A.R.C’s D I • A L Talk Sports, Sci-Fi, and Spectacular Scenes

What do you get when you mix renowned commercial, series and feature DOP, Diego Indraccolo, and the post-minded Alice Gatti? The answer is experimental director duo, D I • A L.

Colliding skill sets give D I • A L a unique edge, crafting atmospheric, otherworldly aesthetics in agile, logistically smart ways. Their uniquely cinematic films span automotive, sports, and fashion, honing in on the prowess of the human body for Renault, capturing the determination of Team GB for adidas, and imagining a futuristic farm of robot sheep for Prada’s ‘Nylon Sheep’ – a short which won Best Fashion Film at Milan Fashion Film festival and Best Art Direction at Berlin Commercial.

Individually, Diego also regularly oversees high end commercials for the likes of Lamborghini, Yamaha, Stone Island and more – not to mention recently being a DOP on the latest series of ‘The Gentleman’.

The duo is repped by production company, A Running Commentary (A.R.C), alongside whom they’re currently developing and producing a Olympic-themed documentary feature, charting the physical, emotional and psychological challenges faced by elite athletes.

In this interview, we discuss D I • A L’s experiences shooting a “cyberpunk ritual”, a flock of flamingos, and their upcoming short, ‘Florescence’.

Above: adidas 'You Got This' starring Team GB

LBB> Hello, Diego and Alice! Tell us  a bit about your origin story. How did you first meet, and how did that blossom into the directing duo known as D I • A L? 

D I • A L> It’s actually quite a long story, but in a nutshell, we met while working on commercial sets – Diego as a cinematographer and Alice as a director’s assistant. After finding great chemistry both on and off set, we decided to collaborate on a short film, simply as a way to take a break from the commercial space and flex our creative muscles. It turned out quite well, and shortly after, we were being called for smaller commercial projects as a duo. That’s when we decided to come up with a name, as we wanted to avoid using our surnames — especially since Diego’s surname is longer than this paragraph. 

LBB> What would you cite as your key inspirations and influences? 

D I • A L> We both really love cinema, art, ’90s music videos, Chris Cunningham, and Spike Jonze. We're also big fans of comic books and anime. Diego is more into ‘Akira’, while Alice prefers ‘Ghost in the Shell’. We're not sure if this counts as an inspiration, but we both share a passion for ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.

Above: Still from Sohonet 'We Connect Storytellers'

LBB> It’s rather unusual for a directing duo to be formed of a DOP and someone post-minded. What does that combination bring to the table and how does that breadth of perspective influence your work?

D I • A L> Every director’s path is different. We know working directors who come from backgrounds in writing, acting, motorcycling, stunt work, teaching, painting, and even the circus (no joke)! 

While your background naturally brings certain skills and know-how to the table, directing is its own unique journey. Over the years we've spent directing together, we’ve learned so much that our previous experiences feel like just the beginning. In fact, while it’s easy to assume that Diego focuses on photography and Alice on post-production, we actually share the entire process from start to finish. Diego has just as much input in VFX as Alice does in cinematography. Beyond that, we oversee a wide range of aspects, from music to editing, styling to colour grading, makeup to acting, set design to storytelling. Our creative discussions are so extensive that it’s hard to draw a line between where Diego’s input ends and Alice’s begins, and vice versa. We are truly a duo, and our films would look and feel completely different without each other’s influence. 

LBB> What’s your favourite type of project to work on and why? 

D I • A L> While we definitely have a penchant for the fantastical and sci-fi, we also enjoy a wide range of genres. Recently, we've done a lot of work in the sports and documentary space, and we loved it. The best projects for us are those where we have the freedom to interpret the brief, where we're involved early on and can help shape the narrative. 

An extreme example of this can be seen in some low-budget music videos, where we’re given complete creative freedom by the artist. That’s how, in 'Tandoori Boutique' by Artizhan, we ended up with a contemporary dancer performing a cyberpunk ritual, alongside a classical male ballet dancer and a majestic rooster.

Above: Artizhan 'Tandoori Bootique'

LBB> What’s the most challenging shot you’ve managed to achieve? 

D I • A L> There are shots that can be quite difficult to achieve for a variety of reasons, and sometimes they’re not even the most spectacular and breathtaking ones. Other times, with little effort, things magically come together to create some really spectacular images, yet so many variables had to coincide that they would be impossible to plan or even recreate identically. This naturally happens more often on action heavy projects, like sport or automotive commercials, but sometimes it can be as simple as the right weather condition at blue hour and a flock of flamingos simultaneously taking off right when we’re filming. There’s just no planning stuff like that! 

LBB> You recently directed adidas’ Team GB Olympics campaign – what were the Olympians like to work with, and what was the key to capturing their energy and determined mentality on the screen? 

D I • A L> That was a great project to be involved with. Despite the project being part of a global campaign with an established narrative we actually had to interview the athletes and tailor the 15” script around them. This resulted in subtle narrative variations between the different athletes, but also made the athletes feel part of the process, resulting in more passionate and enthusiastic contributions. Being involved in the early stages, as we mentioned earlier, allows for a completely different perspective on the project. It gave us the opportunity to shape the narrative from the ground up, and for that, we're grateful to adidas UK. It was such a privilege to have these world class athletes give you so much of their abilities just for a cool shot. This is really not a given, especially just before the Olympics. 

Above: Still from adidas 'You Got This'

LBB> What does the immediate and distant future hold for D I • A L? 

D I • A L> We have an upcoming short film titled ‘Florescence: A Visual Essay and Contemporary Exploration of the Iconography and Symbolism of Plants’ Reproductive Systems’. 

Blending elements of fashion film and documentary, it explores themes of beauty and gender stereotypes. Alongside still-life compositions of flowers and metaphorical, stylised vignettes, the film features interviews with a diverse and eclectic cast, who generously contributed not only their performances but also their insights and perspectives, capturing the zeitgeist of the current gender discourse. 

We're excited about its imminent release, but for now, we’re keeping the details under wraps. It’s one of those projects that really needs to be experienced firsthand, as words alone don’t do it justice.