It’s not every day that I get asked to appear in a film where I’ll cut myself in half. So I was thrilled when the Italian luxury menswear brand Canali 1934 asked me to do exactly that. They booked me to consult on and perform in their short film produced for the holidays. It’s been a trend with luxury brands to produce high-end cinematic ‘featurettes’ lately. This is the latest one by Canali at the bottom of this post.
The production team decided to make a short film about their beautiful products. The premise was to be that a magician called The Incredible Mr. C, (who I played) would conjure up elegant Canali gifts as part of his magical repertoire.
Related articles:
Magic commercial for Hackett Menswear.
Advert I did with Ant & Dec for Britain’s Got Talent.
Magicians in film interview.
I learned in the early production meetings for this short film that they wanted to use an element of CGI (computer generated imagery). This was to accomplish effects that were not possible by ‘traditional magic methods’ (for example, sawing myself in half when I don’t have a twin brother!). But I was happy to know they also wanted a strong emphasis on good old-fashioned sleight of hand close-up magic.
Opting for sleight of hand made sense for a company that prides themselves on their artistry. (Not to offend the computer special effects peeps out there, of course what they do is artistry as well). But we’re talking about magic artistry here. When an audience watches a short film, it’s different if they know the magician’s hands create the magic they see. Fingers that produce impossibilities as a result of countless hours of work and preparation… all to give a brief fleeting moment, that feeling of magic to an audience.
I’m not alone: craft fetishism is alive and well…
…It’s that hunger for carefully (often hand) crafted, well-thought-out solutions that give the user a deep satisfaction knowing every detail has been observed. It’s of course Canali’s job when they produce a new item. There’s also lots of overlap with any good design and making good magic (check out my post on Thomas Heatherwick to see more about that). In good magic and good design, every detail matters and every moment counts.
So it all felt like a perfect union to have the value of hand-made magic featured into a magical holiday short film for this Canali holiday video. So pop some popcorn and I hope you enjoy these few minutes of magic. Have a super holiday season and see you in the New Year! – CH
Say hello and drop me a note in the comments below. Thanks for coming along with me and I hope to see you again after a few more turns in the trail.