RUSSIAN NINJA WARRIOR
Promo Video for international TV Show!
Especially for СTC (federal TV channel), Cameraptor crew produced a promo video for the Russian version of the super-popular TV franchise — Ninja Warrior.
ABOUT TV SHOW
Die-hard athletes meet their match in this action-packed obstacle course competition series featuring the most fit, most agile, and most ripped participants who are all vying for the supreme title of Russian Ninja Warrior!

Original show — Sasuke (サスケ; stylized in Japan as SASUKE) is a Japanese sports entertainment television special, airing since 1997, in which 100 competitors attempt to complete a four-stage obstacle course. An edited version, named Ninja Warrior, is screened in at least 18 other countries.

CTC's version of the show pushed more than 200 participants from all over Russia who passed a large-scale casting procedure to fight for the title of the strongest hero of the project. Among the brave men were the European champion in gymnastics, Mikhail Khudchenko and sports blogger Alex Stolyarov, and representatives of very different areas and professions: a mother on maternity leave, a massage therapist, an accountant, a dentist, a programmer, a secretary, a fireman, and other heroes.

Three popular Russian celebrities — Morgenstern, Ida Galich, and Vasily Artemiev became hosts of the show. For the famous rapper and showman Morgenstern, the new show was his debut as a TV presenter, and for the renowned blogger and presenter Ida Galich — the first sports-extreme project.
Main Content
TV PROMO
СТС — Russian Ninja Warrior TV PROMO
Directors Cut
Client Cut Version
CUSTOMER REVIEW
  • Natalia Abramochkina
    Marketing Director @ CTC TV channel
    "Russian Ninja Warrior" is a well-known international brand that is also familiar to Russian viewers. It was essential for us to adapt this project to channel the audience reflecting the visual and technical innovations that the producers applied during the relaunch phase of the show. And, of course, we wanted to convey the energy and drive that the project is built on.

    That's why we chose Camerapror crew, which specializes in innovative high-tech action videos. This promo video received an enthusiastic and positive response on social media. And we are happy with the result and the effect on our viewers.
What it was like?
BTS PHOTO
PRODUCTION PROCESS
This project became an actual artistic experiment blending the aesthetics of computer games, modern technologies, and the surrealistic minimalism distinctive for the Regie & Voogie Duo.
  • Voogie
    Creative Producer / Director / 3D / VFX & Animation Artist
    While creating a concept for this video, I set the goal to make the character movements as realistic as possible while placing them in the most abstract minimalistic world with the typical platforming "side-scroller" aesthetics.

    Thanks to the limited production time, we decided to avoid motion-capture technology to animate the characters. Instead, we built an eight meters high, twenty-five-meter-long obstacle course, which we filmed using parkour athletes for real.

    We shot all side view sequences in 12K resolution statically to achieve video game-style camera movement on post-production. We composed those sequences using 3D architecture, upscale the frame up to 14K, transformed it to square, and then animated the perfect moving virtual camera in UHD...
Few Examples
HOW IT'S MADE
Real Shooting VS Composed Footage
  • Regie
    Director / Colorist / 3D Artist
    At first, the approach we chose just shocked the producers and DP.

    But it turned out to be the most profitable and economically justified strategy, and the result came out as artistic and stylish as we imagine.

    Shooting a video statically using this crazy "Super-duper-Ultra-High Resolution" shooting and rendering technique allowed the athletes to perform stunts rather than thinking about moving in sync with the cine camera crane. Honestly, I think the idea of video-game-style camera movement in real life conceived by Voogie was only achievable in this way.

    Сreating camera animations on the post-production stage allowed us to shoot all the stunt scenes with a minimum number of takes, minimizing the risk of injury and optimizing the budget by reducing production time.

    Also, post-production of a static image is much cheaper and faster than 3D tracking, match-moving, parallax avoidance & rotoscoping...
Few Examples
BEFORE / AFTER
CONCEPT ART / SET DESIGN
  • Ivan Solomin
    SET DESIGNER & ARCHITECT
    This set was an enriching experience of working with situational augmented reality. A virtual environment was designed first and then matched to the physical set that would fit the pavilion. All that time, I had those implications in mind.

