Beads rising from powder. Bracelets forming in space. A lunar landscape built in a studio in South London.
Fantastic brief from Lagos USA and super project to work on, mixing a live-action macro shoot at edFILM studio with beautiful CG work from Fifth Wall.
Some briefs arrive that truly excite you. The Lagos project was one of them, a product film with a sci-fi concept and a client’s creative ambition to match.
Lagos is a celebrated American jewellery designer based in Philadelphia, renowned for their signature Caviar collection, a distinctive line of beaded jewellery instantly recognisable by their tactile, caviar-like surface. The brief was to create a product film that went far beyond a conventional showcase, bringing the jewellery to life through a visual story that was as beautiful and otherworldly as the pieces themselves.
The concept
The film opens in an ethereal lunar landscape, a powder-covered terrain that feels alien, mysterious and of course cinematic. From this powder, individual coloured Caviar beads lift from the surface, are then drawn together in space, assembling themselves into Lagos bracelets in a sequence that feels almost magical. The film closes with the finished bracelets floating and spinning in a dark, infinite void before coming together for a final, definitive end frame.
How it was made
The live action macro sequences were shot at edFILM's dedicated table-top studio in South London, a controlled environment purpose-built for the kind of precision and patience this type of filming demands. To ensure the live action and CGI sequences integrated seamlessly, the studio was kept open for several weeks throughout production, allowing the team to shoot, review and reshoot as the project evolved. Allowing both Ed and the CGI team at Fifth Wall to blend their outputs to seamlessly match one another. An approach that paid dividends in the fluidity and consistency of the final edit.
The CGI work was created in close collaboration with two specialist partners - CG production by Carl Grinter and 3 Wise Monkeys, and CG animation by Dave Childs at Fifth Wall. Post production, apart from the final colour grade by Alex Berry at Quality Control TV, was handled in-house at edFILM.
The result is a product film that feels more like a short piece of visual art than a commercial which is exactly what Lagos deserved.