The Fourth Edition of our Commercial Production Course Delivers Outstanding Results Across Three Distinctive Projects
For the fourth consecutive year, I’ve had the privilege of teaching Videomaking to the Class of 2025 at HFARM College. As in previous years, students were challenged to create professional-level commercials from the ground up, working from products I presented and brief guidelines provided for each. This year, the class was divided into three groups, each delivering remarkable results that showcase their creativity and technical skills.
Fashion Meets Cinema: ARRI 35 Base Edition Campaign
The first product featured was the new ARRI ALEXA 35 Base Edition, generously provided by ARRI as the course sponsor. The Base Edition represents a more accessible entry point into ARRI’s professional ecosystem, offering the same exceptional hardware and image quality as their flagship camera, but with a streamlined feature set that makes it more affordable. This camera maintains ARRI’s renowned color science, dynamic range, and build quality that have made it the industry standard for high-end productions, while opening doors for a broader range of filmmakers and production types.
The student team conceived a brilliant concept: showcasing the evolution of filmmaking through the unconventional lens of fashion photography and videography. Their central message was that ARRI’s legendary quality is now within reach for less structured, more expressive productions, moving beyond traditional narrative cinema into realms like fashion, music videos, and experimental content. The result is a stunning, stylish, and creative approach that diverges from the typical technical commercials aimed at Directors of Photography and seasoned professionals, instead speaking to a new generation of visual storytellers.
A Coming-of-Age Love Story: 24Bottles Campaign
The second product was 24Bottles, the iconic aluminum water bottle that has become ubiquitous in everyday life. This team crafted a charming narrative set within a college environment, recreating the nostalgic feeling of a coming-of-age romance. Drawing inspiration from Licorice Pizza aesthetics and Wes Anderson’s distinctive visual language, they created a commercial that feels both contemporary and timelessly cinematic.
The production took full advantage of the ARRI ALEXA Mini LF’s Open Gate feature, which captures a wider image sensor area and allows for a more square framing style reminiscent of classic cinema formats. This technical choice enhanced the vintage, artistic feel of the piece. Beyond the carefully crafted look, the project also required special visual effects work to seamlessly change the color of the bottle throughout the narrative, adding another layer of technical complexity to the students’ achievement.
Smart Home Comedy: Philips LED Lamp Campaign
The third team received a Philips smart LED lamp capable of being programmed to emit various colors and brightness levels. Their mission was to highlight the potential and versatility of this new generation of connected home appliances. The result is a comedic short film perfectly tailored to resonate with a college-age audience, using humor to demonstrate the product’s capabilities.
To achieve the desired visual effects, the team was equipped with a professional kit of Astera LED lightbulbs. These industry-standard programmable lights allowed them to recreate and amplify the effects of the Philips bulb with greater precision and professional-level control, ensuring the commercial’s lighting looked polished and intentional throughout.
Collaborative Excellence
As with every year, the CROMO team played an essential role in helping students achieve these impressive results—particularly noteworthy given that these are student-produced projects. The course was primarily led by Edoardo Vojvoda, with Riccardo Vojvoda teaching the audio and sound design sections and providing supervision for the final sound mix and design. Additionally, screenwriter Alexander M. Edwards delivered a masterclass on storytelling fundamentals and worked closely with each group to refine and shape their creative concepts.
This class is always both challenging and deeply rewarding. I’m immensely proud of what these students accomplished and how they approached this complex, intensive four-week program with dedication and creativity. I’m already looking forward to seeing what next year’s productions will bring!
