Macro video for a Jewelry commercial - test 1

Ice with bubbles, clear ice, frosty ice or watery ice?

This is a great example of why patience (and perseverance) is a very important quality for a creative artist.

My Client wants to show his new crocodile skin bracelets in a fresh new light.

Great, I thought, I really want to take this opportunity to film macro sequences of crocodile skin. You would not believe how amazing it looks once you light it beautifully and look through a great macro lens. Every time I shoot a reptile like this I have to take my eye away from the camera and stare in awe at the difference.

This time I am in the testing stage of a series of closeups based around the theme of the basic elements: earth, air, fire and water.

My first test was water, freezing the bracelets laid out flat with varying depths of water, timing how long they took to freeze and then how long to melt.

After the tests, I shot a time-lapse of the ice melting naturally, and then one using a heat source to speed up the process.

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles! I like the effect (as the ice melts the bubbles move around the product) but I need to find a way to eliminate them to have a more varied choice in the edit.

Can't wait to get onto the fire shoot, I have great ideas for that one…

I love my crane - new buy from videographer in Florence

Strange title? Yes. I never thought I could describe a piece of film equipment that way, but it's true.

I have just upgraded from a cobra crane jib to the Kessler crane KC8 for our fitness advert shoot in Stazione Lepolda Firenze.

Wow it really is a great piece of kit. The difference from my old one is massive. For such a lightweight and portable crane the smooth flowing floating shots look awesome. Production value goes through the roof when creatively used crane shots are employed. With some careful practice you don’t need to hire a specialized operator and bust the budget.

Set up per servizio cross-media - campagna pubblicitaria e video

Questo è lo schema luci e il metodo che abbiamo utilizzato per realizzare uno dei primi progetti cross-media a Firenze, per realizzare la campagna pubblicitaria di Gattinoni e un video di 30 secondi che la accompagnasse. Abbiamo utilizzato uno studio in cui abbiamo creato due set perpendicolari l'uno all'altro.
Il lato 'lungo' del limbo è diventato il background del video, mentre abbiamo usato due fondali di carta (uno bianco e uno blu) sul lato corto dello stesso per il set fotografico.
Abbiamo deciso di utilizzare un'illuminazione omogenea, estremamente diffusa e gentile che fosse più simile possibile per fotografia e video.
La fonte principale di illuminazione per il servizio fotografico sono state 4 monotorce, montate due a due a ciascun lato della macchina fotografica e direzionate all'interno di una "V" formata con dei pannelli riflettenti bianchi ad angolo retto. Ho poi utilizzato un grande octabox dietro e sopra la macchina fotografica e due ulteriori luci per illuminare il background.
Questo ha permesso di lasciare una ampio spazio libero da luci e cavi intorno alla modella (la bellissima Deborah P @espritmanagement Firenze) che quindi doveva solo girarsi di 90 gradi per trovarsi davanti all'obiettivo video di David ed iniziare a girare.
Il risultato è questo sotto.

Gattinoni - SS 2012 from emma innocenti on Vimeo.

Lets just do it in post! Or… not?

This phrase is a popular one, which rolls off tongues on nearly every production I have ever worked on. When it’s a stills shoot that’s fine, fixing nearly everything in Photoshop is attainable with today’s budgets. However when video is introduced into the mix, ‘do it in post’ is not so easy.

To put things into perspective, lets say I have a model in a warehouse lit by big HMI constant lighting with big cables everywhere. We carefully set up the shots so we couldn't see all this equipment. Nearing the end of the shoot, a last minute decision is made which involves shooting from the opposite angle. It has to be done because it looks awesome says the art director on set.

Ok but we have to set all the lights again because we can see them in the shot but we don’t have anytime left, “let's do it in post” comes the response.

Yes we can and we can also double the entire budget and pay a very talented and expensive after effects artist to painstakingly remove the unwanted cables and lights frame by frame. For this particular shoot 50 frames per second for however many seconds we use in the final edit.

There is a very easy answer to this problem. Pre production.

Getting everything right in pre production down to the smallest detail, with detailed shot lists, story boards, wardrobe decisions, colour schemes, locations and very importantly casting. Also don’t forget that all of these things need to be shown to everyone involved.

(Blog image courtesy of Getty Images/Emma Innocenti) 

The room, Cross-Media shoot

The Room from emma innocenti on Vimeo.

This is an example of cross media content, with photographs and videos shot at the same time.
In this edit, the colours of the video have been changed to create a dream like story, otherwise they are perfectly similar!
Art direction by Tanya Lafevre, Set design by Plum Art Dept, Hair & make up by Beatriz Lopez, Music by 'The Man Who Laughs'
The images and videos are available for commercial licensing at Image Source.

A trip down memory lane - DIVA magazine covershoot video

DIVA magazine cover shoot - behind the scene from emma innocenti on Vimeo.

Once upon a time...
...before I started writing this blog, there was a special celebration 150th issue for DIVA magazine...
We invited 150 women of all sizes, shapes and colour to take part in a naked photoshoot to grace the cover of the magazine. It was a way to celebrate real women and the real readers of the magazine who could finally see themselves represented and have the thrill of a real photoshoot.

The planning and organisation was quite manic, and we had no idea how many of the women would turn up at silly o'clock at the Heaven Club, in Central London for a 15th of August early breakfast photo shoot.

We didn't know if we could managed to get them all nice, naked and relaxed, looking at the camera and smiling without catching a single blink.
Also more importantly, without showing private parts or even a single nipple, as they are totally banned (by law) from front covers of magazines!

Well, we made it! Enjoy the video that has just been re-edited for my website and thanks to: Jane, Louise and Eden at Diva magazine; Antonello; Benedetta for the production, Giacomo and Nicky for assisting me, David for the video; the stewards on the day; Heaven & Kinetic for the logistic support and EVERYONE THAT DARED BARE IT ALL! It was fun!

Cool Camping

Our "Cool Comping" cross media shoot is on the opening page of the Image Source website. We shot both photographs and videos in a lovely farm in Guildford at the beginning of the English Summer, on a beautiful day. David and i (on the other Canon 5D mk11 doing the videos) drove there in the custom 1971 Doormobile 'Early bay' VW Campervan also featured on the shoot - courtesy of Nick from www.dubhire.co.uk

It was a great day and I really enjoyed shooting out-takes while David was filming the models and directing them. It felt like being an invisible camera and I think lots of the images captured feel so natural because of this. It was also one of my favourite teams ever, with Tanya (Art Director) & Lyndsey making everything seem easy and fun and Beatriz Lopez mastering hair & make-up. Oh and lending us her bike!