Reebok: Crafted by Fitness

Client: Reebok
Project Title: Crafted by Fitness
Director: Louis Chew
DOP: Chuck Tham

This promotional video is a feature of Reebok’s crossfit apparel line.

We shot at the MVRCK Crossfit gym in Singapore. The gym was of an ample size to cater to our videography requirements. However, we found that the interior styling of the space was too clean, tidy and sterile, and we wanted to bring out the grit and intensity of gruelling crossfit regimes. To create visual texture for our shots, the Art Department brought in a haze machine to capture the rays of light piercing through the windows. The windows were relatively expansive and I understood from the DOP that most of the camera angles favoured that direction. As such, I proposed to install black window frames with thin, gridded lines. Once again the advantage of dressing up a set is that I did not really have to use real material (such as aluminium, fibreglass or wood) to frame the glass. We proceeded to cut-to-measure black art cards to fit the proportions of the expansive glass. The outcome was slick, and did not compromise the amount of light entering the space from the set’s exterior, while also serving as a cookie-cutter in throwing a grid-patterned shadow on the concrete walls of the set’s interior.

A series of fluorescent light tubes were also used to layer against corrugated zinc sheets, creating a grungier, grimier atmosphere on set. Huge black cloths were laid on the floor to deepen the space while also matting out the shiny white floor tiles.