As COVID-19 has canceled so many of the traditional big events during fashion week, some brands have taken this as a challenge to find new and progressive ways to share their collections. Balenciaga went with this intriguing music video–directed by Walter Stern via Academy Films–in which models walk the streets of Paris just as if they were on a runaway, wearing the latest collection created by fashion designer Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga. 

Set to BFRND’s cover of Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night,” the music style runway video sees Gvasalia’s models captured as if heading somewhere with a purposeful step. MPC (Moving Picture Company) created transitions morphing the models into her, him, them. The 10-minute fashion epic has been described as “A Visceral, Vicarious Vision of Modern Glamour” by Vogue. 

The team at MPC worked with Academy Films to bring to life the film, inspired by Stern’s iconic video for The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony.” Dan Lorenzini, VFX supervisor for MPC, said: “We designed a transitional morph effect to get us from one model to another, along with a natural feeling camera shake effect to bridge the gap between cuts. Delivering a 10-minute film, in record time really is a testament to the team spirit and dedication of the people at MPC.”

MPC colorist Matthieu Toullet said: “It was an absolute honor to be part of this project directed by the iconic Walter Stern with a nod to the famous “Bitter Sweet Symphony”. A massive thank you to director of photography Mauro Chiarello who brought me these fantastic shots lit with the very special tungsten Paris lights by night which gave me a lot of scope to work with.”

The video is tagged by precautions and safety measures taken in the production of the project due to COVID concerns.

Credits

Client Balenciaga Production Academy Films Walter Stern, director; Mauro Chiarello, DP. Editorial Whitehouse Post Russell Icke, editor. VFX/Color Grade MPC, London Leianna Campbell, exec producer; Mireille Antoine, producer; Dan Lorenzini, Mark Stannard, Fraser Cleland, Anthony Jarvis, Guy Lubin, Igor Gama, Amy Smith, Kamen Markov, VFX supervisors; Alex Lovejoy, creative director; Matthieu Toullet, colorist. Maruf Khan, Danyal Kadir Memet, Karl Pasamonte, Davide Metti, Kerri Aungle, Anthony Louca & Yoomin Lee, project delivery/editorial; Anthony Jarvis, (freelance) shoot supervisor. MPC Bangalore Chanakya Chander, line producer; Siju Murugan, 2D supervisor; Ragesh Ramachandran, clean-up lead; Amresh Kumar, Anand Swain, Jayakumar R, Sreejimol C.P, Suresh Pitchuka, Vipin Tripathi, cleanup artists. Music BFRND, cover music; Corey Hart, original music, “Sunglasses at Night”

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