Three perspectives, one destination. That’s the premise of iPlanet’s new campaign, which follows a businessman, a woman and a family on the road. Upon arriving at an iPlanet station, they find themselves in front of a true multifunctional hub: ultrafast EV charging, traditional refueling, rest and relaxation areas, and dining spaces for every need.
At the helm of the campaign was Mirror, an Italian agency whose work blends cultural nuance with a bold, pared back aesthetic. The advertising studio realized the four spot campaign with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K digital film cameras supplied by Adcom.
“The concept stems from the desire to represent travel not as simple movement but as an experience of discovery,” said Director Polina Luchich. “At the same time, we wanted a cinematic texture that conveyed the sense of travel without feeling artificial or contrived.”
The campaign aimed for a warm, authentic look with a soft, natural color palette. To support that style, the team shot in 6K open gate (3:2) Blackmagic RAW at 25fps. “The 3:2 format is perfect for close ups and creating a sense of intimacy. To me, it is the ideal midpoint between the cinematic breadth of 16:9 and the balanced frame of 4:3. It’s the PYXIS’ native format, and it felt natural to use it throughout the production,” said Director of Photography Niccolò Francolini.
The production employed a set of TRIBE7 BLACKWING7 T tuned full frame lenses rated at T1.9 PL, covering 27 77mm focal lengths, chosen for their recognizable vintage character and organic rendering, according to Francolini. “We didn’t want an image that felt overly digital,” he noted. “The TRIBE7 lenses have an elegant cinematic texture, with smooth roll off and the soft flares we were looking for. Pairing them with the PYXIS felt natural.”
Most of the production was shot outdoors, making extensive use of natural light, while the interior station scenes were lit with Aputure LS 1200d Pro LED and ARRI HMI PAR 4kW lights to achieve more precise control of the mood. Francolini said this mix of environments demanded a camera that could handle wide contrasts.
“The camera’s dynamic range let us to hold detail in both highlights and shadows, from the reflection of lake water to the green of the mountain forests and the orange glow of the setting sun,” he explained. “We were often chasing light, so flexibility was key. The dual native ISO made that possible, giving us clean, noise free images even as conditions changed.”
CUSTOMIZED RIGS IN REAL LOCATIONS
Filmed between the Tuscan coast and the Piedmont Alps, the campaign comprised four 30 second spots that demanded flexibility. “The locations were very different: car interiors, service stations and country roads, each requiring something different in terms of rigging and setup,” said Francolini.
The production alternated between large crews and smaller, more agile units. “Sometimes we worked with 30 or 40 people, other days with just a handful,” Francolini recalled, adding, “That flexibility let us capture both the landscape and more intimate moments. With a smaller unit, we could be nimbler, for example, filming a family walking toward the station with a handheld gimbal at low height to reflect the children’s point of view.”
For vehicle interiors, the PYXIS 6K was secured with triple suction mounts to the windows or mounted on customized supports between the front seats and the dashboard, to capture close up shots of faces and gestures while driving.
“The most spectacular shots required custom rigging, with suction mounts, magic arms and steel rods fixed directly to the car body for interiors and driving scenes,” said Francolini. “It’s a light camera, but not fragile. That sturdiness allowed us to offset it without risk, even when extended horizontally.”
For tracking sequences, the crew utilized a camera car with a DJI Ronin 2 on a Black Arm fixed to the roof of a support vehicle, providing stability even on unpaved country roads. Wider establishing shots were captured with a nine meter crane and remote head, using overhead moves to situate the characters within the landscape.
On set field monitoring combined the camera’s own onboard display with external 7” field monitors. Focus pulling was handled by the 1st AC, with a second and, in more complex configurations, a third assistant ensuring continuity across the various sequences and setups.
FROM SET TO CLOUD
On set, the PYXIS 6K cameras generated 1080p H.264 proxies alongside the Blackmagic RAW originals. Through a 10 GbE connection, the proxies uploaded directly to a DaVinci Resolve project hosted on Blackmagic Cloud.
“The editor was in Belgium and the colorist in Italy, and they could work off the same timelines as soon as new material arrived,” said Alessio Musi, post production supervisor. “Bin and timeline locking let them work in parallel, sharing creative decisions in real time. It felt as if we were in the same studio, despite the distance.”
By the time the project reached mastering, DaVinci Resolve Studio automatically relinked the timelines from the proxies to the camera original Blackmagic RAW media. “What really made the difference was working end to end inside Resolve,” said Musi. “It allowed us to keep the process fluid and collaborative, making adjustments on the fly while reducing technical friction.”
Looking back, the director said the production’s reliance on real locations reflected the authenticity the brand wanted to convey. “Everything was filmed in real locations, without green screen or CGI,” concluded Luchich. “My hope is that this authenticity reaches viewers and, in some way, supports a shift in how we think about travel and mobility.”
