Catwalk Fashion Video

with streetwear fashion label Christian Kye

We love shooting fashion video and photography, but the reality for us is that it doesn’t come up as often as our food and beauty shoots. So they tend to get extra attention when they do!

Amie from streetwear fashion label Christian Kye contacted me directly regarding the capture of a fashion video including a virtual catwalk, to be filmed across two cameras around the streets in central London. The only snag is that we had a really short lead time, which was going to provide a good test of our ability to turn things around quickly without sacrificing quality.

The clock was ticking, so we whizzed around to plan and source everything we needed for this fashion video shoot – from the personnel to the equipment – and we had a wonderful location provided to us in the shape of an indoor antique store. This was crucial to the look and feel of the production.

Making the location right for filming this fashion video was the next challenge. Being an antique store, there were loads of glass, mirrors, super heavy wardrobes and mannequins so a lot had to be juggled around before we could start rehearsals. Thankfully we had a good team on hand to help at the store, and as we got the cameras and lights fully setup ready to shoot, the team created a floorplan for the models to walk through.

Thankfully the house lighting was surprisingly soft and consistent, so we adjusted our cameras to match the white balance of the environment and supplemented it with one of our lights, the Aputure 300D Mark II. This was attached to a reflector dish and bounced off the ceiling into the catwalk path. This ensured the models were well lit enough as they walked through the venue. This is one instance the venue helped us greatly, as with the tight turnaround for their fashion video project, we couldn’t create a dedicated lighting rig as we otherwise may have done.

We used two cameras for the catwalk itself, both were setup on tripods for stability and frame consistency. The wide camera just had to be static as we planned to crop and add movements later in post, but the main cam had to constantly move throughout the catwalk to ensure models of all heights were captured properly in the finished fashion video. For the more stylised scenes, we used a gimbal to get smooth walking shots of the models.

We shot using the Canon C300 Mark II with a Canon 24-70 F2.8 for the main cam and the Blackmagic Pocket 6K camera with a Canon 16-35 F2.8 for the second cam. Both shot at 4K resolution so that we had plenty of flexibility when it came to cropping in post to add additional movements. I chose to use the Canon C300 mainly for its autofocus capabilities, as it ensured the models stayed in focus throughout their walk towards the camera, which is normally very difficult to do manually.

The models were great, and we provided guidance on set to make everything better visually for the cameras. The hardest work during this fashion video project was in the pre-production, and that planning paid off as the project went smoothly, and enjoyably – it’s also important that clients enjoy working with us.

christian kye fashion catwalk video production

We delivered the finished fashion video within 5 days of filming – with only a small number of actual edit days required, and the outcome was fantastic, belying the short production period.

The biggest challenge in post with this particular fashion video project was matching the two cameras used. Since some of the clothing had such stark colours, any discrepancy between the two would be quite noticeable without a consistent matching grade. This meant that our workflow was a little different with a focus on the colour from the start. Since the location used for the fashion video was really unique and had a real antique feel, with its wooden earthy tones, we were able to make the colourful clothes really pop.

A very satisfying end to a whirlwind project, and hopefully more to come!

Haider Romero-Perz, Technical Director

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