She Walks In Beauty, Like the Night

It’s hard to see details in the dark. But it’s not as hard when you’re equipped with the discreet low-light capabilities of Leica SL camera using M lenses.

Shots spoke to director Barney Cokeliss about his evocative nocturnal journey set to Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty,” and scored by Finnish composer, Anné Kulonen.

We shot in nine locations (New York, LA, New Orleans, Berlin, Bucharest, Paris, Johannesburg, and the Lesotho border) and in all but one I was my own DP. Since my photographic work tends to be about finding the atmosphere in available-light-situations, I’ve had a lot of practice making images with relatively little lighting gear and not many crew, which I definitely put to use here.

Cokeliss worked without the help of an agency creative team on the project, which he says was challenging.

I’ve written my own short films but in advertising, there’s a real discipline to coming up with ideas that are both engaging in themselves and also meaningful in what they communicate for the brand. I was lucky that Leica is such a remarkable brand with a lot of story to tell, but I have huge respect for what copywriters and art directors do, and not having a team onboard meant quite a lot of self-questioning about how it was all going to work.

The Shots piece doesn’t say why there was no creative team on the project. Having an agency’s POV may have produced a better outcome for the client (Leica UK). The short film looks like a photographer’s reel. In other words, it’s missing the narrative threads that make for a beautiful and functional brand blanket.

Credits:

Director – Barney Cokeliss
Music – Anné Kulonen
Editor – Ben Corfield, Stitch Editing
Sound Design & Mix – Ben Leeves, Jungle Studios
Colour – Simone Grattarolo and Myles Bevan, Time Based Arts
VFX – Duncan Malcom, Glassworks
Production Bubbles Films (Berlin), Icon Films (Romania), Them Media (NYC).

p.s. Lenny Kravitz Likes Leica

In related news, Lecia US is also featuring a short film—one that is story rich. Let’s watch…