For the first two weeks of January, primetime on Globo has been filled with mystery, seduction and desire.

The new miniseries Ligações Perigosas (Dangerous Liaisons), aimed at an adult audience, premiered January 4 and consists of ten chapters that run through January 15. It’s soon to be available in ultra high-definition on Globo Play –Globo’s on-demand video platform.

Ligações Perigosas is set in the 1920s and was inspired by Choderlos de Laclos’s famous novel written in 1782, which tells the story of the hypocrisy (and boredom) of the French aristocracy. In 1988, it was made into a famous film by Stephen Frears, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich.

With a stellar cast, the miniseries’ storyline brings to life a fight between love and revenge, evil and innocence. This struggle is depicted by its author, Manuela Dias, as a “search into human nature and its most perverse intimacy.”

To promote the mini-series’ premiere, Globo decided to try to seduce the spectator with a launch video produced in association with RankinFilm, the agency of famous English photographer Rankin The promo was launched one month prior to the premiere and aired during commercial breaks as well as online on the station’s social networks, including Facebook, and on its YouTube channel.

Titled “Dangerous Liaisons: you will also be seduced by Globo in January,” the trailer invites the viewer to glimpse, to peek, to be an accomplice and, like all the characters in the miniseries, to swing between desire and the forbidden.

The emphasis is on the close-ups and the voice-over — which dictates that “of all the ties between a man and a woman, love is the most dangerous one” — a message spoken, in two different versions, in the voices of the miniseries’ lead actors Patricia Pilar and Selton Mello.

According to Mariana Sá, Globo creative director, the trailer was created to “spark curiosity while revealing the story’s important themes, which are the power of seduction and the loss of innocence.”

The idea was to create a trailer that was sophisticated and element, while avoiding vulgarity, said Sá. “Only the innovative and daring essence of Rankin’s work can capture images with such elegance and sophistication, with such intimacy and closeness.”

Globe also collaborated with RankinFilm on the miniseries’ open. Alexandre Romano, who directed the open, says “our objective was not to produce a linear narrative opening, but to mix highly sensorial scenes that represented games of seduction that are full of symbolism.”

Likewise, “we didn’t want to commit ourselves to the realism of the 1920s, but instead use a stylized and contemporary interpretation of the time.”

Romano, who also was part of the creative team behind the launch video and who coordinated the work with Rankin, says the brief presented to RankinFilm stressed the specific way Globo wanted to present the series’ universe to viewers.

The work started from a moodboard and there were several exchanges with references of photographic and framing treatment. We decided to “use distortions, and mirror and glass reflections to portray a dreamy, fantasy-like tone,” said Romano.

To this end, the team found inspiration in plastic arts and art installations that already represent the universe of seduction and eroticism. Key references included photographer Ellen von Unwerth, who was cited by the miniseries’ director; contemporary artist Noritoshi Hirakawa, who explores space, voyeurism and intimacy; the psychedelia of the erotic movies of the 70s; and the previous work of Rankin himself, such as the video X produced for Coco de Mer.

Both pieces were shot at Rankin’s studio in full HD using fast lenses to “give the final product a softer and more cinematographic feel,” says Romano. “We worked with models selected by Rankin’s studio so as not to introduce the characters of the series but instead to focus on the archetypes that compose the storyline.”

Finally, the scene selection, the editing and the post-production stages, where the music also was carefully arranged, was a collaborative process between the communications unit at Globo, RankinFilm and the directors of Ligações Perigosas.

The result is two products, a seductive tune-in trailer and an open. In both, the exquisiteness, the forbidden attraction and the desire suggest ties of love and power.

This collaborative production with RankinFilm has been, according to Romano, “gratifying and positive. Together we arrived at a visually rich result, filled with powerful symbolisms,” he states.

Both the series launch trailer and the miniseries itself “represent Globo’s main purpose, which is to tell good stories, entertain and amuse the audience,” says Sá.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Credits:

Globo:

Creative Direction: Sergio Valente, Mariana Sá

Created by and Art Direction: Alexandre Romano, Christiano Calvet

Direction, Edit and Color Grading: Alexandre Romano

Logo Design: Rodrigo Gomes

Producers: Jaqueline Couto, Mariana Magoga, Orlando Martins

Account Manager: Carla Sá, Suzana Prista, Isabel Arthou

Original soundtrack: Sacha Amback

RankinFilm Rep:

Direction: Rankin

Producer: Storr Redman, Kat Hacketal

DOP: Edward Gibbs

1st Assistent Director: Daniel Smith

Edit: Jack Sutcliffe

Production Designer: Lucy Cooper

Stylist: Anna Hughes-Chamerlain

Make up Artist: Marco Antonio

Hair Stylist: Aimee Hershan

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