I might have to adjust my cynical attitude towards fashion advertising. Its fascination with absurdly obscure films seems to be waning. Production studio, Noir, and creative sound and vision studio, No.8, have produced a film for London streetwear brand, Corteiz, that can hold its head high against any advertising. It has humour and surprise in its story (which is easy to understand) and it’s a strikingly different production.
The 60-second campaign film launches a new range of Bolo jackets and was directed by Walid Labri. It plays off the British slang word, Bolo, referring to someone that is big and strong, and acknowledges the teenage angst of owning the latest street-wear trends with good humour – tapping into real-life everyday scenarios with an engaging flourish of exaggeration. Labri has worked previously with major clothing brands such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, OVO and Stussy has a rich history of capturing urban spaces and the individuals that live within them. He has also directed London music videos for Big Zuu and Cityboymoe.
The film follows the success of the Great BOLO Exchange, a new scheme from Corteiz the previous week, in which thousands of fans exchanged any authentic branded jacket for Corteiz’s new BOLO puffer jacket, free of charge. To highlight the disparity in representation between UK black-owned businesses and larger-scale corporate brands, all the proceeds of the Great BOLO Exchange campaign were donated to charity.
Walid Labri commented, “Myself and Clint [founder, Corteiz] are always bouncing ideas off each other and we wanted to come up with an engaging way to introduce this jacket to people. The Great BOLO Exchange came from many conversations following up with what Corteiz does as a brand. I wanted to make a point of doing something different here and wanted to make a film that I would like to watch. Hopefully, it speaks to my peers and fans of the brand.”
Javier Alejandro, co-founder of Noir, added, “Walid Labri is a marketing genius and a spicy director, Just send him your briefs already…”
Barny Wright, managing director at No.8, commented, “It was great working with Walid and the team at NOIR, whenever they give us a call you know it’s going to be a really fun project! Walid is a really creative and collaborative guy so it’s a dream from a VFX point of view, he knows what he wants but also loves bouncing ideas around. We are really happy with how the film came out and really proud to have been involved.”
Credits:
Director: Walid Labri
Production House: Noir
Producer: Javier Alejandro
Production Assistant:
Director’s Assistant: Zeeyad Ahmed
Casting: Road @ Roadcasting
DoP: Jaime Ackroyd
Focus Puller: Michael Hannides
Loader: Esther Edusi
Camera Trainee: Eddie Caldas
Grip: Jamie Monks
Grip Assist: Anne Deacon
Sound Recordist: Bahar Dopran
Stylist: Ari Chanoux
Runners: Hunnigan Webster & Luka Glisovic
Editor: John Holloway
VFX & Audio by No.8
Colour by Alex Gregory
Processed by: Cinelab
Special Thanks to @panavisionofficial @ceowadz
