John Frieda

John Frieda partnered with UNIT9 Director Anrick Bregman to create a compelling and beautiful ad for John Frieda’s renowned Frizz Ease hair product.

In order to figure out the look and feel of the ad, Anrick created several moodboards. He was inspired by the texture of hair and its similarity, on a microscopic level, to wood. He was excited by the idea of a black-and-white shoot, with the lighting drawing focus to the hair.

The film was shot on a Phantom camera. With up to 1000 frames per second it creates fantastic slow motion movement, perfect to show off how beautiful hair can be.

Anrick, working with Director of Photography Carl Burke, tried to capture a sense of timelessness in the lighting. The model was brightly lit from above, as well as the front and back. Two separate passes with only the backlighting turned on created a sense of silhouette, with the model’s hair outlined in brilliant contrast to the gradient backdrop.

John Frieda’s stylist, Kerry Warn, is a legend in his own right. He has created looks for hundreds of magazine covers, he has also worked with high-profile celebrities such as Sophia Loren, Kate Moss and Clint Eastwood. He has also worked on several films, including The Great Gatsby and Eyes Wide Shut.

During the shoot, Kerry’s approach to the hair was all about enhancing what was already there and filling out our model’s natural beauty. He used about three times the amount of hair extensions, in addition to her natural hair, creating shiny, voluminous and smooth locks that played in the wind.

Visuals of the model were intercut with imagery related to the passing of time to create a sense of urgency and finish the ad with a powerful rush to mark “the end of frizz.”

The ad also featured a 3D sequence by We Are Formation. The CGI visuals showed hair in microscopic form and fit in nicely with the rest of the video as well as Anrick’s preliminary moodboard.

The ad’s audio track was composed by Adrian Meehan. He started by building a simple click track using the sound of fingers snapping. With the help of some nice ReVerbed extra layers of ambient music and percussion elements and sound effects, he built up a powerful and fun piece of music.

To have a look at the set and see how we shot the John Frieda anti-frizz ad, click here.