Paco Rabanne
Concept • Content Creation
The Golden History
Paco Rabanne was started in 1966 as a fashion company creating iconic, unique, unconventional designs and styles. The introduction of their first fragrance, ‘Calandre’ was released in 1969. Over the years of expansion and growth into these industries, the iconic ‘Gold Bar’ cologne, ‘One Million’, was released in 2008 and is now considered one of the most popular fragrances worldwide and continues to hold a strong presence in 2023 due to its unique scents and distinctive golden packaging.
Digging For Gold
I was given a portfolio task to find a brand that I resonate with and select a product to then conceptualise and create deliverables being a 20 second video advertisement, as well as a product photography shoot.
When trying to identify what product to use, I was scouring the internet for ideas with no true path. It was when I was getting ready for work, one morning during my routine, where I picked up my cologne bottle and as I sprayed myself, the idea hit me as hard as the scent. I realised that I have been using 1 Million for the past 12 years of my life, so much so that every time I walked in a room, people would notice me through my scent.
A scent so elegant, powerful and seductive. This was my product.
Using Dirt To Create Gold
Due to having no budget for the project as well as being challenges to use only house-hold items, I decided to scour the house for objects I could use, such as the inside turn-plate of the microwave, black table cloth as a backdrop, a desktop monitor and a lamp as lighting, to create my very own makeshift studio. The power of innovation and pushing my own limits allowed me to find the most unconventional objects to create the most visually pleasing outcomes.
I refused to let a budget limit the quality of my final outcome.
Using my Sony A7III mirrorless camera with a Tamron 28-75, F2.8 lens, I decided to expand my knowledge in cinematography by using the S-Log2 picture profile for dynamic range as well pushing limits with an ISO of over 40 000 shooting in 4K 25p for that crisp quality.
Camera Settings
Shutter Speed: 1/50
Aperture: F2.8 – F8
ISO: 40 000 – 64 000
4K, 25FPS, 100MBS
Picture Profile Settings: Slog2, S-Gammut3.Cine
Pushing Boundaries
As a content creator, one of my biggest disabilities and challenges is my red/green colour-blindness. Being primary colours, this affects the way in which I see all colours, making post production a terrifying experience, especially when shooting in a flat picture profile such as S-Log2. Colour grading on a flat image was definitely me stepping out of my comfort zone, trying to overcome my disability to create consistent colouring has always been a challenge, but not one I’ll ever stand down from.
The Golden Product
The overall experience of this project was challenging and quite scary, however educational and worth the final outcome. When looking into previous advertisements for this product, I found that there was a lot of black and white used, and barely any visuals of the actual packaging being the most unique part, other than the scent itself. The scent was designed as a ‘Men’s Cologne’, however over the years it has been proved to be a unisex scent, especially when looking into today’s current challenges with gender identification and discrimination.
This gap in previous advertising allowed me to target the visuals of the product itself, creating feelings of seduction, excitement and class. Using the light reflections, the sleek designs as well as the colours of the gold bar to seduce and excite with the actual product, instead of using a person.
The end product exceeded my expectations, especially with the equipment and budget limitations as well as pushing my own limits beyond what I’ve previously done. My vision was not just accomplished, it was perfected.
