I was recently invited by SMDV, a lighting brand based out of South Korea, to test their lights, create a series of videos showcasing their gear in action and also some cool interesting imagery. This is the first of a number of videos I will be showcasing on the blog over the next couple of weeks.
I have never really shot in the village of Óbidos and since I grew up so close I knew that the time had finally arrived to create some high impact conceptual images in this gorgeous medieval city.
SMDV Obidos from JOAOCARLOSMEDIA on Vimeo.
I wanted to create a dramatic epic fantasy video with rich layers of symbolism in-between, focusing on darkness and light and how that is a continuous battle fought by the artist in search of finding perfection in the creation of his work.
That perfect light that helps tell a better story. I thought that the epic medieval village of Óbidos for the location would bring our characters to life in their ideal setting. Óbidos has often been patronised by the Queens of Portugal, giving rise to its informal title as Vila das Rainhas (English: town of the Queens).
Our main character, the beautiful warrior Queen dressed in rich ornate gold armor with black and red — the gold is a reference to the yellow in SMDV logo. It simbolizes light and the overall quality of the BriHT 360. For this look, I collaborated with the amazing Polish designer Agnieszka Osipa .
The Queen holds the Light as if she were Joan of Arc with her sword in hand or Princess Leia holding a ray-gun. Both were strong influences used to create the queen character into our film.
The Plague Doctor symbolises the darkness; life before SMDV. The Darkness is chasing the light all over the Castle and just as he is almost catching the Queen, she turns and creates her spell where we can see her with the BriHt 360 light in her hand to defend herself.
The music chosen was important to add drama, impact and mood to the narrative. That is why we also added the crow effect.
Finally, at the end of the movie I show two behind the scenes frames where you see this huge Castle and the flash popping, so that you automatically feel like you were just there on set where the Queen turns on the light and the music comes to a dramatic finish.
I wanted to create some strong portraits for the model and make up artist , so we set a our mobile studio, with portable back drop from Westcott and one SMDVBRIHT 360 TTL with BR-300 beauty dish .
One advantage of the portabilty of the BRIHT 360 TTL is that you can quickly change your light on location.
Client: SMDV KOREA
Director & Executive Producer – Joao Carlos
Camera – Pedro Davim & João Carlos
Photo Assistance – Diego Veríssimo & João Demitri
Stills Editor – Marta Machado
Makeup – Sara Kruss Taborda
Model – Alina Malai for Fashion Studio Agency
Actor – Médico da Peste
Styling – Agnieszka Osipa
Drone – Diogo Reis
Video Editor – Rita Karayianni, Pedro Davim, João Carlos
Camera Assistant – João Abel
Music – TRI-Tachyon – The Warbird
Thank you to the Villa of Obidos and the Mayors office.
Gear list
We shot 4K video using the Fuji XT-2 and DJI Pro drone.
Some camera movements we used Pro media duo mechanized slider, and for the lighting we used Ice Lights from Westcott.
For storage, we had some SanDisk SD cards and we used 3 Legged Thing tripods to keep everything stable.
For the stills part of the shoot, I used a Fuji XT-2 and Canon 5D Mark III because we wanted to showcase the TTL of the SMDV BRIHT 360 TTL for Canon. I used up to three lights for the shoot with the BR-300 Beauty dish and the Speedbox-70.