Factory Fifteen’s Paul Nicholls directed one of the pre-fight films for UFC 306 within the Sphere in Las Vegas, a landmark sporting event on Mexican Independence Day. The idea was that each of the 5 main event fights would be preceded by a 90-second film that spoke of Mexican history and culture. 

Our film (which we crafted with co-production from Nexus Studios) focussed on the rituals and traditions of Mexican culture, which was just a joyous brief (set by Carlos Lopez Estrada & Antigravity Academy) to work with as directors who love research-based projects. We designed an ancient cave, filled with Day of the Dead offerings, large-scale carnival puppets, crafts, ancient ritualistic artifacts, and ceremonial structures. 

Our story through this cave starts from a single flame, and pulls backward, revealing more and more through the animation of candles and fire, before exiting a giant sugar skull, carved into the rock: a symbol of Mexico designed to leave the audience in awe.

The initial research into Mexican rituals and traditions was the most interesting part of the pre-production for us. We knew the start was going to be focussed around the day of the dead offerings and finding both small and large-scale references of this was important, as well as identifying what pre-colonial and pre-church Mexican offerings looked like, which was super important for authenticity. As architects, researching Mayan and Aztec influences and symbolism was fascinating, as well as other more modern crafts.

We found illustrated storyboards the most useful investment early on which made the more technical processes that followed a lot smoother overall.

The event blew the socks off the audience and reporting media, heralded as a huge success and a sporting event like no other.

Working with the Sphere’s unique format was a challenge and an opportunity. Creatively it’s a challenge compared to traditional film or media in that you need to tell your story in an environment rather than a window. Within a window you can do quick cuts and fast moves and the audience stays connected, within the Sphere it’s much more akin to VR, in that traditional filmmaking will make you feel pretty nauseous quickly. This project allowed us to lean into our strength in environmental storytelling, crafting a space rich with narrative and easter eggs to explore. We think that the crux of the opportunity it gives in this format; is that you can allow people to explore, and create the edit in their own mind, by looking around the screen as if you are right there in the middle of it, and then – boom! – as a director, you can bring everyone together by a piece of focused animation that draws your eye in.