Hell for the 21st century

Burning up Visual production studio Salon Alpin has updated the circles of Dante’s Inferno in an atmospheric cinema spot for a newspaper

Founded in 2011, Austrian visual production studio Salon Alpin creates a range of work that focuses on good ol’ fashioned storytelling. For Philipp Comarella, the studio’s co-founder, illustrating a modern, eight-level journey through Hell meant delivering a clear style that carried with it simple statements.

The distinctive new cinema spot for Austrian newspaper Falter is filled with

January 2016 contemporary trappings, from smartphone jails to factory farms. Luckily for Philipp, the creative side was “heavenly”, as he worked closely with advertising agency Jung von Matt/Donau to develop a script that satisfied time and budgetary limitations.

As a small company, Salon Alpin uses regular hardware to create their images. “Frame-by-frame animation was blocked in Photoshop, then brought into After Effects for additional composition,” Philipp explains. “All particles are recorded live action footage. We basically filmed real dust blown into the air by our vacuum cleaner!”

The spot was created in two months, and only introduced colour to accompany the paper’s strap line of ‘Get me out of here’. With the brief specifying greyscale, the colour scheme was expanded after a long dispute. “It was the right call to keep it as dark as possible, because it emphasises the timeless relevance of society’s problems,” says Philipp. “However, we added colour later for the print ads.”

Learn more about Salon Alpin and watch Falter Inferno at

Philipp said he felt inspired by the work of Sergio Toppi and Mike Mignola.

Finishing an illustrated scene in Photoshop sped up production.