Louis Vuitton’s Holiday campaign – a Christmas fairytale directed by Gary Freedman

Maggie Hanson Ads, All News, Creativity

Following last year’s Holiday campaign directed by Roman Coppola and Augustus Punch, and produced by La/Pac, the idea was to create a Christmas fairytale, a charming and positive story in which emotions and sense of detail highlights Louis Vuitton’s creations. A world that is both intimate and spectacular, a whimsical and sophisticated journey. 

The film was directed by Gary Freedman, a multi-awarded director (5 Gold Lions, several D&ADs…) including Canal+ “The Emperor’s March” and Ikea “Wonderful Life”. 

The film takes the form of a romantic comedy between two iconic characters of the brand. Vivienne the mascot goes on an adventure and the bear LV, who is only interested in her, desperately follows her through enchanted worlds, bringing the house’s creations to life. He finally finds her in the house of Asnières, or maybe all this story comes from a young boy’s imagination.  

Shootings took place in 3 different studios in Budapest, during 4 days and after 2months of preparation, Included in the efforts to make the film were digital assets including TikTok, still life, photos and over 250 people in the production teams.  

Multi-awarded artistic team included DoP linus, Sandgren (La La Land, Babylon…), production designer Mark Connell, styling Charlotte Corbet, THE MILL Paris, Adam Spivey editor. 

The film mixes shooting techniques and animation. The sets were made at different scales to allow the 3D to evolve. They had to give space to the various products, while allowing the story to unfold. Thus, the Vuitton trunk set was built using more than 50 LV trunks, some of which were real museum pieces. On the set, dolls were used to visualize the framing and interactions, to then be created in post-production. 

The characters of Vivienne and Teddy were fully modelled and animated, and their texture was chosen with precision. Once the filming and the editing of the sets was finished, the 3D characters came to life in the various scenes.  

Credits: Louis Vuitton – Dôme  

  • Director – Gary Freedman  
  • DOP – Sandgren Linus @linussandgren_dp  
  • Production Company – La\Pac  
  • Executive Producer – Jerome Denis @flyingjed  
  • Producer – Thierry Bettas-Begalin @thierrybbegalin  
  • Prod Coordination – Lucas Demerdjibachian @ludemj  

Louis Vuitton Team:   

  • Communication & Event Director Stefano Cantino   
  • Head of Creative Service @magena.chansarel  
  • Art Buying & Production Manager Felipe Bravo & @martin.foureau  
  • Head of Fashion Office @alextpaul  
  • Product Coordinator @solene.richard & @lilyeddleston  

Agency – Buffalo Studio  

  • Creative Director – Adrian Gonzales Cohen & David Gomez – Gonzales
  • Represented by @parent.global  
  • 1st AD – Benjamin Edwards @benjjji  
  • Co 1st AD – Julia Nagy  
  • 2nd AD – Brigitta Benedek  
  • 3rd AD – Fanni Hutlassa  
  • 1st AC- Gyorgy Yuri Horvath   
  • 2nd AC – Daniel Gal & David Rozge   

Production Service – Laokoon Film   

  • Service Producer – Gabor Sipos @sipgab  
  • Line Producer – Judit Fodor   
  • Unit Production Manager- Ádam Nazer   
  • Production Coord – Éva Homor   
  • Production Assistant – Dominika Racz   
  • Stage Manager – Kristof Kovacs   
  • PA by Car – Istvan Horvath & Bruno Szakallas   
  • Production Designer – Mark Connell
  • Art Director – Magdolina Varga   
  • Green room set decorator – Mercedesz Nagyvaradi   
  • Props master – Pal Vesmas   
  • Set Dresser – Brigitta Nagy   
  • Construction Mngr – Jozsef Kiss   
  • Construction Stby – Donat Pekari   
  • DIT – Marton Kovacs   
  • VTR – Andras Kollmann   
  • Gaffer – Attila Doczi   
  • Best Boy – Gabor JR Banrevi   
  • Electricians – As Per Attila Doczi   
  • Rigger – Gyorgy Posztos   
  • Key Grip – Janos Kovacs   
  • Dolly Grip – Felis Marius   
  • Grip – as per Janos Kovacs   
  • Crane head technician – Ádam Pichler & Ádam Balassy   
  • Crane Operator – Dominik Laposi as per Janos Kovacs   
  • Crane Technician – Marton Asztalos   
  • Stylist – Charlotte Collet
  • Stylist Assistant – Salome Rouquet & Emilie Carlach
  • Make-up – Martin Celine
  • Hair – Eberhard Christian   
  • Hair Asst – Adams Alexandra
  • Asst – Hoyez Julie   
  • Manicure – Laszlo Korom   

Post-production House : TheMill 

  • Head of Post-Production : Laurence Lelong @ / Caroline Deloffre / Vanessa Koscianski  
  • Editor : Adam Spivey @the_assembly_rooms  
  • Additional Editing : Flora Jaquot @dearcut_paris & Rachel Fourgous @cutaway.tv & Antoine Zimer  
  • Colorist : Jean Clement Sorret / Mathieu Toulet @company_3  

Sound Production : THE  

  • On Set Supervision – Alain Boutillier & David Roubah  
  • Concept – Nathan Lucas  
  • VFX Supervisor – Alain Boutillier  
  • CG Supervisor – Vincent Coni  
  • Previz 3D – Richard Maillot & Benjamin Gachot & Stephen Martingoulet & Geoffroy Barbet Massin & Eric Moisson & Joellia Rose @itsjoellia & Hervé Anceau  
  • Modeling – Medhi Rami & Tytouan Botte @sambotte_3D  
  • Rigging – Marine Sisnaki& Emilie Picard  
  • Animation – Geoffroy Barbet Massin & Eric Moisson & Hervé Anceau & Julien Ebel  
  • Grooming – Orianne Brouillet  
  • FX – David Roubah & Laszlo Tachsel  
  • Matte Painting – Alain Descamps  
  • Lighting – Karim Lachaize & Richard Maillot @richardmaillot72 & Luc Martias & Tytouan Botte @sambotte_3D Compositing – Luc Martias & Guillaume Hupe & Arthur Sayanoff @arthur_sayanoff & Randy Gudin & Mathias Bardey & Richard Rampaly @richardrampaly & Marouan El Bekri & Sebastien Podsiadlo & Jeremy Gravinais  
  • Flame – Aurélien Teurlai @aurelienteurlai & Damien Canaméras & Valentin Gingembre  
  • After Effect – Julien Maurin & Michael Moercant & Joao Defigueiredo & Jean-Christophe Olivier & Caroline Mistral & Tanguy Puech & Jeremy Chicheprtiche & Julien Pinot  
  • Production Coordinators – Mathilde Cohen-Selmon & Ewan Rosenstrauch  

Roto/Clean – The Mill Bangalore  

  • Tracking -Neels Paris  
  • VFX Producer – Grégory Tournier  
  • Executive Producer- Fabrice Damolini