    It’s tricky when you think of something digital that shouldn’t have any limitations whatsoever, but at the same time, keep an eye on spans of module panels or ceiling height, connecting the two worlds in a number of reference points where our character is present in both.
Pre-shooting preparations
PREVIS VIDEO
CONCEPT ART / COSTUME
  • Maria Nazarova
    COSTUME DESIGNER
    The primary source of inspiration for the suits was the Kinesio Tape method. The curved weave of Biflex material (nylon spandex) mimics the form of human muscles, fits snugly to the body, and accentuates the athleticism and figure of the athletes.

    All costumes are intentionally produced in a unisex style to devoid the gender. For the viewer, it should not be important who is in front of them, a girl or a guy, because all the athletes of this promo — conditional superhumans in superhero clothes.

    By the way: It was necessary to use the black and white color palette to avoid mixed muddy color shades cast by emitting wall on the characters.
  • Oleg Selistra JR
    Producer
    The entire production process took a record-breakingly short production period: Only three weeks, from preparing the concept for the client to handing over post-production.

    We dealt with many unusual tasks, from getting a certificate for high-altitude work a day before shooting to renting almost all available ARRI SkyPanels on that shooting day in Moscow.

    Also, we used 45 kg (99lbs) of self-tapping screws to build the set, the same weight as Regie, a co-director of this video. :)

    It was a great and exciting experience for the Cameraptor crew. We are grateful to the CTC TV Marketing Director & Art Director for giving us this unique opportunity to realize our brand's creative vision.
It was an intense but exciting three weeks of work.
BTS STORY
CONCEPT ART / PROJECT PRESENTATION COVER
DIRECTED BY
Voogie & Regie
@Regie&Voogie
STARRING
Zelimkhan Dzhabrailov
Denis Shteingauer
Sema Cherepko
Karolina Arutunyan
Maria Yaprintseva
PRODUCER
Oleg Selistra JR
@selistra_oleg
CREATIVE PRODUCER
Voogie
@Voogie
CO-PRODUCER
Pavel Galin
LINE PRODUCER
Ivan Trifonov
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Mikhail Soloviev
COSTUME DESIGNER
Maria Nazarova
@maria.nazarova
COSTUME ASSISTANT
Ekaterina Timofeeva
SET DESIGNER & ARCHITECT
Ivan Solomin
SET DESIGNER (ON SET)
Denis Bykov
 1ST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Artem Larin
GAFFER
Alexey Morozichev
STUNT COORDINATOR
Mikhail Belskiy
MUAH
Daria Tishaeva
MUAH ASSISTANT
Ekaterina Yakimenko
FOCUS PULLER
Elisaveta Speranskaya
COLORIST
Regie
@smokinregie
3D & ANIMATION ARTISTS
Regie
Voogie
LEAD COMPOSITING ARTIST
Oleg Verenko
VFX ARTISTS
Anton Malahov
Andrey Antonuk
Roman Antonuk
Nikolay Davydenko
Leonid Shama
Voogie
SOUND DESIGNER
Inokentiy Khudimov
MUSIC BY
Tom Salta
Ryan Taubert
LAYER STAGE TEAM
Georgy Bashkin
Eugeny Ushakov 
Vlad Voronov
CAMERA TECHNICIANS
Philipp Shevchenko
Artem Ermakov
EDITOR ON SET
Slava Kuleshov
BTS CAMERA OPERATOR
Aleksandr Matukhno
BTS PHOTOGRAPHER
Vasia Bobylev
FOOD ON SET BY
"FOOD WAGEN"
Eugeny Zverkov
Polina Tabunova
Alexey Zaitsev
Eugeny Maslov
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT
Auto Energy
CINE CAMERA CRANE
Super Vision Systems
MARKETING DIRECTOR
Natalia Abramochkina
ART DIRECTOR
Elena Shanovich
CREATIVE PRODUCER
Anastasia Brusnikina
CG SUPERVISOR
Anton Trubin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Daria Malyavina
PRODUCER
Ekaterina Osipova

HELLO@CAMERAPTOR.COM