Meet Nice Groceries, the creatives shaking up the production agency model with the slow craft of analogue film

California-based creative production agency Nice Groceries turns one this month, and, although the studio is only a year old, the team have headed up some incredible campaign work for brands like Patagonia and Salomon, shot a film on Super 8 with actress Chase Infiniti for The Wrap Book and even produced a short documentary of their own: Echoes Through Stone on the art of stone carving.

All of the agency’s commercial work is fueled by a passion for the preservation of film: “We love working with different types of media, from MiniDV to 16mm – of course, we work frequently in digital, but our creative inspiration and tone always point back to all things analog,” founder Annie Woods tells us. Film’s texture and physicality is certainly a presence in Nice Groceries’ campaigns and its concepts are tied up in its slow and thoughtful use. The agency’s independent short Echoes Through Stone for example, is meant to evoke the feeling of labor and the touch that goes into the near-extinct art of stone carving through the roughness and tactility of 16mm. To find inspiration for these kinds of self directed projects Annie has a list of well-loved directors that they keep coming back to, including the work of Alice Rohrwacher, Agnès Varda, Wim Wenders and Robert Altman.

Always narrative focused, and imbued with a feeling of timelessness, the creative company’s moving image work is ultimately here to make you feel something, whatever the subject: “All good art holds emotion, I think being in tune with your emotions allows you to listen and hear your instincts loud and clear,” Annie shares. For the director, this commitment to a slower creative process like film isn’t something you can always predict: “Sometimes you’re parched in the idea desert, a deadline looming and then a lightning bolt hits out of nowhere, and suddenly you know exactly what to do. That’s the high I’m always chasing,” Annie ends.