7up

Production, photography and post-production

The Project

We were asked to create two final key visual images for Pepsi Co’s 7up brand to use in posters, marketing materials, and in-restaurant posters.

The first image was a hero shot of a single glass of 7up. A view point slightly from the bottom, so the glass towers over the viewer, like the discovery of an awesome monolith. This was achieved over the course of a full day of photography in studio, compiling different effects and parts of the puzzle so our retouching team could combine everything they needed to get the best final result possible.

The second image was of a still-life of a glass of 7up along with a can on a picnic table, outside in the sunlight, looking refreshing, cold and delicious. For this photo we worked closely with a food stylist on set to achieve the best possible results for the final look and feel of the can and the glass of 7up. To help us along, we had a stock of more than 200 cans of 7up in our studio! There were many pours to get the best one of the lot!

The Challenges

Though the final imagery looks and feels natural, there are a lot of steps both in photography and post-production to achieve this. With photography we have to shoot and collect all the essential elements required for the post-production team to piece together a final puzzle. So shooting several elements of fizz, of foam, of ice and of different specific highlights.

Also, one of the challenges was to recreate a natural daylight feeling in studio. Shanghai being typically a smoggy city with fairly random weather patterns we decided to shoot in studio instead of risking to shoot outside. This gave us the flexibility to shoot longer if we needed to, without worrying about the available light.

Another challenge was finding the right glass for each one of the photos. We went from proposing over 50 glass shapes to narrowing it to two glasses. One imported from the UK, the other from the US.

The end result...

…with a clear brief from the agency, and a very talented team on hand, it was almost easy for us to achieve good results that we could all be proud of. With a very defined Corporate Image style for the global 7up brand, and a good direction from the agency on how to adapt this to the local market, along with our own team’s expertise we completed the project successfully and already look forward to the next one.

Technical details

Client: Pepsi Co., 7up

Art Direction and concept: SagaCity Ad

Services: Production, photography and post-production

Gear: Digital medium format, technical Arca Swiss camera and specialized pro lighting.