Colour Grading, DI & film

Client: Armani
Product: 2011 Spring Summer collection
Title: La Femme Bleue
Production Company: Show Studios
Director: Nick Knight, OBE
Colour Grade: Tom Balkwill
VFX: Loco
Exec Producer: Chris McKeeman

Nick Knight, OBE is among the world’s most influential photographers, so we were delighted when we were approached for the colour grade and VFX on his flagship commercial for the Armani 2011 Spring/ Summer collection – La Femme Bleue. Robin Derrick, Creative Director of Vogue, provided further insight into the character of the collection and of Mr Armani’s expectations, as he was to present the film personally in Milan.

Loco’s team refined each frame of the film as if it was a glossy front cover, so the moody indigos and lacquer blacks of the collection remained prominent in the fast changing light of the shots. The low light environment captured on D-SLR added to the creative challenge. Lee Bamsey and Alex Hare worked closely with Nick, taking an haute couture approach by hand placing sparkles and matching the heavy motion blur used in the stills campaign. Henhouse producer, Tonia Arapovic liaised between Loco and Show Studios to deliver the offline edit and worked with Tom Balkwill on the initial grades during the project.

“Nick and Robin came to us with a clear creative vision they were looking to achieve” says Chris McKeeman, Executive Producer. “Loco and Dirty Looks needed to grasp the essence of the ‘look’ and begin both VFX and colour grading work during the offline stage, given the tight schedule. Our challenge was to attain ‘photographic expectations’ throughout sixty seconds of fast moving imagery.” he adds. “The team admits to being initially daunted by working with such an accomplished duo, but we were delighted with what was achieved and by the clients’ sensibilities and professionalism”.

We were very pleased to hear of Mr Armani’s approval of the work and further thrilled that the video was launched as the homepage for the Armani website.