McCann’s Beautiful Horror with New D800
In order to reach a small, influential audience with a professional focus and passion for visual footage, Nikon and McCann decided to eschew the traditional ad campaign. Instead, with the help of Independent Media, they created a short film shot entirely on Nikon’s new D800.
To prove the D800 can make anything beautiful, award-winning writer, Guillermo Arriaga (Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros) and two-time Academy award-winning cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, were asked to make a ‘beautiful horror movie’. The film combines the darkness and suspense of a thoughtful horror film with the elegance and beauty of high-calibre cinematography. Horror would prove the perfect genre to test the camera’s low-light capabilities and its capacity to shoot in tight quarters while also showcasing its performance under extreme weather conditions. The result was ‘Broken Night’, a film as frightening as it is drop dead gorgeous.
A Tumblr blog was created to document the entire filmmaking process. Viewers were invited to peek behind the production curtain and discover how the D800 was pushed to its limits. Multiple cameras were used to capture each scene (providing angles rarely seen in films shot with conventional movie cameras) and complex stunt scenes were shot at high altitude. Banners, PR and word-of-mouth helped direct people to the Broken Night blog while raising Nikon’s profile (and its movie-ready HRSLR) among the filmmaking community. Cinematographers started paying attention to D800, and Broken Night became an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2013.
Credits
AGENCY: McCann New York
Co Chief Creative Officers: Sean Bryan, Thomas Murphy
SVP Group Creative Directors: Tom Sullivan, Larry Platt
SVP Creative Directors: Dov Zmood, Kathy Grover
Chief Production Officer: Brian DiLorenzo
EVP, Director of Broadcast Operations: Danielle Korn
Executive Producers: Kathy Love, Greg Lotus
Senior Integrated Producer: Jill Ann Toloza
Integrated Producer: Lauren Bauder
Business Manager: Debbie Gleason
EVP Group Managing Director: Kevin Scher
Management Representative: Dana McCullough
Account Supervisor: Daniella Rey
PRODUCTION: Independent Media
Director: Guillermo Arriaga
Producer: Susan Preissler
Director of Photography: Janusz Kaminski
Editor: Paul Martinez
Editorial Co: Arcade Edit
Music: Philip Glass
Casting: David Rubin
Production Designer: Mark Ricker
Costume Designer: Yoona Kwak
Cast: Dominique McElligotty, Alexis Durabrow, Trenton Kaiser, Robert Homyak
