Behind the Smile – Basiliscus Film shoots a film featuring the world’s most famous woman at the Louvre

Retelling the familiar – how Basiliscus Film reveals what we think we know from a fresh angle

Every year millions of people see the Mona Lisa – and many are surprised by how small the painting actually is. Basiliscus Film took a different approach for the TV series "Masterpieces Revisited": Why does this painting work so irresistibly as an icon? The answers come from creatives, art historians and cultural scholars who understand images as a language. As a Berlin-based film production company we produced the ten-part series for the international culture magazine euromaxx of Deutsche Welle, putting a camera team on the road in five countries.

Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" at the Louvre in Paris

Everyone knows her, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. But why is that? Why has this particular painting embedded itself so deeply in our everyday life? Its recognition value is immense, no matter the context in which we see the work. Every art icon has its own story and its own background that turned it into a classic. Painted in the early 16th century, the picture only became globally famous after its spectacular theft in 1911 – and from that point on developed into a media icon whose face can today be found on mugs, T-shirts, advertising campaigns and street art.

A European journey to the icons of art history

Ten paintings everyone knows. Ten painters and their biographies. Ten masterpieces of art history – cited, reproduced and received hundreds of thousands of times. In the series "Masterpieces Revisited" our camera team travels to Europe's best-known museums, shows their most famous works and dares to take a fresh look at every single one. What characteristics does Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa fulfil to qualify as an icon? Or The Scream by Edvard Munch? Advertisers, designers, contemporary artists and art historians explain why these old masterpieces remain highly relevant today and present their own interpretations. The Berlin film production company Basiliscus Film developed the concept together with Deutsche Welle and realised it episode by episode over several months.

Filming inside the Louvre – why this location is anything but a normal set

Shooting inside the Louvre in Paris is one of the most demanding tasks for a film production company. The Louvre is not only the world's most visited museum – it is also an institution with strict security standards, clear filming requirements and a long approval process. Before our team could even set up a tripod, a detailed application in French had already been submitted: with a shooting concept, shot list, equipment description, insurance certificates and a clear explanation of how the material would later be used. We also negotiated exclusive access outside opening hours, the camera position in front of the display case and the use of high-resolution image files from the Louvre's archive for postproduction.

Shooting through bullet-proof glass – the technical solution

The Mona Lisa is protected behind thick, climate-controlled bullet-proof glass. Reflections are the biggest challenge; any stray light renders a close-up unusable. For this reason our cameraman Uwe Schwarze worked with a reduced, mobile setup that complies with the museum's safety requirements while still delivering high-quality images.

Tripod, professional camera systems (Sony FS7 and Nikon D800) and exclusively cold light (DEDOLIGHT) – nothing more is needed in front of a 500-year-old original that has to be protected above all else. The calm, precise visual examination of details – the smile, the hands, the misty background with Leonardo's famous sfumato – has become the visual signature of the series.

The camera team: Stephanie Drescher and Uwe Schwarze

Our two-person camera team consisted of author and director Stephanie Drescher and cameraman Uwe Schwarze. A well-rehearsed duo that works fast, quietly and respectfully even abroad and in confined situations – an essential prerequisite without which a shoot day at the Louvre simply does not work.

This lean setup proved itself throughout the entire series: it allows shoots at sensitive locations such as the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Mauritshuis in The Hague or the Belvedere in Vienna without disrupting regular museum operations.

The interview with Vincent Delieuvin – a coup for editorial depth

For substantive depth we were able to secure Vincent Delieuvin, curator of the department of 16th-century Italian painting and one of the world's most renowned experts on the Mona Lisa. His interview – recorded directly in the Salle des États – is the narrative backbone of the episode. Researching such interview partners, approaching them, looking after them in several languages and getting them ready for the interview on location is a classic task of an experienced film production company and a key added value for the client.

From the Louvre to Berlin – the second leg of the shoot with MCCANN

From Paris we continued to Berlin. There we shot the second part of the same episode with Elke Klinkhammer, creative director of the PR agency MCCANN. In 2006 she co-developed the well-known Lufthansa campaign in which the Mona Lisa was staged as a "face of advertising" – a prime example of how an old masterpiece lives on in contemporary advertising. In the interview she explains why the Mona Lisa is "very clear in its composition and very easy to reproduce", why her secret should never be revealed and how advertising works with the recognisability of this icon. We also spoke with Berlin-based cultural scholar Wayra Schübel about the painting's history and its rise to cult status – she is the recurring expert across the entire series.

Postproduction and HD delivery

The material dramaturgy of the series is demanding: original footage from the Louvre meets reproductions, advertising motifs, film clips, caricatures and archive material on the 1911 theft. In our postproduction in Berlin all content was reviewed, translated, dramaturgically edited, colour-graded (colour grading with AVID Symphony on Mac Pro), enhanced graphically (After Effects) and transcoded for HD delivery to Deutsche Welle. The result: a precise, visually strong four-minute report that not only poses the question of what makes an icon but answers it visually.

What you can expect from an experienced film production company

A TV report like this shows what Basiliscus Film delivers as a camera team and film production company from Berlin: research and concept work on equal footing with the editorial team, multilingual permit and production management, a well-rehearsed two-person team for sensitive locations, professional equipment, a reliable postproduction workflow and, in the end, a piece that holds up editorially and convinces visually – from the first shooting concept to the finished broadcast version.