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NIO EC7

ELEGANCE IS POWER

PARTNER STORY

Alive by Light

As a long-term creative partner of the brand, NIO asked us to launch their premium coupé, the EC7, and position it as a seamless part of their Users' lives. 

Having designed and built the ‘House of NIO’ at Goodwood Festival of Speed we took our intimate knowledge of the brand and working directly with NIO’s design team, overlaid the product positioning for their new flagship coupé SUV - creating an artistic direction and mixed-media film treatment that beautifully aligned the cars’ character with the target audience to create the international launch film for the NIO EC7.

‘Alive with Light’ took two successful creative professionals on an evening journey to a private view of a bespoke light exhibition in Miami’s Design District, inspired by the work of James Turrell. The drive immersed them in the experience of driving an all-electric car possessing the power of a sedan and the elegance of a coupé.

With a logistical challenge to shoot without a car, the combination of full CGI, live-action and CG vehicle replacement created the intriguing and elegant final film revealed as part of NIO Day, launching their expansion to the European automotive market.

Client

NIO

Services

  • Film Treatment
  • Art Direction
  • Creative Direction
  • Pre Production
  • Post Production
  • Creative Development
  • Motion Graphics

Website

nio.com

Live action

Our treatment and approach to unveiling the EC7 is centred around the user. The film built a clear and aspirational connection between our audiences and the NIO users – who they are and how EC7 seamlessly integrates with their lives – "I want to live that life and drive that car!”

We selected a technical production partner, the director and DoP and liaised closely with them throughout the pre-production and post-production stages, scouting locations, sourcing props, making talent and wardrobe selects and working with a composer on the sound design.

Style frames on grade and lens selection, storyboards and a full creative language for the film were developed in close collaboration with NIO as there were key features and angles of the car that had to be covered in the numerous CGI driving sequences. All of this was essential with the incredibly tight timeframes to ensure there were plenty of visual references to give the technical production teams a head start on crafting the CG elements.

CGI Features

Whilst CGI was a necessary, rather than a chosen component, we treated the CGI sequences in a way that made the flow between Live Action and CGI seamless and logical. The result, the viewer is left questioning ‘was that real,’ or not questioning anything at all – that was our creative and production challenge.

Car Replace

The narrative of our film is user-focused – we intentionally set EC7 as an integral part of our users’ lives - showcasing this without a car required thoughtful stylistic storyboarding and planning. We creatively oversaw our production partner to determine what shots would best depict the characters in the environment.

NIO Positioning

Time to play, time to explore.

EC7 is for the user in perpetual motion, sometimes powerful and energetic, always graceful and joyful. Those who live with no ‘pause’ button, those who cannot wait for nightfall and the energy of their city that NIO allows them to explore. Time never stops for these people, their city lights are never off, and they live every second. EC7 brings an intimate, joyful constant to the journey

“My journey is continual, seamless, smooth. When I move, EC7 is my continuity, it is my constant. A reflection of me.” - NIO EC7 User

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