We’ve been asked this question a hundred times. “Why the ARRI Alexa 35? Isn’t it overkill for corporate?”
No. And that’s exactly the problem with corporate video in France.
The camera is the director’s brush
When a painter chooses their brushes, they’re not looking for the cheapest solution. They’re looking for the tool that lets them realize their vision. At SIGNS, the ARRI Alexa 35 is that tool.
The reason is simple: this camera was designed for cinema. Not for generic corporate produced at scale. For stories. For emotions. For films that last.
What the ARRI Alexa 35 changes in practice
Three things this camera does better than anything else.
1. Highlight handling
In a luxury environment, you often shoot in high-contrast spaces: a workshop with windows, a palace lit by candlelight, a set with colored neon. The ARRI Alexa 35 has huge exposure latitude: 17 stops of dynamic range. In practice: you don’t blow your whites, you don’t crush your blacks. The image breathes.
2. Skin tone rendering
For employer brand films where your employees’ faces carry your message, nothing betrays an “economy” shoot like skin rendering that pops harshly. The ARRI restores textures, nuances, the living. Your executives don’t look like actors in a LinkedIn teaser.
3. Confidence on set
This point is rarely mentioned. When a crew knows it’s shooting on ARRI, it behaves differently. DPs push their lights further. Performers feel the project’s ambition. Maison Chanel doesn’t react the same way depending on the gear they see arriving on set.
Color grading: where it really plays out
Shooting on ARRI is just the first step. The raw LogC4 image is flat on purpose. It’s a blank canvas. The real value-add plays out in post-production, in our grading suite under DaVinci Resolve.
Since ARRI Film Lab came out (a plugin that emulates the grain and halation of film stock), we’ve been working on looks that give the image a cinema texture you can’t get without that base. For our luxury films, we systematically integrate an organic, almost photographic imprint. Not trendy aesthetics. A material.
What it costs, and why it’s still an investment
The ARRI Alexa 35 adds a line to your production budget. There’s no point pretending otherwise.
But ask yourself the real question: what’s the lifespan of your film? A generic corporate film, produced on mid-range equipment, with a standard color grade, has an aesthetic lifespan of 18 to 24 months before looking dated. A film shot on ARRI, carefully graded, has a lifespan of 5 to 7 years.
Divide your budget by 7 years. Not by 18 months.
None of our luxury clients asks us to do it “cheaper and worse”. They ask us to get it right.
To sum up
The ARRI Alexa 35 isn’t a prestige choice. It’s a coherence choice. We make films that deserve to be well filmed. If your brand talks about excellence, craft and people, then your film has to be shot with the same standards as what you make yourselves.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't two 2-minute videos cost the same?
Two two-minute videos don't cost the same because the final length says nothing about the number of shooting days, the equipment, the crew size or the care put into color grading. At SIGNS Films, a two-minute institutional film costs between €1,700 and €5,000: the gap comes from shooting on ARRI Alexa 35 with a cinematographer (from €3,500) and from deeper post-production, which extend the film's lifespan from 18 months to 5 to 7 years.
When should you produce your corporate film in-house?
Producing your corporate film in-house makes sense for short, frequent content with a short shelf life: internal news, stories, behind-the-scenes for social media. As soon as the film carries the brand's image for several years, in front of clients or candidates, skin tone rendering, highlight handling and color grading make the difference. SIGNS Films reserves the ARRI Alexa 35 and DaVinci Resolve for films meant to last.
Why hire a director for your corporate film?
A director turns a sequence of shots into a story: they choose the character, the stake and the rhythm, and guide the speakers to get natural speech rather than a recited script. They also make the camera and lighting choices that give the film its staying power. At SIGNS Films, founder and director Maxime Vaux personally directs most shoots, from writing the brief to final approval in the 4K screening room.
Aerial drone footage: why and when should you use it?
Drone footage is justified when the place or the scale is part of the message: an industrial site, a campus, a hotel, an outdoor event, a landscape tied to craftsmanship. It provides an opening or transition shot, not an entire film, and always depends on prior flight authorization. SIGNS Films includes it in its event videos (€1,800 to €4,500, drone subject to authorization) and plans it from the storyboard rather than improvising on site.