Some projects change the way you think about video production. Rémy Martin is one of them.
We’d been briefed on the products: XO, VSOP, Tercet, Club, 1738. Five expressions, five worlds, five films to design. What we didn’t anticipate was that the cellars themselves were going to change everything.
Arriving before the light
The first morning in Cognac, we were on site at 5:30 a.m. Not because the schedule demanded it. Because the dawn light in the aging cellars, filtered through the barrels, a little amber, a little dusty, only lasts about twenty minutes.
That’s what filming artisanal luxury is: accepting that the material sets the tempo. Not the other way around.
We waited for that light. We captured it in LogC4 on ARRI Alexa 35. And in the grade, three weeks later, we spent a whole day finding exactly that color temperature again, somewhere between aged gold and warm copper.
The hand of the cellar master
Filming craft means filming gestures. Gestures repeated thousands of times until they become invisible to the person making them.
The Rémy Martin cellar master no longer thought about it. He tasted, he breathed in, he decided. In a few seconds. With a calm certainty.
Our director spent two hours observing him before pulling out the camera. Understanding when he closed his eyes. When his expression changed. Which shot would say everything without needing a voice-over.
That 11-second locked-off shot (the hand holding the glass, the light passing through the cognac) became the heart of the XO campaign.
What we hadn’t planned
We thought we were shooting films about cognac. We actually shot films about time.
The time it takes to age a Grande Champagne. The time it takes to train a cellar master. The time it takes for a house to become what it is.
That realization changed our narrative approach. Rather than following a manufacturing process, we chose to follow a transmission. From the founder to the current teams, from yesterday’s gestures to today’s.
The lessons from this production
Silence is a shot. In a film about craftsmanship, the moments without speech, without music, with just the sound of wood and glass, are often the most powerful. We resisted the urge to dress everything in music.
The place is a character. The Rémy Martin cellars have a presence. You can’t film a smell. But you can suggest it with the staging, the textures in frame and the rhythm of the edit. We worked so the viewer would feel the cognac, not just see it.
Trust takes time. Rémy Martin didn’t give us access to their most intimate spaces right away. That trust was built, over exchanges, shared storyboards, compromises found together. The final film wouldn’t exist without that relationship.
What remains
These films have been circulating for several years now. They’ve been used in flagship stores, in international market presentations, on the digital channels of the group’s houses.
Some shots have become reference images for the brand. We’re not the ones saying it. Rémy Martin told us, when they called us back for the next campaign.
That’s the lifespan of a film well made.
Frequently asked questions
How do you make a brand film?
Making a brand film starts with writing: a written brief, then a storyboard built like a screenplay, before the camera ever comes out. The SIGNS Films method fits in three words: write before filming. For Rémy Martin, the director observed the cellar master for two hours before the first shot, then the crew waited for the dawn light in the cellars, captured on ARRI Alexa 35 and recovered in the DaVinci Resolve grade.
What kinds of video content do you produce for luxury brands?
SIGNS Films produces craftsmanship films, brand films and product campaigns for luxury brands, along with content for hospitality and fine dining. Real examples: five films shot in the Rémy Martin cellars (XO, VSOP, Tercet, Club, 1738), Cheval Blanc Paris (Holiday Season), Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris (The Art of Holidays), Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris and a commercial for La Cornue range cookers. Every film is approved in a calibrated 4K screening room before delivery.
How do I tell my brand's story in a video?
To tell your brand's story in a video, choose a human narrative thread (a transmission, a gesture, a place) rather than a description of your manufacturing process. On the Rémy Martin shoot, SIGNS Films thought it was filming cognac and ended up filming time: the time it takes to age a Grande Champagne or to train a cellar master. A fixed 11-second shot, the hand holding the glass, became the heart of the XO campaign, with no voice-over at all.
What tone should brand content have?
The right tone for brand content is restrained and suggestive: silence, the sounds of materials and gestures say more than an explanatory voice-over. In the Rémy Martin cellars, SIGNS Films resisted the urge to dress everything in music and let the wood and glass be heard. The place is treated as a character, and trust with the house was built through shared storyboards. That restraint explains the films' longevity, reused for several years in flagship stores and on digital channels.