Once again we have brought Dolce&Gabbana's #DGHOLIDAYS campaign to life.
Working in collaboration with Happycentro to create a stop motion that evokes the magic and joy of the holiday season film featuring Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana characters singing and dancing in a Broadway-inspired setting.
Continuing the brand’s 2020 Christmas campaign theme, we took on the added challenge this year of animating the Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana puppets to make them sing and dance.
The previous campaign had time constraints meaning we were only able to shoot the puppets interacting with the products in front of a green screen. This year the Happy Finish team was able to showcase its full capabilities by using a mixed production process, pairing traditional stop motion techniques with innovative virtual production approaches such as using 3D, traditional mapping and CGI technology.
The project utilised full technical expertise to design and map the shoot in 3D and used traditional stop motion paired with innovative virtual production for the stills imagery. The products were then shot on an LED background and superimposed into the film.
Behind the Magic
For this execution Domenico and Stefano had to jump, dance and above all, sing. Bringing this vision to life meant modelling a face for each phoneme, printing everything in 3D, decorating it all by hand, conceiving a mechanism to replace the expressions, frame by frame, implementing the mannequin with a solid but flexible custom rig, and revising the clothes so that they too allowed adequate mobility.
The creative features a reconstruction of a characteristic Broadway theatre, in a 1:6 scale, framed by more than 2500 hand-mounted coloured light bulbs. Facades, traced streets, placed sidewalks, hoisted lanterns, lit shop windows and decorated signs can also be seen.
It took many months to conceive everything, including the study of the lipsync, build, lighting, the stop motion shoot and editing the 6 versions of the film (with and without products, satellite content for organic communication on digital, online, offline and TV channels.)
In marrying two distinct and different techniques in stop motion and 3D mapping, Happy Finish was able to produce a visually stunning film that showcases the pure luxury of Dolce&Gabbana, its products and its heritage.
Discover more at DG Together and a very Happy Holidays to you all!
A Fashion Film for: DOLCE & GABBANA
Executive Production Company: Happy Finish | happyfinish.com
Produced & Directed by: Happycentro
Project Management: Andrea Grandotto & Federico Padovani
Art Director: Federico Galvani
Dop: Federico Padovani
Lead Animator: Nicola Smanio
Editing, Compositing & Color Grading: Nicholas Bertini & Federico Galvani
3D Artist: Alessio Danubio
Costume Design: Dolce&Gabbana
Puppet Making: Nicola Smanio & Federico Padovani
Puppet Hand Painting: Erica Zipoli
Props Design: Federico Galvani, Federico Padovani, Andrea Alice Bronzetti
Set Design: The Magic One Piet Paeshuyse
Set Design Assistant: Leonardo Milazzo
Chief Lighting Technician: Nicolò Pozzerle
Electrician Squad: Luca Facci, Fabio Scappini & Pretty Face Giacomo Venturi
CNC: The Luthier Antonio dell’Otto + Ideoplast
Lasercut: Roclam
3D Print: Federico Padovani | Leonardo Milazzo | Fablab Verona
Woodworking: Thanks to IBarredamenti
The Making Of: Directed & Edited by Federico Padovani
Still Life Photography Art Direction: Happy Finish – Nicola Barresi
Photo Shooting: Happy Finish + Digital Touch
Photo Editing: Digital Touch
Film Soundtrack: La Notte è Piccola (1965) Lyrics by Franco Castellano & Giuseppe Moccia | Music by Bruno Canfora | Performed by Alice & Ellen Kessler
Sound Design: TVCulture
Making Of Soundtrack: Play Play Play by Shtriker Big Band
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