YSL — LA NUIT
The house archive is full of night. We shot the film at the hour where the city has emptied but not yet gone quiet, and let underexposure carry the mood instead of adding smoke and haze.
- Client
- Yves Saint Laurent — Paris
- Campaign
- YSL — La Nuit
- Year
- 2025
- Format
- Film 30″ · Cutdowns 15″ / 6″ · OOH motion
- STOPS UNDER
- 2
- ADDED HAZE
- 0
- CITY HOUR
- 1
- PERCENT NOISE
- 100
CAPTURING THE NIGHT
We shot the film at the exact hour where the city has emptied but not yet gone quiet. There was no artificial smoke or heavy haze added to the set.
Instead, we let the natural underexposure carry the mood, preserving the heavy shadows and the authentic grit of the nocturnal hours.
GRAIN & SHADOW
Two stops under, graded up. The noise stays in — because it is the texture of the hour.
Cleaning up the grain would have stripped away the reality of the night, turning a living, breathing nocturnal moment into a sterile digital rendering.
Two stops under, graded up. The noise stays in — it is the texture of the hour, and cleaning it would have made the film look like a rendering of night rather than night itself.
Camille Rouvier, Director
The Craft
- Creative Direction
- Embracing the deep underexposure of the nocturnal city instead of adding artificial haze.
- Film Production
- Shooting at the quiet hours of dawn to capture authentic shadows and textures.
- Art Direction
- Allowing raw stone, tunnel grit, and natural architecture to form the set.
- Colour Grading
- Grading up from deep underexposure while keeping the organic film noise intact.
- Sound Design & Score
- Crafting a low, ambient nocturnal soundscape to match the heavy shadows.
On the Bench
- ARRI Alexa Mini LF
- Cooke Anamorphic Lenses
- DaVinci Resolve Studio