High-Fashion Shoot in an Abandoned Pool Hall: Napapijri's Epic Seasonal Shoot - Produced on Giggster
For their recent 2019 commercial campaign, Napapijri, an Italian premium casual-wear brand filmed around LA including at one of Giggster's most cinematic locations The Abandoned Pool Hall and Motel in DTLA. Titled, “Future Positive,” the campaign was in collaboration with the Golab agency, Tiger House films, Zelda Zelda, and FullScream.
The Concept
The film follows a group of young men and women in different parts of Los Angeles, from locations like Venice beach to a rooftop downtown. The scenes woven together, tell a story of young people who are free to express themselves without the constrictions of societal standards.
"The psychedelic nature of the film brings the viewer into a dream world where this group of people seems to exist separately from the rest of society."
The short film was directed by Ced Stefan Pakusevskij with cinematography done by Eli Ronen Arenson. The campaign starred models Kitty Louvit, Morgan White, Kobe Donovan, and Joel Mignott. The glitched reality style campaign is unlike any other with a unique and experimental style of editing.
The film plays with colors to create stunning imagery by putting the models in one solid color to match the backdrop as well as a striking image of the model, Kobe Donovan, covered in gold paint. The scenes contain an underlying theme of liberation and youth which is displayed through them running into the ocean, piling into a convertible, and wildly dancing in a circle of people with flashing lights.
The psychedelic nature of the film brings the viewer into a dream world where this group of people seems to exist separately from the rest of society. The group in this film represents unity in its vision for innovation, sustainability, and design. The brand was able to highlight its mission of inclusivity in a new, exciting way which incorporated digital imagery, vivid colors, and a variety of contrasting settings. While we’ve all seen Los Angeles on film before, this new take on the city shed a new light on it as a place of shedding the status quo.
The Location
"The Abandoned Pool Hall in downtown LA is a decrepit open-sandbox for creatively-minded content creators. While it doesn't come cheap, for those with a budget, this is a premier location, which thanks to its size, decor and flexibility is hard to beat."
In addition to providing an incredible range of semi-finished interiors, the 1930s built pool hall, also offers an attention grabbing vista from it's large 4,500 sq ft roof. Nestled in the LA's Warehouse district, the 3 story location provides enough elevation from the city streets, while being low enough for the nearby skyscrapers to still feel huge overhead.
The Napapijri crew spent most of their time at the location on the rooftop, though they also used the space as a staging ground for nearby shoots around the LA River and on the utlra-gritty streets around Skid Row.
While it's hard to make out in the campaign launch video, there was also a fairly ambitious dance sequence filmed in the jukebox area of the old pool hall. This single interior scene provides a unique juxtaposition between retro decor pieces, and general grunge of the location (the low angles and blaring fluorescent lights evoke a dark dystopian mood).
Key Takeaways
The Abandoned Pool Hall and Motel is one of those filming locations, that you could drive by 100 times and never once image that the rental cost would start at $500 per hour. But, like many old warehouses and seemingly abandoned locations in Los Angeles, there is much more than meets the eye.
While it has never properly restored, and much of the original charm of the space has faded or been covered over in cheap paint, there remains enough original architectural and stylistic cues to make the location PROPERLY cinematic.
Napapijri, which sells expensive technical hiking apparel to trend hunting streetwear enthusiasts, is the type of brand where an extra investment in COOL can really pay-off. Renting a nearby abandoned warehouse location for a day may have cost half as much, but very few have enough character or flexibilty to properly compete with the Abandoned Pool Hall.
That said, in case you'd like to know more about warehouse rentals, here's a blog that'll explain how to rent a warehouse for a day along with the associated costs and others elements to consider.
However, if this abandoned pool hall and motel in DTLA in not your style, do peruse through our ever-expanding list of location rentals perfect for a fashion photoshoot and film.