Cocktails served in pineapples; a pink neon skyline; shirts with the top button undone and being able to use the word ‘downtown’. This is not your usual week. This is The Gate Films in Miami with BoohooMAN, as it happened.
In the world of fast fashion, BoohooMAN is right up there pulling on the heartstrings of the nation’s youth. The ever-changing designs, the Love Island collabs, the colour palette picked straight from the south coast. When they approached us back in mid-January for a project based in Miami (yes plz), there was really only one answer we could give.
Could we organise a shoot in Miami’s palm-tree-lined glamour, taking 5 male influencers on every 20-something’s dream vacation and getting all the content to prove it? Our influencer manager Megan led the way to Terminal 1 along with our director Olivier Richomme, and we accepted the challenge. The models on board to facilitate the fun were: Elijah and Isaac Bell, Max Hamilton, Ry Riches and Remi Otun.
Having been briefed beforehand by BoohooMAN HQ, our task was to document the 5-day trip to Florida’s south coast, ensuring that the final aesthetic was instantly attributable to Miami. The content will launch BoohooMAN’s ‘Spring Break’ collections - not quite the Harmony Korine type of Spring Break, but still adopting that iconic, sun-kissed, YOLO nonchalance of the 90s-born.
Footage was shot at a dreamy 50fps and our hand-picked spots would lend themselves to the summer of a lifetime (except in March). We location scouted to match the BoohooMAN outfits, and created a schedule where Mexican lunches, water parks and a private yacht tour were key parts of the experience. In order to make the content work, our subjects had to be fully immersed.
BoohooMAN wanted to incorporate a live social campaign, which involved daily ‘Swipe Ups’, realtime Stories content and in-feed posts displaying the products. In our world where tight schedules and precision are paramount, this was unlike anything we’d ever shot before. Our self-shooting director Olivier was responsible for all video and stills footage, including an actual film camera for the nostalgia in all of us. The influencers had to create their own reality, and we had to make sure we captured every second.
They dined at Pink Taco on Ocean Drive Pink and went al fresco at STK South Beach; tasted Cuban cuisine at Larios and danced at Wynwood’s El Patio. From the Drunken Dragon to a secret speakeasy, from Schnelby’s winery to alligator spotting in the Everglades. Miami, you were totally lit.
Our clients were over the moon with what we captured. We ended up with a 60 second hero film and several daily Insta recaps, plus 40 professionally retouched photos - all executed in-house,
