Gone are those days, when the loud commercials that were created for the mass appeal and approach would serve the purpose. It is the era, where a significant amount of audience prefers to think deep. Hence, the business houses are now targeting this niche audience and coming out of their box of mass commercials. Stylized, moody and sometimes experimental – these are in short, a dream of the cinematographer that is projected and portrayed on the silver screen.

Known as a fashion film, it is a genre that is unlike any of its predecessor. These films exhibit the portrayal of a product, but in a very subtle way. The product stays in the undertone and what pronounces is the theme of a personal profile, a documentary style narrative. The appearance is a simple video look-book. When shooting films under this genre, music, talent and gear play a very significant role in consideration. Here are some of the most significant fashion films that have created a landmark in this genre.

Different types of fashion films:

Depending on the product that you want to project, the target or niche audience as well as the client and what he/she is looking for, the approach and story line would differ. However, the goal would be universal – encouraging people to purchase. But, one factor that would be common in all types of fashion films is that there would be no mention of the products directly, but a subtle presence.

Whereas the traditional commercials push their products and make it the focus of their commercials, the fashion films do not push the selling of a product. A very inspiring film from this genre is Vanina fashion film that is created by Jessy Moussallem. A perfect amalgamation of choreography and music video and the incredible cinematography make this an amazing fashion film.

Along with this, the New Balance skateboarding video, where the commercials and beautiful cinematography meet together, is a wonderful example of a fashion film. In this initiative, the stylizing, addition of visual effects, use of a black and white colour grade as well as an edgy, futuristic and dystopian approach of the Octagon video must also be mentioned.

In the drive of short fashion films, the documentary style or A-Day-in-the-Life style is the most popular one. It helps the maker to connect with the audience. These types of films have a focus on the mundane, rather than on the extra-ordinary. The subject is an ordinary, day-to-day person, a girl or boy from the neighborhood, wearing significant clothes that the audience can relate to and not dressed like celebrities in daily life. It becomes easy to relate to them and audience would want to do the things that he or she might be doing.

The film by Free People and even the Viva Vena short fashion film need significant mention. Although both these are a particular type of documentary, they are absolutely different from each other. Whereas the Free People film focuses on the characteristics of this genre and is a serious approach to this type of films, the award winning Viva Vena fashion film from the Fashion Film Festival, flips the concept and script and is fun to watch.

In this style, the film maker tries to combine different themes and styles and tries to make them complement each other. It is through this theme that the film maker will try to relate to the product. Incorporating class as well as fun together in one narrative, the film created for Bibi Lou highlights location, cinematography and certainly high class nature of clothing, which is the product in focus for this film. The film for Ted Baker, on the other hand, is more serious in tone. Since the product in focus is the clothing, there is more enthusiasm in making the clothing look good. Therefore, the colour theme and the set location also have been chosen carefully in this film.

This type of fashion film focuses more on the right soundtrack being played at the background. The right music for the right type of clothing will evoke and even better and more intense focus on the clothes. But for that, it is crucial that the perfect music or soundtrack has been chosen. The music libraries such as Premium Beat are good options.

In this genre, the experimental music driven film by Jessica Trosman is a great example. The music beautifully complements the artistic clothing and its nature. Another non-traditional fashion film in this genre is the Snooze music videos by Forty Five Ten.

These types of short fashion films ensure that your audience is engaged to the film and not isolated. The fashion film that is created for Upton belts is a great example of experimental fashion film. It is not too weird that the story line cannot be understood by the audience, but bold enough to offer something extraordinary and the boldness of the belts. The Ioana Ciolacu fashion film is an award winning fashion film from the Fashion Film Festival that tells the story line of their collection, if you investigate closely.

Interviews, b-roll footage, the creation process of the product, all these are incorporated in the fashion documentary. Although it sounds easy to create these documentaries, but upon close analysis, you will find that the subject matter of this documentary is very detailed. The fashion films for Naked and Famous Denim as well as the film created for Helen Rödel are perfect example of this genre, offering close, raw and intimate shots.

A look-book is a term that is exclusively associated with fashion industry. It showcases the products or clothing that is going to be released in a particular season. These types of short fashion films show the products that are going to be released, in a subtle way. The Urban Outfitters look-book film showcases a series of models wearing the clothes in a cool, entertaining video in a white backdrop.