Go Behind the Scenes of a Mark Denton Shoot

In a new film, titled Chinese Girl (from Croydon), Coy! Communications show industry legend (and past shots cover star and photographer) Mark Denton creating an image that featured in his recent Jealous Gallery exhibition.

As Denton explains in the video, directed by Jonnie Malachi, originally the photoshoot was for one of his colleague's business cards. However, he liked the images so much he decided to put a series of shots taken on the day into his exhibition.

Based upon Vladimir Tretchikoff's Chinese Girl [right], one of the most reproduced paintings in the world, the shoot saw the model painted in shades of blue and green and dressed in a replica of the dress in the original work, designed so as to look half-painted.

In a typical Denton touch, however, rather than just replicate the painting, he gives it a series of whimsical tweaks that see the model throwing up into a paper bag, smoking a cigarette with rollers and in her hair and even going full communist with Red Book in hand.

The behind the scenes video itself also gets a few tweaks, with Coy and post-production house Unit giving it a '50s/'60s Technicolour-meets-newsreel vibe. As Unit director of colour grading Scott Harris explained, "working with Jonnie Malachi and Mark Denton...was an absolute blast. Whilst we had to keep the normal BTS shots well, normal (if that is a thing), both Jonnie and Mark allowed me to try and replicate world of the painting that is really synonymous with the '50s and '60s."