Like most, things became difficult during lockdown and even when things were beginning to open up again, shoots remained an elusive and tricky thing to manage. Flying was confusing and a slightly scary prospect at potentially being stranded somewhere, and in-person shoots had us all standing away from one another, covered in PPE and generally being fearful of breathing anything in or out. So when we had to shoot the new Bentley Hybrid in the studio, we had to rest on remote working as much as possible. 

With a reduced crew in the studio, while myself and our retoucher dialled in via a Teams call to direct and oversee, the shoot didn't have have that same buzz I am used to. Nevertheless, it still rewarded us with another set of images that took Bentley away from the standard studio work that they were used to creating. 

The car was Bentley's Flying Spur, it was the latest model range to receive their new Hybrid engine – playing with electricity for the shoot was an obvious angle to take, but one we wanted to explore nevertheless, so we twisted this into using laser lines. 

Rather than fire lasers around the studio, the creative idea was hinged on how the Flying Spur was being unveiled into the new Hybrid engine, so we used this laser line to create a light curtain – as the car passes the curtain it was stepping out as the Hybrid engine. 

It meant we knocked back the car while it was behind the curtain – representing the old engine – and had the new colour in front of the curtain. Building the light curtain and firing laser lines over the car sure seemed simple when you were just a floating head on a computer screen, but with masks on and the complication of how the lines bend over a car, it was a lot more technically challenging then any of us gave it credit for.

But despite being virtually present, it was still a fun shoot. Building the different textures for the background and resolving the technical issues, is always a rewarding achievement when you nail the shot – but the real fun began when it was being comped together. The metallic green was a really tricky to get correct in post because of the way the light in the studio hit the metallic coating, this actually meant that the light curtain was the simplest part… then again, things always look simple when Tony Swinney of Mustard Post is behind the retouching crayons.