Hasta La Motion!

Leica is running “Free Yourself from Colors” (Liberte-se das cores), an advertising campaign promoting the LeicaM-Monochrom (Typ 246), a digital camera that only takes black & white photos. The Leica Free Yourself from Colors film and three radio spots, aired in Brazil, France and Germany, exalt the monochrome universe, proposing that consumers break free from colors to eternalize any scene with poetry. “Nothing is more colorful than black and white. Blood red. Green grass. Blue water. In the colored world there is no space for dreams, or reverie. The colors order. The eyes obey. A serious and predictable cell with silver guards. Imagination’s death row. The black and white world is anarchistic. In it, norms exist only for those who decide to invent them. Black becomes orange, maroon, and purple. White turns yellow or lilac. Black and white is all the colors. Whichever inspiration decides. In the prison of colors, black and white is the sunbath. LeicaM-Monochrom. Free yourself from colors.”

Mateus de Paula Santos and Fábio Acorsi, from Lobo, are responsible for scene direction of the black & white animation, which makes several graphic comparisons with the photography universe. Copies in the B&W, Future, and Colorful ads aired last year now have their own voice through the interpretation of Toby Ricketts, and production by Satellite Audio.

According to the directors: “The unique nature of Leica Monochrom made us delve into the universe of photography as a whole. Not only technically, translating the analogical and digital processes of photography, but also conceptually, given the brand’s relevance for the success of languages such as photojournalism. This approach led to the selection of basic geometric shapes, such as the circle (reticule) and the square (pixel), as the matrices of the graphic interpretations of each paragraph of the film’s copy.”

In the first part of the film, which discusses the formal rigidity of Colors, minimalistic animations were created digitally, on the computer, and in the second part, the anarchistic liberation enabled by Black & White, the animations were made using analog methods such as projection and stop-motion, photographed and shot using M-Monochrom itself and thus providing real textures to the images.

Leica Free Yourself from Colors Credits

The Leica Free Yourself from Colours campaign was developed at F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Sao Paulo, by executive creative director Fabio Fernandes, creative directors Pedro Prado and Rodrigo Castellari, account managers Saulo Sanchez and Gabriela Marques, media team Maurício Almeida and Edison Tamashiro, senior producer Fernanda Sousa, account planner Rafael Paes, agency producer Victor Alloza, and Elucieli Nascimento, working with Leica Gallery São Paulo manager Luiz Marinho.

Filming was shot by directors Mateus de Paula Santos and Fábio Acorsi via Lobo, with designers/animators Bruno Ferrari, Fabiano Broki, Fábio Acorsi and Felipe Frazão, art director Fabiano Broki, photographer Andreia de Marchi, executive producers Alberto Lopes and Sérgio Salles, account manager Márcia Guimarães.

Sound was produced at Satelite Audio with account team Fernanda Costa and Tatiane Dias Ferreira. Voiceover is by Toby Ricketts (English) and Gabriel Spinosa (Portuguese).