Boutique Films: In action for a majestic tone

Young Swiss director and student Oscar winner Pascal Shelby teamed up with film production company Boutique for First Guitar to develop “a unique fantasy commercial that combined the clash of live action and CGI to change the world”. The music, especially for this film – composed by Eluveitie star guitarist Jonas Wolf and famed composer Alexander David Wolf – becomes a virtuoso element, “which breaks down the physical principles known to us with its clunkiness and allows our imagination to fly away.” inspires to”, as stated in the message.

The First Guitars manufactured in Vadensville are therefore “among the best instrument exports in Switzerland”. These are hand made by Managing Director Reto First with great passion and expertise. “The independent design and high quality of the guitar is very popular with musicians around the world. First Guitar makes instruments for creativity,” it continues.

Shelby’s idea for this space is based on a quote by Pablo Picasso: “Everything you can imagine is real”. A painter, architect or musician, a principle that applies equally to all artists – provided they have the right tools at their disposal. In this ad film, a guitarist with his vision transforms an old industrial hall into a Cubist creation, paying homage to one of the greatest artists of the last century.

Production

With two producers Chantal Gugger and Theresa Beres, “this brilliant idea” was implemented, the message says. The film was shot at night in an old industrial hall in Winterthur. The experimental team relied on the concept of anamorphic lenses, lots of haze and low light. These are “very creative decisions that the VFX project should quickly profit from”.

According to the announcement, it was already clear to everyone involved at the start of production that this was an overly complex and time-consuming project. Thanks to the support of all the crew members on set, as well as the VFX and animation team targeted at Pulk, this fantasy film by Pascal Shelby was able to come true.

Animation and VFX

The development of visual effects was the foundation of the Cubist transformation of industrial structures with steel girders, bridges and columns envisioned in the film. Even in the editing phase, it was about how the industrial structures in the hall could be arranged and efficiently adapted and animated.

For this purpose, an elaborate setup was developed by Linus Schneider, the CG supervisor at Houdini, which enabled the basic idea of ​​Cubist construction to be implemented. Light and form were determined by rotating the material. Several asters (programmable light tubes) were used on the set, which came to the rescue in lighting, especially in the final shot.

music and sound design

Jonas Wolf, guitarist of the internationally renowned band Eluwei and the protagonist in this particular film, composed the music for the venue in collaboration with Berlin musician Alexander Wolf David. Mixing and sound design was done by Robin Harf from the Frankfurt recording studio Hive. For voice over, Boutique was able to win over Scottish actor Stuart Martin, who can currently be seen in the Netflix film “Army of Thieves”.

Responsible in First Guitar: Reto First; Responsible for Production: Boutique AG, Pascal Shelby (Director), Linus Schneider (CG Supervisor), Theresa Beres (Producer), Chantal Gugger (Executive Producer), Pulk (Post-Production), Jonas Wolf (Cast), Stuart Martin (Producer) Voice ), Jonas Wolf & Alexander Wolf David (Musicians), Marvin Schatz (DOP), Janice Willbold (Trinity Operator), Manuel Dolder (Gaffer), Peter Hacker (Color Grading), Robin Harf (Sound Design), Linus Schneider, Florian Baumann, Pascal Shelby (animation, VFX). (PD/CBE)