A director with creative instincts. Ricardo Jones started his career as an agency creative and deeply understands the meaning of carrying and nursing an idea along the process. Fusing bold visuals, dynamic performance and cultural depth into work that hits hard and resonates globally. Previously a creative and part of a directing duo, Jones bridges concept and craft with sharp storytelling. Collaborating with clients like Meta, Netflix, Lincoln, Ford and Nike, he blends cultural fluency, human depth and pulse-raising energy to every project - often working direct-to-client to transform bold brand visions into impactful, emotionally-charged work.
How many times did we fail doing this project? Oh boy, I can't tell you ;-)
But what I can tell is that the experience of doing it was better than winning any awards. We started aiming to shot 100 images but we ended with 35. Many situations were planned and executed with time and others improvised as new ideas (and problems) came to the set. For 6 weeks we prep to shoot 2 days in Montevideo. ​
A good moment to illustrate that was the scene of the monk setting fire on himself. The idea didn't work on the first attempt and we end up shooting on the second and last day. This scene was actually the last one and one of the most interesting shots. We choreographed the camera movement with the actor pouring "gasoline" on himself and then replaced for the third and last doll to set fire.
The first attempt on Day 1. We burnt 2 out of 3 dolls to realize that didn't work, and on the second day at the quarry.
The camera work was an important part of the concept. The ability to walk with the camera was key to make the narrative idea of a camera that gave to the photographer mobility. So the only option was a camera named Alexa M. A system that works like the Rialto in Sony Venice. 10 years ago this was a very sophisticated camera and gave us the mobility that we wanted. Ironically we didn't use any Leica lens. we use the Cookies S2 in a Movi rig. On the right picture Bjorn as Helmut holding the camera with 30 meters of cable behind.
