As of this week, we’re in production.
Our crew is heading to Ontario, Canada, the first of four international shoots for Cohere, the AI and enterprise technology company. Over the next month we’ll be in Oslo, the South of France, and a fourth European location we’re still locking down. Four films, four countries, all shot on 35mm motion picture film. This is one of our biggest productions of the year and has got everyone at Here Now Films very exited.
We can’t talk about the creative yet. But we can talk about how we’re making it, and to be honest, that’s a huge part of why we’re excited.
How it started
Cohere came to us at the concept stage. No script, no storyboard, no locked-in format, just a clear ambition to do something that looked and felt completely different from everything else in the AI space. No screens. No interfaces. No blue gradients. Something human, warm, and tactile.
We ran the creative workshop, developed the concept, wrote the scripts, and made the recommendation to shoot on 35mm motion picture film. That’s what we mean when we say we’re a creative agency with a production studio, the thinking and the making happen in the same room.
Why film
We’re loading around 30 rolls of 35mm film stock across the four shoots. Every roll gets developed, scanned at 4K, and colour graded by our in-house team. There’s no safety net. No “we’ll fix it in post.” When you shoot on film, you have to get it right on the day, and that demands a level of preparation and craft that we think makes the work better.
The decision to shoot on film wasn’t aesthetic nostalgia. It was a creative strategy. An AI company choosing the most analogue, most human format available says something about how they see their product, and that’s exactly the kind of thinking that should come before anyone picks up a camera.
The camera and glass
The camera is an Arricam LT; Arri’s dedicated 35mm film body, the same platform you’d find on a feature. We’re pairing it with a full set of Tribe7 Blackwing7 lenses, 17mm through 77mm, with a 14mm Master Prime and an Angenieux Optimo Ultra zoom for when we need the reach. Filtration is Pancro Mitchell diffusion and Schneider diopters. If you know, you know, and if you don’t, the short version is: every single choice on this kit list has been made to get a specific look that you simply cannot fake in post.
The support kit is also next level. Focus pulled on a Preston system, wireless monitoring via Teradek Bolt 3000 feeding SmallHD screens across the set, OConnor 2575 head on Ronford Baker sticks, EasyRig Vario 5 for handheld. Large-scale lighting at every location. Generators for the remote spots. It’s a proper film set.
The crew
Charlie Coombs is directing across all four productions, with our producer Giorgia Gray leading on the ground at every location. Having the same director and producer across the whole series is deliberate, it means the films will share a visual language even though they’re being made thousands of miles apart.
At each location we’re running a full crew: DoP, gaffer, two sparks, 1st AC, a dedicated film loader, art director, stylist, hair and makeup, props buyer, runners, drivers, and local fixers. That’s 15+ people on set at every shoot. We’ve also got a BTS DOP travelling with us across the entire production, behind-the-scenes content is a proper deliverable on this one, not something we grab on a phone between setups.
What we’re delivering
Once the film comes back from the labs, everything runs through our in-house team; editing, colour grade, sound design, animated graphics, with licensed music delivered through GAS Productions. The final deliverables are four standalone films, a hero cut, social edits, and a full suite of BTS content. All under one roof, no handoffs.
We’ll share more as the campaign comes together. For now, we’ve got a flight to catch.
