What is it about Ringan Ledwidge and undressing people? Cast your mind back to 2004 when he charted a seduction in reverse for Lynx "Getting Dressed", in which a couple wake up in bed and work their way back to the chance encounter in the supermarket where they met, picking up strewn items of clothing as they go. After two years and with his debut feature under his belt, he's back on the ad scene with more sartorial sloughing, this time for Levi's .

While the brief was deceptively simple - to launch the label's new 2007 collection - the creative conundrum for BBH was more complex: "The trick we had to pull off was to launch something new from something that we had so strongly historically labeled as heritage and Americana," explains BBH ECD John O'Keeffe. The solution? A literal, visual extrapolation of the endline: New From The Original.

"Dangerous Liaisons", shot through Ledwidge's production company Rattling Stick, is a note-perfect mix of idea and execution that we've come to expect from the gold standard of advertising brands. A girl dressed in 19th century workwear nervously awaits her lover, who is similarly attired. On his arrival they proceed to get physical, stripping each other's clothes off. So far so-so, until the girl peels off her shirt to reveal a 1930s outfit and hairstyle. Her lover does the same and his clothing fast forwards. The whirlwind striptease through Levi's history continues until the fashion finale, when the girl unbuttons her lover's shirt to reveal skin under the brand's newest collection.

O'Keeffe's chief concern was getting across the core value with which Levi's advertising has become synonymous: sexiness. "In the end, if the film hadn't been sexy it wouldn't have worked. You'd have been left with the feeling that 'Oh my God, those individuals who I don't really care about must have been very hot wearing all those clothes', whereas when you have that sexiness you just get suckered into the story. The only way to do that was to cast the right people and deliver a very sexy film, which Ringan's absolutely done."

Ledwidge's understated, naturalistic style, which he used to create an intimate central relationship for Lynx, lent itself ideally to the agency's vision. "I wanted there to be a sense that they knew each other well enough for there to be a playfulness and yet still raw enough that there was a real edge to it as well," he says, "so that you empathized with them rather than thinking they just want to fuck each other."

The casting net was spread widely, with sessions in Stockholm, Paris, London and New York before Ledwidge decided on a pair of French actors, despite initial reservations from Levi's. "They're very strict about their casting parameters," explains Ledwidge, "which I think has kind of led them astray a bit [in the past]. Particularly with a script like this, which is all about an energy between two people. It's all very well having people who look great but if they can't act and can't create an atmosphere then you're already lost, I think."

Handheld camerawork breathed liveliness and spontaneity into the performances: "I wanted to shoot all the technical shots handheld so that they didn't feel dead. I always like it when the camera reacts to what people are doing rather than leading them," he explains. Lighting the spot as a lazy, hazy afternoon added a whiff of the illicit: "I don't know whether it's just me - but sex in the afternoon is more exciting because you shouldn't really be doing it."

For all the languid lighting and sensual horseplay that it portrays, the relatively small budget only allowed for a two-day shoot - a grueling 16-hour first day and mind-numbing 22 hours straight for the second. "It was fucking insane," says Ledwidge. "I've never shot for that long before. Towards the end you get to the hero stuff at 5am and the actors were delirious, they literally couldn't stand up."

Both O'Keeffe and Ledwidge were adamant that the technically complicated spot shouldn't become a display of post-production virtuosity at the expense of the central performance. "I didn't really want to draw attention to it," explains Ledwidge. "For me it was about them, and if you are watching that, it's like a magician's sleight of hand... stuff's changing but you're not really aware of it."

A close, on-set collaboration between Ledwidge and old friend, The Mill's flame artist Phil Crowe, developed a flexible, ad hoc mix of old school tricks and deft post to ensure the transitions from each era were as seamless and unintrusive as possible. Locked shots gave Crowe the constituent elements to pull apart and put back together each of the transitions, which were then tracked to the more loosely shot feel Ledwidge wanted. Old-fashioned production tricks were used to keep the spot as in-camera as possible: wigs were pulled off along with shirts, or a T-shirt cut to come away with a jacket. In one scene the bedspread was pre-scored and pulled apart by hand while the camera whip panned away to reveal another.

Levi's iconic ads have always come accompanied by zeitgeist-defining music, and "Dangerous Liaisons" is no exception. Psych-folk luminary Joanna Newsom was initially touted, but she refused to be featured so was dropped in favor of the eccentrically timeless tones of chanteuse Little Annie. "It's a little sparser and odder than Joanna Newsom's, which I think works better. I like tracks that are a bit quieter," admits Ledwidge. "They tend to drag you in more and I wanted you to feel the intimacy of the room as opposed to it being at a distance, which sometimes full music can do."

So, with two likeminded spots to his credit, how does Ledwidge feel about potential being labelled 'the stripping guy'? "It's actually now my specialty. If it does well it's what I should obviously solely focus on."

BBH http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com
Rattling Stick http://www.rattlingstick.com
The Mill http://www.the-mill.com