Protecting Sharks with Jhené Aiko for The Humane Society

February 18th, 2016 | Author: Nick Saglimbeni

Those of you who follow my work know that creating art for important causes has always been critical to the SlickforceStudio mission. So it is with great pleasure that we recently teamed up with The Humane Society of the United States and HS International for their latest campaign, featuring singer/songwriter Jhené Aiko.

Ms. Aiko is very passionate about animals and nature—and all things aquatic—so she was the perfect face for HSUS’ new campaign to stop inhumane shark hunting. Tens of millions of sharks are killed each year due to the demand of shark fin soup. Humane Society Campaign manager Amber Morasse wanted a concept that was as striking as it was effective. We discussed several ideas before finally settling on a dramatic night ocean scene with Jhené rising above the surface of the water like a shark.

Besides the obvious risks to talent, shooting in an actual ocean isn’t terribly practical. There’s nowhere to place backlights and you’re certainly not going to run electricity in the deep blue sea. So we opted for a much more controlled environment: a large swimming pool. As you’ll see in the behind-the-scenes video below, our first challenge was turning a bright daylight location into a night scene. The second was getting the lights and camera into the water.

It was a pleasure working with Jhené, and I applaud her for using her celebrity to spread awareness of these wonderful creatures’ plight. I want to thank Amber and The Humane Society for involving us in this important project, and the SlickforceStudio team for getting wet for a good cause.

Visit hsi.org to find out how you can help.

WARNING: This setup was achieved by trained professionals. Do not attempt to bring lights near water without proper electrical safety training.