Summer, projected
A black backdrop works for a still. In motion it runs out quickly, and fifteen seconds against black isn’t a world anyone wants to follow. To tell a story worth watching we need more elements: sun, water, sky, somewhere to be.
So black becomes the underscore. It lives in the shadows and the contrast, in a hard sun and deep shade, which keeps every frame unmistakably MECCA Cosmetica without walling the talent in.
Rear projection gets us there. It’s a technique my team and I know well, it’s cost effective, and it stays inside the controlled, hyperreal world of the brand. We build the moving plates first: the perfect summer sunset, waves rolling in, light through an umbrella. You approve them before the shoot. On the day we shoot talent in front of the projection and light them as if it’s real.
- Build the plates. Sunsets, water, sky and shadow, made to brief.
- You approve them. Every plate signed off before we shoot.
- Shoot it in camera. Real light on real skin, matched to the projection, with deep shadow and hard contrast.
Where black still works
Black, for editorial
We still have capacity to shoot against a black backdrop, and we’ll use it where it’s strongest: sunscreen close-ups on the face, and wide shots carried by great styling.
Loewe’s SS26 campaign shows how well black works for those editorial moments. They’ll sit inside the films as punctuation, between the scenes the projection builds.
All of these can be made with rear projection.
