Vol. 5

We're taking you from the golf course to the skate park in this particularly active volume of Cut Culture. Then we'll you give a peak behind the scenes of our latest shoot for Topo Chico, featuring an imbibing Bimini. And last but certainly not least, we’ll intro you to one of the very best sports photographers out there right now.

Cut Culture

Perfection to a Tee.

Golf is a sport that divides opinion. For the uninitiated, it could hardly be called a spectator sport. But those who get into it, really get into it. It’s likely single-handedly destroyed thousands of marriages. There’s no way of cheating it - and, without sounding trite, practice really does make perfect, perhaps more so than any other sport. Adidas’ latest ad, ‘Impossible is Nothing’, captures the commitment, mental fortitude and borderline psychotic dedication that is required to become an elite golfer. Directed by Jared Daperis and shot on film, the ad is a celebration of simplicity. In a world where social media and quick content dominates, everyone is often trying to make as much noise as possible, or top what has come before, based off of the fallacious belief that this is the best way to get ‘traction’. Daperis throws that out the window, opting to strip things back, demonstrating the confidence to let the video breathe and allow the viewer to feel the atmosphere. Plus, it matches the product that it’s designed to showcase. Golf isn’t the flashiest sport in the world, it’s the one you excel at when you’re willing to put in the reps, alone, day after day, night after night.

Skate Nation.

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a pattern emerging over the last few Cut Cultures. We like to showcase two utterly contrasting pieces of work, both of which are equally brilliant but in entirely divergent ways. Moving on from the tension of golf that anyone who’s held a putter can understand, this next video is bringing the energy. If Guy Ritchie was to direct a a film about Ghanaian skate culture, it would probably look a little like this. This video from Facebook, co-directed by bafic, elliottpower and justynaobasi, introduces us to Joshua and the community he is passionate about. And based off of the televangelist who appears about halfway through screaming “Quit skateboarding!”, we get the impression that this is a community that hasn’t always gone down terribly well with broader society. Although at first it may just come across as a fun video, it’s actually subtly very product-led. Joshua is able to use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp in the way that they were truly intended to be used: to find like-minded people and then connect with them in real life, forming real relationships. Given the bad wrap social media often gets, this video offers a hyper-stylish reminder of some of the myriad benefits of online communities.

BTS

Topo Chico, featuring Bimini & The Vamps.

Sadly we weren’t lucky enough to actually go to Mexico - the birthplace of Topo Chico - so we brought Mexico to us by spending a day building a desert in a chilly London studio to shoot the brand’s ‘Perfect Contradiction’ campaign.

The brief was handed over to us by Analog Folk, which we then developed. We had half a day with each talent - Bimini and The Vamps - so they could chat to us about their own perfect contradictions. Bimini told us about how she often feels as if people expect her to be an air-head, but little do they know she’s a political and current affairs buff. While for The Vamps, although they may all look as if they were made in a laboratory to fit some boyband mould, they all have completely different musical interests and inspirations. Plus, as a sparkling water with booze in it, the product is something of a contradiction in itself (especially since it’s a sparkling water that actually tastes good…).

Directed by Jeaniq Amihyia, with Thomas Terminet as DOP, along with Will Beach as photographer, we delivered 4 films and 10 stills in a 5-working-day turnaround. Check out the final assets and some BTS shots below.

Radar

Khalil Musa - Photographer

We’ve been lucky enough to work with Khalil for a number of years now, and we’ve been able to bear witness to his rise, consistently going from strength to strength year-on-year, shoot-on-shoot. Specialising in sport, we’ve shot with him for the likes of Puma Football and New Balance. He’s been starting to really get his rub lately, having just shot the Manchester United kit launch for the coming season (let’s hope he didn’t bring them any luck…). Great to work with, distinctive imagery, a picture of calmness on set, and just an all-round top bloke - we can’t big him up enough.

Head over to Khalil’s Instagram to check out more of his work.