Between 2022 and 2023, Rando Martinson served as the permanent cinematographer and DOP for the British production company D&A Films Ltd, led by Alec McSimpson. The assignment: to document Showpony Hair Extensions' European campaign through a series of events, shows, and training sessions spread across the continent.
D&A Films is a renowned production company based in Surrey, England, and Rando is today credited as their permanent Camera / DOP for Scandinavia — a role that naturally emerged through this collaboration.
Showpony is an Australian hair extension brand with a strong international presence, led by CEO Stephanie Mason. Through the campaign, Rando travelled as the sole cinematographer to Trondheim, Copenhagen, Berlin, Mallorca, Bologna, Venice, and Rotterdam — sometimes multiple times to the same city. Each assignment involved full production support: two cameras, sound rig with wireless microphones, audio recording from AV systems, DIT, and uploading of raw material the same evening.
The content produced covered a wide spectrum: large stage shows with live demonstrations of hair extensions, backstage documentation, training courses for hairdressers, distribution events, and content for social media in both 16:9 and 9:16 formats.
In Berlin, Showpony was present as part of Kevin Murphy's major FAST.FORWARD show — one of the largest hair industry events in Europe. It was here that Rando met Kevin Murphy in person, who was present backstage himself. The Australian hair care brand Kevin Murphy later acquired Showpony, and the collaboration with D&A Films continued under the new ownership.
Among the events was Showpony's presence at Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna — the world's largest trade fair for the beauty industry — where Showpony exhibited and presented itself to distributors and professionals from around the world.
Throughout the campaign, Rando worked closely with Alec McSimpson and Artistic Director Andreas Stavrou from D&A Films, as well as Showpony's lead hair artist Jake Williams and CEO Stephanie Mason, who were present on most assignments.
