German sportswear brand Barboza has an ethos for designing high-quality performance clothing that is functional, timeless and stylish, and its strong visuals are a key element of its brand story.
To launch its new cycling collection, the team turned to long-term collaborator, DoP Max Mesch who decided to join the talent, taking to two wheels to capture the campaign. Max takes us behind the scenes on the streets of Munich.
How did you and the creative team at Barboza develop the concept for the shoot? What were going to be the biggest challenges for the shoot?
For Barboza’s new cycling collection, we developed the idea of mixing the streamlined, clean look of the new outfits in a studio scenario with additional footage from fast pacing cycling through a city. The urban environment was used to stay true to Barboza’s core audience and the studio scenario would allow us to show off the clothing in more detail.
The main challenge for this shoot was obviously working around Covid-19 restrictions, and ensuring the outdoor shoot was completed on a sunny day, so we had to reschedule a couple of times to get the best conditions.
Was it always the plan to shoot on a bike alongside the riders? How did you prepare for the workflow to best shoot the footage?
We knew from the outset that shooting alongside the riders would be a challenge to stay within budget. So, I decided to ride alongside with the Blackmagic Pocket 6K Pro on the DJI Ronin-M on a bike myself. It was tricky, but after five minutes on the bike I got the hang of it.
In preparation for the studio shoot, we chose a black backdrop to show off the textures and materials of the clothing in fine detail, by making sure the lighting was perfect. We lit the talent with one 120cm octa-box from above to achieve detail separation in the fabrics.
Image Credit: Max Mesch
What were your choices for gimbal/lens etc and why? What format did you shoot in and why?
The camera set up in general was split between a handheld rig – which involved the BMPCC 6K Pro and a Canon 24-70mm lens – and a gimbal rig with the BMPCC 6K Pro, the DJI Ronin-M and a 16mm lens.
We decided to shoot the entire project in 6K BRAW and with a wide angle lens, so we could reframe the footage in post, allowing us to focus on the lighting, cyclists and environment. All outdoor shots were filmed in 24 fps and all studio shots in 50 fps.
The camera’s internal ND filters meant we didn’t have to put an additional filter in front of the lenses, which was extremely handy for the outdoor shots. The extended battery life was also great, especially because of the gimbal shots we had to do. Not swapping out batteries so often was such an improvement to the camera’s predecessor.
Image Credit: Max Mesch
For the studio shots, I wanted to try out the monitor by itself to see how good the 1000 nits-HDR-monitor is. Being able to tilt it was such a joy compared to the previous model, which is why I shot the entire studio shots on this monitor only. For the outdoor shoot, I tried out the EVF for the BMPCC6K Pro, which helped in bright sunlight and was especially handy for reviewing footage.
Can you describe the shoot days, and how the camera/rig package performed? What were the conditions like and how did everything work?
The studio shoot day was quite smooth sailing because of our planning upfront. We were therefore quickly able to generate the outcome we wanted. This was the first shoot I’d completed with the 6K Pro, so I was thrilled to test out the newest features. The tilt screen was definitely the most exciting part. It gave me the opportunity to shoot without an external monitor and adjust it on the fly.
Image Credit: Max Mesch
What was the most fun scene to shoot?
The most fun scenes to shoot were the cycling shots. It was tricky. It was challenging. It was great. In the end it worked out just as we planned it and ended up being one of my client’s favorite shots too.
Could you describe the post workflow and the overall experience?
I was quite relieved working in post with BRAW, so that I could color match the studio and cycling shots easily. The fast-paced editing was intentional, to reflect the cyclists’ speed, which was enhanced by the music’s distinct beats.
You can watch clips and BTS on Max’s IG page here.
[source: Blackmagic Design]
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