Select a movie size
Requires latest QuickTime Player to view
A notoriously difficult genre to get right, the perfume commercial threatens to descend into cringe-worthy farce. With everything riding on the pre-Christmas market, the parfum wing of major fashion companies traditionally opt for bankable stills photographers to film their adverts, many of whom having little or no experience of the motion-image field. Freed at last from the obvious constraints of the single shot, the stills photographer's classic pitfall is to ignore the limitations of this sixty second medium. Any attempt at a narrative structure-which, of course, requires greater length-is doomed to abject failure.
This is why the current season's key commissions are so shrewd. With experienced filmmakers such as Baz Luhrmann, Jean-Baptiste Mondino and Nick Knight directing the Chanel No. 5, Poison and J'Adore adverts respectively, a rich and competitive creative climate has been established, shifting the genre away from cliché and towards new formations of contemporary elegance.
SHOWstudio is offering an exclusive preview of the 45 second cinema cut of the Christian Dior J'Adore directed by Nick Knight and starring Charlize Theron. Drawing on classic models of feminine beauty from mannerist Madonnas to Marilyn, this simple beauty shot brought to life suggests a modern resolution to possibly the most problematic challenge in fashion image-making.
Starring: Charlize Theron
Creative Direction: John Galliano
Direction: Nick Knight
Art Direction: Tom Hingston
Director of Photography: Michael Balhaus
Production: Stardust Visions
Executive Production: Victoria Brynner
Line Production: Kori Shadrick
Edit: Nick Wayman-Harris
Post: Sean Broughton at Smoke and Mirrors
Music: Nina Simone
Hair: Sam McKnight
Make-up: Stephan Marais
Set Design: Gideon Ponte
Still Life Lighting Cameraman: Ian Murray
Also Thanks To: Nigel at 750 MPH, Chris Chapman, Paul Morris
SHOWstudio
Creative and Editorial Direction: Paul Hetherington and Penny Martin
Project Design: Paul Bruty
John Galliano
John Galliano is a groundbreaking fashion designer, acclaimed for his fusion of romantic historicism with extraordinary technical skills and progressive aesthetics.
[More...]
Nick Knight
Nick Knight, Director of SHOWstudio, is among the world's most influential photographers.
[More...]