The art of making coffee inspired me to make a short film

Coffee, made in a moka pot, is such a beautiful Italian tradition. The art of making the coffee is visually very appealing and it inspired me to make a short film about it in the style of a TV commercial.

Our mornings are driven by preparing to go to work and it’s often a very rushed experience. Even if it seems like that we’re running out of time we always try to find a few moments for our coffee ritual. Everybody follows their own script and when coffee time arrives, we head into the kitchen to start a series of small scripted actions that produce our beloved coffee.

Opening the moka pot, pouring water inside and grabbing the coffee powder have become a part of our muscle memory. We perform these actions by heart and know how to do them quickly and efficiently without wasting a moment.

I turned the act of making coffee into a kind of balletically choreographed sequence in which every movement connects to the next. Like dancers, we gracefully move around our kitchen like it is a stage on which we perform a show.

Finding the right music was key to setting the right mood and pace for the video. The music I selected allowed me to animate the visuals and it helped to create accents throughout.

Time is a central theme in this project and with it I tried to convey a particular style. The video shows that  even though we have such busy lives, we should always find time for our coffee.

This dummy commercial was an in-depth project and I discussed each new edit with my tutor how we could improve it and subsequently polish the final edit.

The decision to make the film black and white was made in order to enhance the contrast between a rushed and chaotic pre-coffee world and the relaxed one after.