METANOIA

SELAH Clothing Co. came to us for a film to launch their METAMORPHOSIS collection. The brief was clear about what it wasn't: not salesy, not a lookbook, not about the clothes themselves. It had to be something the audience could relate to and feel — the story around the release, with the collection living inside it.

The hard part

Ambition versus timeline and budget. The concept called for underwater filming with talent, a shoot day at a mansion, and delicate emotional scenes set in a therapist's office. Then our marquee talent cancelled at the last minute, and we had to find a replacement who could both deliver the performance and handle filming underwater.

How we made it work

Our producer, Jamela, took the friction out of a genuinely ambitious plan. She covered the safety protocol for the underwater work, the insurance and permissions for the mansion, and everything in between, so the days ran smoothly. We brought in a certified scuba camera operator and an actor comfortable underwater to keep the sequence safe. A crew of nearly fifteen carried the rest.

On set

Charlotte, NC, over three days: a pre-light day for the underwater scenes, one day for the therapist's-office scenes, one day underwater. Shot on the Arri Alexa Mini and Sony FX3 with DZO Arles and Sony FE lenses; edited in Premiere Pro and graded in DaVinci Resolve.

The result

METANOIA wasn't a runaway performer for the client, but it did what it was built to do — it moved SELAH's brand image forward and established that they were serious about the quality of their content. Established fans asked for more filmmaking from the brand. The film reached 100,000 views on SELAH's Instagram and won a Silver award at the 21st Annual Davey Awards in the Online Advertising & Marketing category.

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