Dream projects only come along every-so-often, so you can imagine how excited I was when I was offered the opportunity to pitch for a project which brings together two brands that I am not only huge fans of, but also are the most prestigious in their industry. Naim Audio, Focal and Bentley Motors.
If I hadn’t mentioned before (I’m sure I have, many times) I take a huge interest in automotive and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t spend time listening to music. I own a range of HiFi equipment and I’m a little bit O.T.T about sound quality in our home, often to the frustration of my Girlfriend. Good (and VERY good) sound equipment is something I love to geek out about, I truly believe it makes the difference from just listening to music or being immersed in the sound stage and imaging the artist and producer originally intended.
So after sending in my proposal, I honestly wasn’t expecting to actually be awarded the work. A project with these two brands, it would be just too perfect. When I received the call from the lovely team at Naim to give me the good news, I was a little bit dumbstruck.
Naim Audio and Bentley Motors
Naim Audio are a British Hi-Fi manufacture based in Wiltshire, a neighbouring county to my home in Dorset. They were founded in 1973 by Julian Vereker MBE, a racing car driver, entrepreneur and self-taught engineer with a deep passion for music. Naim have a rich history of producing some of the worlds greatest Hi-Fi separates and professional audio equipment.
The relationship between Naim and Bentley spans from 2008 to today. The two brands shared an 18 month development project to produce the Naim for Bentley in-car system which is available as a custom extra on all Bentley models.
Following a 2011 merger with French loudspeaker manufacturer Focal, Naim is owned by VerVent Audio Group, a French company. As part of the project, focal also produced a
Bentley less of an introduction. A household name and known the world over for their extraordinary, luxurious cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England and founded 1919, both brands have a distinguished British heritage and a passion for engineering excellence.
Naim Mu-So for Bentley Special Edition and Focal for Bentley Radiance.
To celebrate the partnership between the brands, Naim, Bentley and Focal have worked together to design some limited, special edition products.
The best in acoustics, electronics and luxury motoring have been combined: Focal, Naim and Bentley have developed a collection of unique products to provide an exceptional listening experience in the car, at home and while travelling. With the Focal for Bentley Radiance hi-fi headphones and the Naim Mu-so for Bentley Special Edition wireless loudspeaker, the three luxury brands have excelled.
Mu-so for Bentley Special Edition
With unique design, aluminium and wood skin, a volume control reminiscent of classic Bentley styling, and signature Focal speaker drivers, this multi-room ready system wirelessly streams a world of music with class-leading performance, functionality and usability.
Focal Radiance Headphones
These closed-back headphones incorporate a combination of the best Focal technologies; they are created, developed and made in France to offer a natural sound that will captivate you within the first few musical bars. Evoking the styling cues of Bentley car interiors, the grilles blend harmoniously with the other carefully selected components and quality materials.
The brief required photography of Mu-So on black, white, 360 photography and a range of creative photography, along with video and lifestyle photography on location.
Creative Direction
My aim for the studio photography was to create images that had a sense of atmosphere, using light that had an enhanced, natural quality. The focus was to use one, strong key light creating dramatic, well defined shadows and high contrast scenes which was to be reflected in both the film and lifestyle imagery. The effect being almost chiaroscuro in aesthetic, directing the viewers attention along with enhancing the products richness of materials and colour. Gobos were also used to further create the a sense of natural light.
Studio Photography
Shot on the Canon 5D MkIV with Schneider PC TS Super-Angulon 50mm f/2.8, Sigma Art 50mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 85mm f1.4 DG.
Macro images shot on the new Canon R5 with Sigma Art 70mm f2.8 DG Macro
Lighting used was a mixture of Joker 2 Bug 800w, Sky Panel S30 and Dedo LED Bi-Colour. with a range of modifiers.
Colorama for the colour shots is LL CO117 Cardamon.
Shot at Pro Studio Hire in Bournemouth. Thanks to Andy Cahill for his help as Gaffa.
Lifestyle Photography
Mirroring the studio photography, I wanted to ensure the images looked and felt like they were lit with natural light that was simply manipulated to enhance how the product looked in the environment. To achieve this we used one Arri M40 HMI PAR with a 4K bulb to produce our ‘sun light’ through the large window to the left of camera. To the right we used an Aladdin 3x3ft with diffuse to provide fill light.
The aim was to keep the lighting simple and avoid over-lighting and the risk detracting from the sense of natural light in the scene. Thanks to all to the great crew on the day, to the client for their amazing input and thanks also to Bentley Motors for supplying the stunning Bentley Flying Spur featured in some of the images and video.
Styling - Nat Cook
Gaffa - Andy Cahill
Lighting Assisting - Alex Pillau
Production Assistant - Genna Delahunty
Shot on the Canon EOS R5 with Sigma Art 50mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 85mm f1.4 DG.
The Film
Taking inspiration from automotive commercials, the aim was to create a level of suspense and excitement which would build before revealing the product.
Using the supplied footage from Bentley Motors I crafted a visual narrative which shows two impassioned people driving home to enjoy spending time with their other passion; music. The first section up until approx 1 minute showing only dreamlike visualisations of Mu-So and Radiance, part of their imagination in anticipation of getting home. The second part, using less and less dreamlike imagination shots, and more real lifestyle clips showing the realisation of being home as they get closer to their goal.
The short clip of the Mulliner Bacalar overlaid with Mu-So is a nod to the relationship between the design language which is shared between the brands, with the light sweeping across the elegant lines of both the car and the Mu-So front grill. This is again reminiscent and relates back to the automotive commercial styling. Further design cue links are peppered throughout the film to reiterate the theme.
Thank you to Bentley Motors for supplying the footage of their Bentayga V8, Continental GT and Mulliner Bacalar along with the sounds of their glorious sounding W12 which can be heard in a number of sections in the film.
Shot on the Canon C200 and Canon R5 with Sigma Art 24mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 DG, Sigma Art 50mm f1.4 DG and Sigma Art 85mm f1.4 DG.
Filmed in Canon Cinema Raw Light, DCI 4K, 23.976p.
Edited and Colour graded in Divinci Resolve 16.
Thanks again to the great team at Naim for having me shoot this work for this campaign.
Learn more over on the Naim website: Click here