Three fashionable commercials shot on ARRI’s ALEXA 35 camera

Today’s brands expect more than polished visuals—they want a consistent visual identity that feels cinematic, believable, and instantly recognizable. Whether it’s a lifestyle spot, a sports campaign, or a tech launch, the goal is the same: create work that looks effortless yet polished. ARRI spoke with several production teams that chose to work with the ARRI ALEXA 35 to achieve this look. The camera’s color accuracy, highlight range, and reliability under pressure make it a natural choice for commercials where time is tight and image quality is non-negotiable.

In this article, cinematographers Emerson Duggan, Ben Cotgrove, and Nikita Khatsarevich break down how they used the ALEXA 35 on three very different shoots  -  each a study in control, color, and movement—and why the camera helped them tell those stories with confidence. 

Director of Photography: Emerson Duggan; Director: Iris Kim 

For cinematographer Emerson Duggan, Liquid I.V.’s “Ice Cream” was all about embracing summer vibrance with bright tones and vivid color. There is a sense of nostalgia as a group of friends beat the heat with new ice cream flavored powdered drink mixes. He chose the ALEXA 35 paired with Master Primes to push the image both during production and in post, aiming for something punchy and colorful. The brief called for hard Los Angeles sunlight, but the crew arrived to overcast skies. Duggan relied on large ARRI daylight units (18Ks and M90s) to recreate the sun, confident that the ALEXA 35’s highlight range would keep the image smooth and balanced. Shooting in 4.6K 3:2 open gate gave flexibility for multiple aspect ratios across delivery formats. 

Director of Photography: Ben Cotgrove; Director: Sidney Van Wichelen (WAAAW) 

Shot in Cape Town, Ben Cotgrove’s commercial for Swatch and the world famous Tate galleries follows the rhythm of the city—fast, dynamic, and full of movement. The concept behind the ad and the tagline is to celebrate art as a transformative experience—inviting viewers to explore how art can transport them to new places, ideas, and emotions. Traversing bright exteriors and moody interiors, Cotgrove leaned on the ALEXA 35’s dynamic range to balance extremes. The directing duo wanted variety and energy, from handheld moments to high-speed tracking, which meant multiple rigs and fluid camera movement.  

Except for one board-mounted action-cam shot, everything was captured on the ALEXA 35 with a mix of tracking vehicle, Steadicam, and dolly/track. Cotgrove sites: “We had a phenomenal grip team led by Key Grip Zak O’Leary and an outstanding local Steadicam operator, Jo Oosthuizen, on TRINITY 2, who covered a range of the skateboarding shots just on foot.” For one of the trickiest moves, Cotgrove combined a skaterscope mirror and precise timing between camera and stunt teams. “It was quite a timing challenge!” he recalls. 

Even underwater sequences were doable with ALEXA 35, and a little bit of VFX cleanup, executed by Cape Town’s “Frog Squad” in a large pool draped with black fabric for an infinite drop-off effect. 

Cotgrove summed up the experience simply: the ALEXA 35 was “one body for every task,” delivering high frame rates and compact rigging options without compromise.

Director of Photography: Nikita Khatsarevich;  Directors: Miles Cable and AJ Favicchio 

Nikita Khatsarevich was tasked to shoot a national marketing campaign for the premium bourbon brand “Angel’s Envy.” The company wanted to move away from the image of bourbon as something enjoyed only by aficionados in moody, isolated settings. For the DP, this production was about precision over nostalgia and he pursued a minimal aesthetic—clean light, restrained color, and geometric compositions. The ALEXA 35 handled layers of diffusion and atmosphere flawlessly, even at ISO 3200 for certain setups. The spot was recorded in ARRIRAW 4.6K full sensor, pairing Master Primes with a Laowa Probe for extreme detail. ISO 3200 was used for certain setups to avoid lighting shifts mid-take, especially with the Probe at f/8. “The Master Prime lenses provided a clean, confident image that still breathes,” recalls the DP. 

An opening move with a 14 mm Master Prime lens on a custom crane-dolly rig set the tone for the piece and defined its rhythm. The cinematographer explains: “We built a tray-and-camera system, cleaned it with alcohol before each take, and pulled it with a rope so the tray rolled on inertia. It was a delicate move, but the ALEXA 35 delivered the stability and resolution we needed. I didn’t want any ‘vintage’ shortcuts,” he adds. “The idea was to reach emotion through precision, not nostalgia.”