CREATING A TASTE OF THE ORIENT
November, 8.31am…
Bicester Village.
One of the things we do best is creative story telling. Encapsulating and drawing in an audience using stunning visuals and attention to detail.
Shooting this commercial for south-east asian restaurant Shan Shui was no exception. We were tasked with transporting the customer back to 1930’s-40’s Shanghai utilising the eatery as the backdrop.
Sourcing and cherry picking fashion, accessories, props and luggage items brought this mini movie to life. I have a variety of sources but vintage emporiums are my go to. I love a good rummage!
I shot the movie entirely in black and white to replicate an influenced film noir feel. Art directing this piece was a dream as I have always been drawn to a cinematic style.
Touch points need to be covered when producing something as detail orientated as this, down to the MUA you use, the jewellery and accessories, it all needs to flow and remain cohesive. The devil is most definitely in the details…
Fast forward to a month later and we are at our second shooting location in London’s Chinatown. This was to be the films close and we opted to shoot tight crops and compositions to retain the authenticity of the chosen era. If you have to wait 20 minutes for a DHL van to move out of shot, you wait!
There were some amazing details in Chinatown which really added to the ambience the client wanted to recreate. Shooting on location I always like to try and visit beforehand to storyboard. Every minute counts when you are not familiar with the backdrop so on this occasion I worked off photos and I had luckily been down to Chinatown before. If you can’t get to your location I advise to get as much detail as possible so when you do arrive on set there is still some sort of shooting structure.
Another variant THE PULL had to consider whilst filming was the films dimensions. The final film was to be shown at Heathrow Airport on a giant 16ft x 6ft LED screen outside their flagship restaurant. Shooting portrait can have its challenges, you are in essence cropping your image into a 1/3. Consideration of angles, prop placement and lighting all needed to be adapted.
FULL VIDEO BELOW
