ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA: MAKING OFF
I recently wrote and directed an Alfa Romeo Giulietta commercial for the "Zooppa Giulietta Get going Contest", and we won the silver medal. We didn’t have much time because the deadline was just 5 days after I realized the contest even existed, but I’m happy with the result.
The brief given from Alfa Romeo was simple: Giulietta is not just a car but it’s also part of the driver’s personality. The idea was showing in Alfa Romeo style that the car it’s an extension of the driver, thanks to its seamless technology and natural driving experience. In the spot a charming driver (which is also our art director Simone), seats on a stool in the middle of a hangar and after he shuts and opens his eyes the car magically appears. I wish we had more time and resources to build up the car around him in VFX piece after piece, to enhance the fact that Giulietta is built around the driver, but it wasn’t possible, so we had to make it straight out of black. I think that the result was effective anyway.
When I read the brief I immediately did a research to understand the brand values, the car’s features and the communication strategy of Alfa Romeo. They use a lot of the color red, they even have a specific car paint, they are elegant, they have powerful sportive engines, they are also charming Italians.
First I collected some references and made a visual board that represented the mood, then I started to write the first draft, bearing in mind the tight production timeline (5 days) and the resources available. After finishing the subject I did some sketches and imagined a bit the story but I didn’t design a storyboard, it was more a list of the scenes I needed and I kept the rest to the shooting night. Because it wasn't a typical agency/client job I decided to let it flow a bit and see on stage what felt best for the film.
I spent one full day trying to find somebody that could lend me the car and a hangar for the shooting, figuring out the light setup, the crew, and other production details.
The hangar was unavailable and too bright during so we shot at night. I had a light scheme that I sketched based on some references that were different to the final setup only for the top light, that we decided not to use. We used a Joker Bug 800w which I love and a few Arri 1200w. We shot on RED Dragon camera with Canon cine prime lens, for most of the shots mounted on a DJI Ronin.
We prepared a few black and white animations in After Effects to project on the car to give more dynamism to the scenes.
Having shot everything in sequence the edit was quite fast. The music was composed specifically for the commercial to reflect Alfa Romeo’s spirit. Post production was fast and simple, we only had to clean some dirt, change the plate of the car and smooth some reflections. It was all done in After Effects. We graded the film in DaVinci Resolve trying to match as much as possible the official red of Giulietta used in the other adverts while keeping a bluish blockbuster look.
Everything was done in 5 days from brief to deliver, thanks to the help of my amazing crew.Â
Here the film: http://watermelon.it/giulietta-enhance-yourself