worked closely together to ‘shoot’ the race footage too. It’s an amazing programme, developed for the most advanced computer games, that allows you to build the track from scratch and put the camera literally wherever you want. 

At a certain point of unbelievable camera move the human brain just goes ‘nah’ and you’ve lost the audience. Keep it this side of possible and you’ve got half a chance.

It’s a new level of control, but my feeling right from the start was to give ourselves certain rules we shouldn’t break, that the Unreal cameras should only be placed where cameras could actually be in real life; on tracking vehicles, trackside and on the cars themselves. Just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should. It’s the same in massive Hollywood superhero movies, at a certain point of unbelievable camera move the human brain just goes ‘nah’ and you’ve lost the audience. Keep it this side of possible and you’ve got half a chance.

Above: Last year's Formula E campaign, Change.Accelerated.

Last year's Change.Accelerated was beautifully slow-motion; was No Turning Back purposely conceived to be stylistically opposite to that?

We were really pleased with how last year’s film turned out and was received but, yes, I think subconsciously, or maybe even consciously, we wanted this to be the polar opposite. 

The climate crisis is the biggest threat to us all and there shouldn’t be anything boring or polite about that. We didn’t want to make a film that was worthy or overly preachy.

If last year’s film was about the spectators and the cities FE races through, this one was about the excitement of the race and the athleticism and fearlessness of the drivers. This year we went all in and the No Turning Back thought really summed that up. There is a real defiance about that line. Formula E is the only electric only motor racing championship in the world, so it really is out on its own. But there’s no point being shy about it. We needed to go all in.

How challenging was it to balance the fast-paced action of the race with the more thoughtful, environmentally-minded elements?

We don’t see those things as opposite. In some ways that’s historically been the problem with much of environmentally-minded communication. It’s often been associated with the cliches of the colour green and sandals and muesli, which only serves to make it too easy to dismiss. The climate crisis is the biggest threat to us all and there shouldn’t be anything boring or polite about that. We didn’t want to make a film that was worthy or overly preachy. It is first and foremost a high adrenaline sports film that is anarchic and loud in its approach, but with a definite, subtle climate message running underneath.

Above: Director and ECD Sam Walker [foreground centre] on set with the replica race cars and full size track.

What was your favourite section of the film to shoot?

To be honest, I loved it all and was totally in my element. It was incredibly intense and ambitious but this is the stuff I live for. Even in the most dramatic and stressful moments it’s the right kind of stress.

My favourite scene is actually the rooftop scene which was shot in the middle of a blizzard and in sub-zero conditions.

I was blessed with an all-star team around me and everyone was so excited about making the film as good as we could make it, and the energy was brilliant. From working with Rascal and the Unreal Engine to create the race scenes and the most dramatic crash we could, to making sure each scene had its own distinct flavour, to set builds, to smashing through giant glass windows, to a full-on fight scene (as full-on as regulators would allow), it was just exhilarating for me from start to finish. 

There are quite a few highlights for me; turning up on the first day to see the replica car and full size race track gave everyone the boost we needed to start the shoot. Smashing through a huge dragon-engraved glass window is always exciting, and the fight scene was a great set piece too. But I think my favourite scene is actually the rooftop scene which was shot in the middle of a blizzard and in sub-zero conditions.

Above: Behind the scenes footage of one of the scenes from No Turning Back.

And the most difficult?

There was certainly a nervousness about us re-creating the racetrack and crashed FE car as a set, and whether it could live up to the real stock footage and computer-generated racing shots. But the art department did an amazing job and 3D printed a full-size replica of the car, together with exact copies of the fence and track too. It was quite a circular chicken-and-egg process in that we created the fictional track and crash as wire-frame CGI before we shot, exactly matching the real stock footage, then created the exact same section of track on the ground in Kiev, and then took the footage we shot to put it back into CGI. Rascal then crafted and built more into the CGI and surrounding cities to create the finished piece.

Jack Nicholls couldn’t believe we hadn’t shot on a real track, which I thought was about as good as we could hope for in terms of authenticity. 

Once the film was finished, we asked Jack Nicholls (the UK’s leading motorsport commentator) to commentate on the action as if it was real. He couldn’t believe we hadn’t shot on a real track, which I thought was about as good as we could hope for in terms of authenticity. 

Above: Walker behind the camera.

Can you tell us a little about the soundtrack to the film and how/why you arrived at that?

Soundtree did an amazing job scoring the film. Nils and I have worked with Luis [Almau, composer] and Neil [Athale, producer] many times before and they did lots of demos before we settled on the foundation for the score. It was always going to be either drum n bass or a driving guitar track to give us the energy we needed, but we also wanted the track to change and evolve throughout the different scenes and tones of the film. 

[The music] was always going to be either drum n bass or a driving guitar track to give us the energy we needed.

It wasn’t enough for the music to be just a powerful beat, it had to give us emotion and drama too, through the different sections of the film. The final track builds and grows, first starting with a single drumbeat, then the bass kicks in and vocals, then an insane screech as he bursts out in front of the horse, into elegant, emotive strings, some mega bass on the roof, a choral break through the Roman soldiers and finally to the big finish.