L’ÉLOI Constructs a Kaleidoscope of Bourbon for Angel’s Envy

Angel’s Envy has debuted its Triple Oak bourbon in a sophisticated spot created by Sid Lee and co-directed by L’ÉLOI’s Les Garçons and Nik Mirus.

Guided by Sid Lee’s vision for a circular arrangement of mirror blocks reflecting the barrel-shaped bottle, Les Garçons and Nik Mirus have crafted a visual tasting of Angel’s Envy Triple Oak. Every angle of the bottle glints off of vertical mirrors, while crisp tabletop shots exhibit the quality of the pour over a single frosted ice cube.

Dreamy set design enhances the draw of the product. The L’ÉLOI co-directors hid neutral-toned lights behind the bottle to ensure the shimmering amber liquid would look as rich and natural as possible and still pop cinematically against background hues of royal blue. Given the number of mirrors, careful pre-production planning and precision was required to hide the equipment – especially moving cameras – when framing the shots. Les Garçons and Nik Mirus built a large luminous tent around the set, allowing them to shoot freely while hiding rigs and equipment.

High-speed cameras captured the liquid flowing in slow motion, romanticising the pour. The directors leveraged their experience shooting with motion control robotic arms to incorporate smooth, swooping camera moves reminiscent of an angel flying over the set. The team also spotlighted the wings on the bottle’s glass and added gates at the end of the spot to bring out the metaphor.

Above: BTS of the Angel's Envy campaign

The visual elements of the campaign are acoustically interpreted in elegant music and sound design by Sydney Nadon. The rich orchestral cello in the music paired with angelic sound design perfectly tie each element together, rounding off the campaign with a premium flair.

Commenting on the collaboration, Les Garçons commented, “This was the perfect project for us to work on with Nik as co-directors. We have different ways of looking at visual narratives: Nik has a real mastery of spatial thinking, set builds, lighting and reflections; we always like to lean into storytelling and try to push the concept as far as we can. Together, we bounced ideas about materials, lighting approaches, set design ideas amongst ourselves and with our set designer Lousia Schabas. In the end, we created something that reflects both Nik and ourselves.”

Nik Mirus added, “We have collaborated on many projects over the past few years (myself as a DP and Les Garçons as directors) but this was our first co-direction project. Unsurprisingly, the process was really smooth. Over the course of several days, the concepts and direction evolved very organically as we popped into each other's work spaces which are close-by. We also naturally fell into our comfort zones: Les Garçons with their knack for storytelling and my skills and experience shooting within complicated reflected scenes.”