Cinematic visuals for luxury brands: from concept to campaign

Most luxury campaigns I shoot start the same way: boards from the agency, a product, and a short list of feelings the client wants people to have. Getting from there to film and stills that look expensive is mostly a run of practical decisions. Here's how I make them.

Start with what the product already does well

Every product does something better than anything else in its category: the way a cut stone throws light, the color of an aged spirit, the weight of a glass stopper. My job is to find that and turn it up to 11. That's why the same lighting setup almost never works for two brands. On a multi-SKU job, each variant gets its own best shot instead of a recolored copy of the hero.

Shoot it for real

People can tell when movement is fake, even when they can't say why. So my default is practical: real liquid, real light, real glass, built and lit on set. CG comes in only where a practical version can't be built, and the hero moments stay in camera.

Boards that leave room

I prefer loose, hand-drawn boards to polished AI frames. A board that looks finished tells everyone to copy it. A rough one shows where we're going and leaves room for the DP, the stylist and the crew to bring something to it on the day. Some of the best frames on any job come from that.

Stills and motion from one production

Most of my campaigns deliver both. Planning them as one production means one set, one light plan and one product pull, and the stills and the film read as the same campaign.

A schedule that protects the image

A 10-hour shoot day gives about 7 hours of actual shooting. On anything with liquid or motion control I add a pre-light day, so the timing and rehearsal happen before the shoot, and the shoot days go to shooting.

If you're bidding a campaign, here's what to send me for a quote.

See also: Commercial Video Direction