The Brief
When our friends at The Marketing Practice brought us their concept for Nordcloud (recently acquired by IBM but still proudly the digital upstarts), we were in.
The pitch was simple but clever: when you’ve got a tech problem, you don’t go to your grandparent; you go to your grandchild. Because the best people to fix tech are the ones born into it. TMP imagined a world in The Cloud, a society like ours but… not.
And right at the centre of it was the first person ever born there.
The creative approach for the film was a playful mockumentary, blurring the lines between traditional corporate video and something more unconventional. A fictional crew interviews The Cloud’s first native, a young architect named Cirra. During the interview we captured the awkward pauses, glances to camera, and that “accidental celebrity” energy. Cirra is earnest, sharp, but still a bit dazed by all the attention.
The Creative Approach
Lambda Films weren’t just commissioned to shoot the film. As a full-service video production company, we were tasked with bringing this imaginative world to life. We had to make this world feel real, lived-in, and just a little bit weird. We didn’t stop at “what does she wear?” We asked, “what’s their currency? Her slang? Her 9-5? Does the cloud have Meal Deals?” We workshopped it all, giving the world depth, even if most of it stayed off-camera.
Cirra too was given the creative treatment. Her styling was Gen Z meets cloud chic. Billie Eilish-style baggy fits, space buns, opal earrings, blue eyeshadow and a cheeky nod to Nordcloud’s palette in her accessories.
Production
The mockumentary-style shoot allowed us to lean into the absurd. Boom mics crept into frame, audible off-camera cues were heard and Cirra sneaking side-eyes to the lens. It was playful but grounded, designed to pull the audience in without taking itself too seriously.
From the outset, creating the look and feel of a cloud-based world was all about control of light, space and detail. To achieve this, we filmed the production at Creative Klousions studio, ensuring that every element remained consistent and precise throughout the shoot.
We designed and built her office set from scratch, filling it with 3D-printed sculptures, odd trinkets, and blueprints hinting at floating structures. Little nods to a culture viewers wouldn’t fully understand but would still feel.
The set was constructed parallel to the cove wall, with a window positioned midway along the structure. We used a large single-source fixture, bouncing it into the cove to create a soft, even ambient light that drifted through the window, grounding our cloud-based office in a believable environment. This gave us a clean foundation, replicating the weightless, open feel of a world above the clouds.
To complement this, we introduced a key light, an Aputure 600d Pro fitted with a 5ft Octodome, boomed overhead and angled to follow the direction of light coming through the window. This helped lift the subject forward while maintaining the softness and natural flow of the ambient light.
Finally, we added low-lying fog to give it that dreamy, cloud-at-your-feet vibe. Subtle, but it was all about the detail.
To break up the clean white surfaces and add depth, we introduced a focused slash of hard light across the back wall. This acted as a subtle nod to sunlight filtering through clouds but, more importantly, created shape and texture within the frame, preventing the set from feeling flat or sterile.
We shot on both an ARRI Amira and RED Komodo, paired with Blazar Remus x1.5 anamorphic lenses. The combination produced a 2.67:1 aspect ratio, wide, cinematic, and expansive, mirroring the open horizons you’d expect in a cloud-based world. The lenses brought in subtle imperfections and organic textures, adding character and depth to the clean aesthetic, giving the final image a more tactile, lived-in feel.
The result was a carefully controlled environment that felt expansive and light, balancing precision with personality, an intentionally crafted cloud world, grounded in detail.
There were challenges of course. No client on set and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it deadline. So we planned smart and captured a range of options to keep post nimble. The film landed bang on time for Nordcloud’s key event, perfectly reflecting their digital-native energy. Fast, fun, and a little unexpected.
That’s where we shine. We build worlds, dive into the details, and make the ambitious stuff work. Even when the clock’s ticking…
