This year’s 7 For All Mankind spring campaign has a very special touch as it marks James Franco’s debut in the area of directing ad campaigns. The ‘127 Hours’ star has already released a teaser for the new campaign that will consist of 10 episodes, 2 to 3 minutes each. For the first part of the campaign, James has enlisted the help of Lily Donaldson.
The multi talented actor used vintage vibes to highlight the spirit of the collection: “The videos have a vintage feel to them. They feel like they are from a different era, which I think really fits with the new line that Seven had in the shoot — a lot of cool denim tops and jeans. We shot right on the beach and drove up the PCH [Pacific Coast Highway, so I guess you could say it’s a vintage 1970’s California dreamy feel. The movies that I cut together have a lot of weird double exposures and super- imposed images over other images, so it’s a real, I guess you could say, trip”, he told WWD.
Aside from creating a vintage allure, he also also wanted to pay a tribute to Natalie Woods and chose to name his campaign which is set to debut on February 15 ‘Episodes of an Untitled Film’.“Part of me wanted to fill it out and do a tribute to Natalie Wood, as well,” he stated. While some might see the lack of commerciality as a problem for the denim brand yet Franco insists this attribute is what helped him get the gig: “They came to me because they wanted to get away from that. We always knew that there would be print ads and videos but we could go about getting those things in a way that was very unconventional and shoot it like an art film.”
Barry Miguel, president of 7 For All Mankind confirmed the aforementioned statement and added: “It is critical in today’s world to create a body of work that can stand across digital, print and social media. We wanted to tell the story of this great, aspirational, modern, cool California brand. This campaign is about a group of people who embody that creativity.”
The campaign, which features a lot of important names from the artistic industry like Elyse Poppers, Tamzin Brown, Nina Ljeti, Val Lauren Amber Anderson and Jessica Mau among many others will be available at Youtube.com/7forallmankindjeans.
Photo and video courtesy of 7 for All Mankind
