A music video commissioned by Lush for their new perfume "Tuca Tuca". The song is a cover of the famous Italian pop tune by la Carrà. Just a bright bit of summer pop fun. Italians, if you object to an English girl singing this classic, bear in mind we're just paying you back for this.

Vimeo version, encoded at last.

Full credits in youtube info, but: Cinematography: Joe Dyer Editing, grading & post FX: Alan Capriles Choreography: David Beer of Collisions Dance Company Styling: Charlotte Matheson Art Director: Jenny Ray Produced by Carlos Carneiro for London Sessions.

Great playful style. Normally I don't like this sorta stuff (cutesy) but it's executed well and none of that "buy me now" bullshit that emulates most fragrance stuff. I almost didn't think of it as I watched the piece. Is it a music video or an ad hybrid? I'm curious to know how the process came about.

@victus: the client really basically wanted a music video & had already had Mira record the song. They're not big on perfume ads, or the hard sell, either. We had a very limited budget (even for a music vid) and it was a big collaborative effort - Lush's marketing director styled the shoot and headed up hair/makeup, we had Lush employees as runners, and the choreographer (who is AMAZING) works part-time in a Lush store. Lush are wonderful to work with. Everything they appear to be - open, collaborative, inclusive - they really are.

As for this specific concept, there were a couple things I've wanted to try (the footage layering, seen in static form on the poster for Girlfriend Experience/James Rosenquist's art; the disappearing from "Love King" but with camera movement; a dash of West Side Story; a pinch of Bye Bye Birdie...) and we just picked a concept we could execute really well for the money we had. (There were two other concepts I pitched, both much much higher budget.)

As for the selling aspect, I actually had to twist their arm to do a pack shot... we're spinning off print work and also 15-second web versions from this, so even if we didn't use the pack in the video it would be important for the "child" works. In the end they really loved it and wanted to use it both to start and end the vid - a bit scary as we only were able to do 5 takes of the pack shot as we crammed it in at end of day! The credits were also their idea but I don't need much encouragement to go full Saul Bass...

It also helps that I as a director hate perfume ads (and believe me, I've watched 'em all). They start off as either:

1. anorexic white model runs through luxury location in $75,000 dress or
2. anorexic white Hollywood starlet vamps around Then they end with a boring-ass static pack shot and a whispery voiceover: "Expensive Perfume, by Luxury Brand". As a woman I've NEVER been sold to/appealed to by this sort of ad... I have the feeling they're all conceived/directed by men :(

This was conceived (at Lush) and made/overseen by a bunch of women and we just wanted to make something that would be nice and happy and make us feel good about ourselves. Oh, and also that represented all of us rather than just hungry-looking white girls.

Whoops, i seem to have written an essay. Soz.

Storyboards, for the process fiends: dl.dropbox.com (rightclick to save PDF). not very interesting as they're 99% the same as the finished vid but you can laugh at my inept drawings.

@alexdecampi, thank you for breaking it down, there is no transparency so gotta give you props for putting the process out. It is untraditional in the sense that it's integrated marketing hybrid which is why it's refreshing. Millions are spent on the same old "models" in ads and question who buys this stuff. It has a feminine touch and fits the mold of what it's doing, I gather applause for going against the grain and doing lots with limited means. I saw the other video you did for 600 bucks and packs alot into the value.

I'm a dude and this is cool. Too many times advertising just says "buy this" without engaging the viewer, in fact most of the stuff doesn't engage instead force feed, a byproduct of the way things are. This is more interesting than the Kahn video everyone is talking about, to me. The multi ethnic approach is right with the times, you don't see that out there in many print ads.

No the essay is great. Cue in the following comments it's good when people discuss the work. Thanks for sharing.