HEAVY SMOKE

behind the scenes of the High M.O.I. Black Edition putter video shoot

By Inesis

November 16^th, 2023

The High M.O.I. Black Edition putter is a rather special product, and so it has been given a rather special video too. Damien, Inesis Image Leader, was given carte blanche to let his creativity shine through and showcase this new product. Discover all the secrets of the shoot.

- DAMIEN, HOW DID YOU IMAGINE THE ATMOSPHERE FOR THIS SHOOT?

"The idea was to highlight the BLACK version of an existing product already known for its technicality, so we had to create content at the level and above all emphasize the color black. From there, we started looking for inspiration..."

- PEUX-TU NOUS EXPLIQUER LE RECOURS À L’INTELLIGENCE ARTIFICIELLE ?

"A partir de ces inspirations, je suis venu ajouter le coté golf, un peu plus organique avec des prises de vue d'un vrai green. J'ai lancé des requêtes sur l'intelligence artificielle MidJourney pour générer le visuel que j'avais en tête.

- HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO RECREATE THIS SPECIAL ATMOSPHERE?

Il me fallait donc pour créer cette atmosphère brumeuse une machine à fumée, pour vraiment insister sur à la fois un côté organique de la chose, le brouillard un peu mystérieux, mais aussi la fumée du produit tout neuf sorti du moule à l'usine.

Entre temps, Guillaume, notre D.A., s'est formé à la CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) et notamment à l'animation en 3D de notre putter.

Nous sommes partis sur des mouvements de caméra très stables en rotation et travelling majoritairement pour garder de la simplicité dans la lecture de l'image, avec insistance sur un moment fort de la naissance de ce putter M.O.I. : l'assemblage de la partie acier et de la partie aluminium (vue posée du capot aluminium, puis la vis qui scelle les deux parties).

A partir de là, il suffisait de créer une vidéo, un montage qui permette de monter en tension avec cette vue du joueur sur le putting green, lumière en arrière plan qui fend la brume. Le slow shutter sur les premiers plans vient encore ajouter au mystère, à l'organique que je voulais ajouter au produit.

- HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO RECREATE THIS SPECIAL ATMOSPHERE?

So, to create this misty atmosphere, I needed a smoke machine, to really emphasize both the organic aspect of the thing, the mysterious fog, but also the smoke of the brand-new product coming out of the factory mould.

In the meantime, Guillaume, our D.A., had been trained in CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) and in particular in the 3D animation of our putter.

We opted for very stable rotational and tracking camera movements, mainly to keep the image simple to read, with emphasis on a key moment in the birth of this M.O.I. putter: the assembly of the steel and aluminum parts (view of the aluminum cover, then the screw that seals the two parts together).

From there, all we had to do was create a video, a montage that would build up the tension with this view of the player on the putting green, the light in the background cutting through the mist. The slow shutter on the first shots adds to the mystery and organic feel I wanted to add to the product.

- THERE’S A LOT OF WORK ON THE SOUNDSCAPE TOO?

"The music? It's taken from one of the inspirations at the start of the project. Space. The black hole. There's a bit of an Interstellar feel to it that I really like, which came naturally, without going for a cut-and-paste approach. The white noise in the background, the whooshes, the hits, give relief to a space atmosphere that is, in essence, dramatically silent. The play of materials with black ink, the random shape that takes shape behind a layer, the dust, are all elements of rhythm in the video, but also elements that underline the new black color of the product."

- HOW DID THE SHOOT GO?

"We took advantage of an in-between rainy day - literally - at night at Inesis Golf Park with Louis, our golfer, and Alexandre, European reference specialist in thick smoke dispersion for green shooting.

It was cold and damp, but the fast food and good humor of our newly-formed trio quickly got us into the swing of things, with stars in our eyes - the space theme, remember?

After 4 hours of shooting, we've come up with a few shots to introduce and close the video.

A few hours later and half a dozen round-trips, we're equipped with this new visual communication kit for this unique product.

In short: I had a lot of fun making this video. And the result, I think, is up to scratch. And that's with elbow grease, a €25 smoke machine and a fast-food restaurant. Not to mention the dozens (hundreds?) of hours Guillaume put into the CGI part - the nuclear heart of this video."