Microfilms are now all the rage for luxury brands

Dream team Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey and Martin Scorsese were gearing up for a blockbuster – but not quite the kind you had in mind. In fact, the Hollywood heavyweights united for a three-minute video, packed with witty conversations and flirty glances, for Dolce & Gabbana’s latest fragrance campaign.

Shot in artistic black-and-white, the short video follows the couple who, after years of separation, share a car ride in New York’s cool West Village. Until the closing credits start rolling, you could hardly have guessed what the commercial is trying to sell.

The term “microfilm” was coined to describe such short videos.

Luxury brands from fashion to watches and jewellery have been jumping on the bandwagon. The hype has also contributed to the evolution of microfilms.

Luxury brands have splurged on promotional microfilms with whopping budgets. Chanel has cast Brad Pitt, Keira Knightley and Anna Mouglalis, while brands including Salvatore Ferragamo, Cartier and Prada have collaborated with top filmmakers, such as Luca Guadagnino and Roman Polanski of The Pianist fame.

With these all-star cast and crew on board, microfilms are moving away from the clichéd slowpaced, montage shots of products or stick-thin models showcasing them.

Commercial microfilms are set to adopt humaninterest themes and intriguing plots. Fashion and film have intertwined to a state that has exceeded the anticipations of many.

“At first, it was like propelling a very embryonic movement forward. But what I could never have anticipated was how quickly the cross-over between fashion and film would evolve from wild experimentation into something so sophisticated and mature,” says Diane Pernet, who picked up the trend in early 2006 and founded A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF), which is dedicated to promoting fashion films.

The organisation’s latest film festival showcased a programme, which included contributors such as Manish Arora, Tilda Swinton and Hussein Chalayan, at the prestigious Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

As seen in ASVOFF’s programme, different genres are being tapped by brands to expand the microfilm trend – think romantic comedy, espionage thriller, documentary, animation and more.