No Sushi Unpacks the Comedy in
Nike/NOCTA’s “Just Like Candy,”
Starring Kevin Durant and Drake

No Sushi, the digital post production house founded by director Daps and producer Alexander Jamieson, has completed post production on “Just Like Candy,” the latest Nike/NOCTA KD19 campaign film starring Kevin Durant and Drake.

Directed by Director X and produced by m ss ng p eces and Creative Rain, “Just Like Candy” continues the comedic launch of the Nike NOCTA KD19 sneaker, nicknamed “The Candies.” Following the locker-room exchange of “Yes Man,” the new film moves the action to Durant’s Houston home, where a missed delivery becomes an oversized product reveal.

Deji LaRay’s edit was key to shaping the film’s comic rhythm. Colorist Chadwick B. Williams’ grade brought a polished cinematic finish to the home setting, and Jonathan Fuhrer’s sound design built the atmosphere and final punch.

The film opens with Durant at home, waiting on a delivery he missed the day before. What he expects to be a standard shoe box instead arrives as a massive wooden art crate, wheeled inside with the kind of ceremony usually reserved for fine art. Inside is Drake, fully swooshed out in Nike, slightly dishevelled from the journey but still committed to the reveal. From the crate, he proudly presents the KD19 “Candies” to Durant. KD, as ever, remains deadpan for his delivery of the final line: “Nike is tripping… shoe is fire though.”

For No Sushi, “Just Like Candy” is another showcase for the kind of performance-led post craft the company was built to bring from prestige film and television into advertising. Like “Yes Man,” the film depends on timing, restraint and the natural chemistry between KD and Drake, but this time the comedy is built around physical scale, reveal mechanics and the slow escalation of an absurd delivery.

“The fun of this one was taking the viewer on a journey of anticipation for the big reveal,” says Deji LaRay. “You wait with KD, confused by the large crate delivery, and can’t help but cackle when Drake is revealed with the special delivery. The timing had to stay patient enough for the absurdity to grow, but sharp enough that the joke keeps moving. It is a big gag, but the comedy lives in the smallest reactions.”

The editorial was led by Deji LaRay, whose background across music videos, commercials and branded content includes collaborations with artists such as Drake, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Migos, and with directors including Director X and Daps. On “Just Like Candy,” LaRay’s edit builds the anticipation around the delivery, then gives the reveal enough space to let Drake’s physical comedy and Durant’s deadpan reaction carry the scene.

With recent credits on The Last of Us (HBO), The Boys (Amazon), and Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+), colorist Chadwick B. Williams brought a premium naturalism to the film, balancing the clean architectural feel of Durant’s home with the heightened world inside the crate.

Two-time Emmy-winning sound designer Jonathan Fuhrer helped shape the atmosphere, giving weight to the delivery, the crate and the reveal without crowding the comedy.

“It’s not every job where you can honestly say the client made the work better, but Drake and his team did exactly that. It was a real privilege to collaborate with them,” says Alexander Jamieson, co-founder and COO of No Sushi.

“Just Like Candy” is a great example of why we built No Sushi. The craft is invisible when it is working, but the entire film depends on rhythm, tone, sound, color and restraint. That is exactly where film and television-calibre post talent can add so much to advertising.”

CREDITS