Art
Direction

Staging editorial movie theater portraits in the spirit of Jean-Luc Godard, in the language of fashion, with cinema in my blood.

DIRECTOR | PHOTOs:
Alejandro Caballero
Model | styling:
Isabella Miller
Open and closed copies of Cymulate's Threat Exposure Validation Impact Report 2025 on a purple surface.

All the movies and TV shows I admire pay homage to the contemplative, cathartic, and romantic experience of going to the movies.

It's a trope without a canonical name, so I call it "the movie theater portrait." My execution is inspired by the aesthetics of the French New Wave delivered with the polish of contemporary fashion advertising.

My first choice was volumetric lighting as the signature of every image; this was essential to selling the idea of a reverse movie theater shot.

Next: Godard's iconic cigarette and glasses—a timeless look for eccentric creatives and sophisticated props when properly maneuvered. Like Dalí and his moustache, Godard's sunglasses and cigarette became inseparable from his image; this was a perfect fit for my fashion angle, which calls back to that vintage elegance.

Although my vision was always intended for black and white, I set out to compose a scene for color and monochrome treatments (giving myself options in post-production).
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This layer of complexity needed intentional choices of color harmonies during pre-production. From the color of the light beams to the color of the straw, I drew inspiration from Godard's 1965 Pierrot le Fou—using reds and blues to guide my production design.

The resulting images are, in my opinion, a successful execution of fashion editorial work that is flexible, repeatable, and full of personality.
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Even when I was willing to pay for an authentic auditorium to match the elegance I was aiming for, every theater I approached turned me down. So I built a DIY theater, chair by chair. Out of necessity rather than design, I landed on the same instinct that built the French New Wave: when the industry says no, you shoot your project anyway, with whatever you've got.

And what I had was time, space, and an extraordinary collaborator.

Willing to pay for a splenid auditorium, I wrote to four of the prettiest theaters in Denver but none would accommodate a personal project.

So, without a commercial budget, the only path forward was to stage my own theater.
Facebook Marketplace was full of people selling vintage theater seats; I prioritized texture and color in service of my ideal vision of a vintage theater, knowing that manual labor would be necessary.

Group of diverse colleagues posing together at a Cymulate booth with 'THREAT RESILIENCE?' sign in background.
Group of people wearing blue Cymulate shirts and white sneakers standing and smiling at a conference booth with 'THREAT RESILIENCE?' sign.

‍Volumetric lighting was my second biggest challenge, as artificial haze triggers smoke detectors and could trigger fire alarms in my apartment complex. Additionally, the projector needed to be bright enough and play a very specific video (with specific motion patterns and colors) to achieve blue triangular light beams.

Over the span of two weeks, I designed repeatable tests of time, light intensity, smoke, and reflections to guarantee a flawless day of production. This repeatability proved to be the biggest difference between an artsy photoshoot and the discipline needed for a commercial one.

Group of diverse colleagues posing together at a Cymulate booth with 'THREAT RESILIENCE?' sign in background.
Group of people wearing blue Cymulate shirts and white sneakers standing and smiling at a conference booth with 'THREAT RESILIENCE?' sign.