Our first of numerous projects for Honda, we were initially approached by the PR department who were after an exciting series of photoreal presspack images of the new Jazz – months before the car was going to be available.
With the aim to produce six location shots and six studio shots ahead of the Jazz launch in Frankfurt, we set about this full production project by preparing and tidying the car CAD data to a very high image-ready spec and developing the car shaders and paints. We were delighted to be able to commission renowned German photographer Karsten Ahlers, with whom we’d worked on a previous shoot for Alfa Romeo, to shoot High-Dynamic Range (HDR) captures of locations we’d sourced in Amsterdam.
They wanted the Jazz to appeal to a younger audience from the very first glance – so the intention was very much to show the Jazz in a series of modern, eye-catching, younger settings as part of Honda’s overall brand repositioning as a younger, cooler car manufacturer. The images also needed to evoke the same audience reaction across different media: online, offline and at the launch itself.
We were consciously working to elicit an uplifting, light-hearted reaction from the target audience – but to do so calmly and maturely, avoiding brashness. We set out to achieve this using interesting layers of light – placing the Jazz alongside windows and reflections and shooting particularly special times of the evening. We also wanted a modern colour palette of complimentary woods and other tactile textures in earthy greys, browns and terracottas against which to set the vibrant blue of the hero Jazz. We found the perfect, aspirational urban settings around Amsterdam Marina and Karsten captured the beautiful photography for us to blend with the CGI back at the studio. The finishing touch was a Saddington Baynes blend of retouching and colour grading to bring to life a series of light, colourful, crisp and emotive images.
