LBB: How This Two Man Team Test the Limits of New Technology
After a decade of hard graft, Marcelo Petrella and Vincent Wauters open up about the technical terrain they have conquered as creative studio, Fellow LA
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The word ‘fellow’ depicts the sharing of an activity or quality, it is the descriptor of a person that is familiar, a comrade of sorts. In Fellow LA’s case, the fellowship refers to a lean, mean, highly skilled team that is guiding clients through every step of the production process, committed to their roles as trusted creative confrères.
Marcelo Petrella and Vincent Wauters are the tenacious two-fer manning this well-oiled machine, an enterprise which has been producing unmatched live action, design and VFX for the best part of ten years. “The idea is to provide a full pipeline from concept to shoot to post, all under one roof, with smaller teams of highly skilled technicians and artists accompanying the clients from beginning to end,” says Marcelo. Located in Santa Monica - the beating heart of the country’s creative economy and startup scene - Fellow LA has spent the past decade dedicated to delivering projects for agencies and brands, and in doing so, establishing strong bonds with big names in the automotive, sport and tech spaces.
Over the years, consecutively positive client feedback has translated into glowing referrals and repeat business, leading Marcelo and Vincent to the realisation that the success of their multidisciplinary team is well worth shouting about. LBB’s April Summers happily assumed the position of messenger as the dynamic duo dished up details of their biggest creative ventures and contemplated their exciting future.
A Meeting of Minds
A commitment to complete and utter immersion of the creative vision is the through line connecting the two partners at the helm of Fellow LA. Marcelo and Vincent, from Brazil and France respectively, were brought together by the world of commercials and immediately recognised one another’s working style. The pair instantly clicked after bonding over common tastes and a shared approach to tackling production problems in a way that complements the creative. Marcelo had started out as a motion graphics designer and animator, before moving on to the role of creative director, overseeing productions for Belief, Troika and Woodshop; Vincent came from a CG and VFX background, having cut his teeth at content studios like Illumination / Mac Guff and LOGAN.
Growing as a business early on, Fellow operates at a manageable size which permits them the luxury of being more selective with the projects they engage on, avoiding the need to take on work for the sake of “feeding the machine.” This malleability makes them capable of adapting to the requirements of any production. Identifying as “thinkers and problem solvers”, the one-stop creative studio stays nimble to ensure they can insert themselves when needed, at any moment of the process. “We understand the intricacies of how things are made, so by working with highly skilled people we remain nimble, moving faster and achieving better results,” Marcelo reveals.
Since the team provides a full spectrum of service, there are different entry points for them to offer to pitch in with their wide-ranging array of creative input. “Sometimes we do it all, it depends on the project: when working with agencies we tend to come in at the live action stage, seeing it through to finish; but when working with brands there is wider entry point flexibility so can be involved from the creative development stage, throughout production, right through to finish,” notes Vincent. ““We stay on top of new tech, constantly testing things out in order to provide the best available options for the projects that come to us.”
Pushing Boundaries and Experimental Storytelling
Most of these projects have been a mix of live action, CG and VFX for automotive, tech and sport brands. Forging dependable long term partnerships with global brands like Honda, Intel, Dell, and Callaway, Fellow LA find themselves wholeheartedly invested in the content they are collaborating on. This investment in the work is palpable as Marcelo touches on these existing relationships; “We’re always excited to hear what our clients have in store, how their products are made, and the ideation process behind it. All of that literally or subliminally gets infused in our process and translates to the story and execution in some way.”
Since 2015, the studio has been working with Hispanic creative agency, Orcí, on Honda and Acura automotive projects. In 2021, Fellow shot the brand’s ‘Level Up the Fun’ commercial, overseeing the entire creative pipeline; live action, production and editorial graphics, colour and finish. Directed by Marcelo and shot during covid, Fellow employed their problem solving skills when devising a way to shoot the all-new Honda Civic in a fresh light, while also adhering to pandemic rules. The final commercial is a fun and flirty 30’ live action spot which incorporates video game style graphics, composed over stunning shots of Los Angeles’ sprawling canyons and cityscape.
Another piece of work which captures the full scope of Fellow LA’s artistry is Intel’s ‘The Power of Data’ project. Working with The Agency Inside, this sleek commercial is a stellar demonstration of how the studio can combine live action, CG and VFX to craft a compelling showcase of technological innovation. The dynamic duo led the charge in their respective fields, with Marcelo directing a tight-knit story based on the brand’s four data-driven competences - AI, 5G, VR and Autonomous Driving - and Vincent connecting the dots by designing, animating, and integrating data streams and cloud points in a cohesive visual language. The client was extremely impressed by the high-end project’s expedited turnaround: the car and house sequences were shot in just one night, with the post process and finished film completed in less than four weeks.
Elsewhere, in the sports world, Marcelo has delivered a series of projects for different golf brands, including Callaway, Under Armour and Taylormade Golf. Working with San Diego agency Taco Truck Creative, Marcelo and Vincent have now worked on a number of high quality commercials for Callaway, such as the Epic Flash. The fast-paced, digitally-enhanced 30 second spot features pro-golfer, Sergio Garcia, and is geared towards demonstrating Callaway’s ‘flash based technology’. The studio’s stylish and cinematic input over the course of multiple campaigns has qualified them as long standing partners of the brand.
“We love all the brands we work with, and we want to keep working with them because they require the same level of attention to detail, and by working with them, we are permitted to push boundaries and experiment with the latest technologies,” concludes Vincent.
While cars, tech and sports have historically been Fellow LA’s preferred subjects, the company hopes to branch out into other industries such as healthcare, fitness, wearables and biotech, applying their craft to life-changing motives in the medical space is something which excites both of the partners. “Nowadays there is an intense level of technology applied to any product or service, and we would love the opportunity to apply our visual storytelling abilities within different categories as well. Biotech, healthcare and green tech are areas in which we would love to tap into,” Marcelo says. “Telling great stories with killer visuals for things that might make us smarter, stronger and healthier humans in cleaner, safer environments sounds pretty cool to me.”
As they prepare for the potential of pastures new, the two partners ponder the pace at which the industry is changing. Far from being intimidated by the future, Fellow LA appear excited by the speed in which things are shifting, exhilarated and energised by the new developments in technology and diverse demands of content creation. The pioneering pair are looking forward to seeing how the advertising industry unearths new ways to reach their audiences and how this will translate to what and how Fellow formulate creative solutions for their clients.
