Rossetto Supermarket Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 6K

Rossetto Supermarket Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 6K

Brie Clayton February 20, 2025

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Campaign brings dreamlike visuals to life through a blend of live action and CGI.

In a bustling supermarket, customers push carts between aisles filled with colorful products and tempting offers. Amid this everyday scene, something extraordinary unfolds: a man hovers in midair, his cart floating beside him. This surreal moment is at the heart of a new campaign for Rossetto Supermarkets.

We spoke with Director of Photography (DP) Alessandro Zonin (AIC,IMAGO) about the challenges and creative choices that shaped the television commercial, shot using the Blackmagic PYXIS 6K digital film camera.

I have been using Blackmagic cameras for years, but as soon as I heard about the launch of the PYXIS 6K, I went to Adcom in Bologna to test it. I was immediately impressed by its powerful and innovative features, noted Zonin.

The campaign's concept, La Spesa dei Sogni (Dream Shopping), was inspired by Rossetto's unique approach of maintaining low prices year round rather than focusing on loyalty cards and promotions. The idea, developed by advertising agency Coo'ee Italia and led by Mauro Miglioranzi with the creative direction of Alessandro Tosatto, was entrusted to the direction of Paolo Doppieri.

Concept becomes reality

One major challenge was integrating a digital clone of the main character into a real world environment. We created a full CGI avatar based on detailed scans and high resolution photographs of Matteo Montaperto, our lead actor, Zonin explained. The scenes were shot without the avatar present, relying on precise lighting and composition references for later CGI integration.

VFX artist Tommaso Malaisi created the digital clone, replicating every detail. The goal was to ensure that the avatar interacted naturally with the environment and the real character, revealed Zonin. It required obsessive attention to detail, on par with big feature film productions.

The production blended live action and CGI footage to create a narrative that balanced the fantastic with realism, and therefore required meticulous planning, starting with detailed site surveys to refine the storyboard and ending with technical tests using exposure meters and thermal colorimeters to identify and resolve any lighting issues in advance.

Shooting in a working supermarket was challenging but essential for authenticity and visual familiarity, Zonin explained. The crew carefully coordinated filming to minimize disruption to store operations while ensuring that actors and extras could move freely, even with customers present.

The store's LED lighting also posed additional challenges. According to Zonin, While these lights are great for a retail environment, their subtle hue variations, imperceptible to the human eye, had to be factored in when lighting the space.

To address this, the team supplemented existing lights with variable temperature LEDs, creating harmonious, cinematic lighting. We also used the camera's dual native ISO, which allowed us to switch between 400 and 1250 without sacrificing image quality, explained Zonin.

For the campaign, Zonin coupled the PYXIS 6K with Xeen Meister cine prime lenses. They are ultra bright, with clarity and neutral color rendition that provided a perfect base to work magnificently with and complemented the sensor, he noted.

A shallower depth of field was achieved by stopping down the lenses to T1.8, helping to focus attention on the protagonist while softening less relevant background elements. To help with that, Zonin used an L to PL Mofage Poco adapter, with an integrated variable ND filter to help control the light.

This allowed us to control exposure without compromising the image's softness and depth, even though the lighting levels of the environment changed, Zonin said.

Paolo [Doppieri] wanted to shoot at 36 frames per second in open gate to gently soften movements, giving the film an ethereal quality without pushing into excessive slow motion.

The camera was rigged using an XLCS Design cage, which provided attachment points for accessories, including a wireless transmitter for focus pulling and the Blackmagic URSA Cine EVF, and relied on a VLock battery solution to power the rig.

One common thread

Captured in 6K open gate, the final delivery for both broadcast and social media was 4K. The choice of Blackmagic RAW as the acquisition format and DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software were the project's common thread according to Zonin, who highlighted the advantages of this unified pipeline. Blackmagic Cloud allowed us to host and share the project library and media, facilitating a collaboration with the editor and Diego Larosa, our colorist, remotely, he reflected.

Shooting on the PYXIS 6K also unlocked an integrated proxy workflow, with the camera recording smaller H.264 files alongside the camera original media, which according to Zonin streamlined uploads and sharing.

The proxies were uploaded directly from the camera to the cloud using a tethered 5G mobile connection and made accessible to all team members involved in the project. This approach ensured that we could quickly identify the most compelling clips and lay the groundwork for a more effective creative process, Zonin revealed.

With the offline edit well underway, work on the grade could also begin simultaneously.

Staying in DaVinci Resolve proved indispensable for managing the project's color workflow and integrating CGI with live action footage, ensuring a cohesive, cinematic look, noted Zonin. The flexibility of shooting in 6K Open Gate allowed for reframing in post while the camera's built in gyro sensor, recorded as metadata in the footage, saved sign

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