Jungle Turns Up the Sound of Period Anxiety in Always Ad

Always is raising awareness of period anxiety in a new campaign starring Team GB Olympian, Jazmin Sawyers, with sound design from Luke Isom at Jungle Studios.

The campaign spotlights Jazmin in the lead up to her long jump, brimming with nerves. Concerns about her period – especially heavy on this day of all days – fill her thoughts, as she worries about its effects on her performance but hesitates to ‘play the woman card.’

Luke brings the inner workings of this mentality to life through an intricately woven soundscape. Each minute detail is made hyperreal to mimic the clutter spinning around Jazmin’s mind and draw attention to her anxious habits, from the sound of her jittering legs (created by Luke’s very own leg-shaking) to her focused breaths (added in by producer Phoebe Baltazar). Mirroring her acute awareness of time running out, the sound of ticking clock is enhanced, while Luke layers reverb, snippets of speech, and hushed whispers of her words to illustrate the fuzzy haze she sits in.

As the film reaches its climax, the sound design and music surges before cutting to Jazmin on the track – and complete silence. During three seconds of quiet clarity, we see Jazmin steel herself for her event with renewed focus, before her internal dialogue – reprocessed by Luke to be crisper this time – comes back in: “This is it. Bring it on.” Music and cheers from the crowd rush back in for the finale as Jazmin completes her jump, rounding off the sonic story.