Blurred lines. Timberland riffs. Timberland’s Limited Release Violet Haze boots were designed in a new, rich tone blending the classic boot with the ultimate rock-royalty hue. Inspired by the early days of mixtapes, sampling and the freedom to speak and experiment with lyrics, these men’s waterproof boots blur the line between blue and purple, and from modern-day to back-in-the-day - and they would only be available for a short time.
We needed the boot to look heroic and cool. But they were seeing great variances in the color during production, so the concept needed to accommodate a variety of blue-purple hues (just incase!). A rock concert smoke show, now popular at festivals and color runs, gave us the color shifts we might need and the old school music vibe that was the boots inspiration. Inspiration shots from our pre-pro mood board are below.
We worked with Indresano Studios, masters at lighting and creating mood. The direction was to create a smoky background and curls of smoke in the foreground curling around and in front of the boot shot in profile. Lighting should allow for blues and purples so the smoke matches the variances in boot color–from the nubuck body to the leather collar and laces. Smoke should cover the boot for the teaser videos and shot, clearing just enough to give consumers a sneak peek.
Indresano Studios sourced purple smoke bombs to create the effect of "violet haze" drifting around the boot. Set up in their parking lot, the team used fans to direct the smoke for each of the shots and videos.
Purple smoke flows around the boot, showing just a glimpse of the classic silhouettes collar. This video was used, along with still imagery, to tease the the limited release boot for the two weeks prior to launch.
Violet smoke cascades over and around the boot, clearing to reveal the full silhouette. The social videos were used to announce the drop of the new limited release collection to our most loyal customers.
The violet haze videos and still shots were used in social and on TImberland.com to tease the collection. Once the collection dropped, the full silhouette boot video and still images (along with detail shots of the boots shot in the in-house studio) were used in social channels, email programs and on home, landing, limited release calendar, blog and collection landing pages.
THE TEAM
Creative Director: Ali Pike
Art Director: Jon Morris
Developer: Ryan Obermiller
Photographer (violet haze): Michael Indresano
Photographer (detail shots): Dennis Hambucken
Project Manager: Lisa Rakeseder