The third most-watched video on the NBA YouTube channel isn’t game footage or a dunk highlight reel. It’s a commercial.
“Jingle Hoops” was a 30-second spot released in November 2013 promoting the NBA’s special Christmas edition uniforms and Dec. 25 game schedule. The video features five NBA stars shooting balls into baskets with tuned bells on them in a particular order such that they play the song “Jingle Bells.”
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The league struck gold with the , which is instantly recognizable more than a decade later. The NBA even released a new animated version earlier this month hoping to tap into that nostalgia.
Part of the original’s allure is wondering how they pulled it off. In the YouTube comments, there is plenty of discourse on that topic, which is exactly what the creators intended.
“We had this debate if it should feel like one shot or not,” producer Benton Roman said. “The drawback to it is you don’t see the [players’] faces… but we decided it would feel more powerful if it felt like it was one shot, that they actually did it.”
Did the players make 25 shots in a row in one take? No. But here’s how they did do it.
The concept originated as a follow to the “Big Color” commercial from 2012, in which five stars dribbled basketballs to the rhythm of “Carol of the Bells.” The league hired director Jonathan Klein, who was familiar working with players, having done the famous Uncle Drew commercials starring Kyrie Irving. “We were tasked with upping the ante,” Klein said.
The producers made a “pre-viz,” which was essentially an animation showing which players’ shots would play which notes. They had to figure out an order that looked cool visually, with balls flying in different directions to engage the viewer’s eye. Additionally, they had to avoid a repeat of a problem from the “Big Color” ad, in which Dwyane Wade only takes seven dribbles while his four peers each dribble at least 26 times.
Eventually, on the 44th version of the pre-viz, they settled on an order and were ready to shoot.
That September, Steve Nash, Stephen Curry and James Harden shot together at a studio in Los Angeles, while Derrick Rose did his part in Chicago, Kevin Durant shot in New York and LeBron James filmed the dunk that closes the video from Miami. “The biggest challenge was that they weren’t all together,” Klein said.
The players faced a line of five basketball hoops whose nets did in fact have bells on them that were tuned to specific notes. Each player wore an earpiece that told them which basket to turn towards and when to shoot. They would fire away, grab a new ball and then wait for the next prompt.
Without the pressure of a game, the best players in the NBA rarely miss. “The skill is unbelievable,” creative director Nick Klinkert said. “And then the competitiveness. They really didn’t like missing even a single shot.”
They did, however, miss occasionally. When shooting on three or four different hoops, and from atypical angles, not only was hitting all the shots difficult, but so was getting the timing precisely correct. The most important thing, Benton emphasized, was that the players didn’t react to their mistakes.
After the fact, the creators had a group of non-NBA players of various heights stand in the same spots as the players and filmed them shooting hundreds of shots. Using visual effects, they could then take a shot from an NBA player and use motion blur to switch the ball in midair to someone else’s made shot that fit the necessary timing more perfectly.
Roman doesn’t remember who did and didn’t have their shots replaced in the edit, but he remembers Rose performing exceptionally, despite being statistically the worst shooter of the group in games. “He was probably the most engaged,” Klein said. “He loved the concept, and he was really interested in it.”
The jig is up, but the magic of the video is that it looks real—a few of the shots even rattle in rather than swish. “We decided it shouldn’t be totally perfect. That would not be believable,” Klinkert said. “It’s about finding that balance, even having the song like a half a beat off. That stuff definitely came together in post and editing.”
A major reason for the video’s staying power has been the longevity of the featured superstars, all six of whom have won an NBA MVP award. Eleven years have passed, but James, Durant, Curry and Harden are still playing near All-Star levels, and “Jingle Hoops” remains one of the best-executed sports commercials in recent memory.
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