Photography: Chris Frazer Smith's Samsung portraits are brilliantly weird

It was Romain Gavras who directed the epic Samsung advert which was released earlier this year, in which all of the 180 actors and stuntmen (bar the CGI T-rex) were shot on set in what was basically a fancy dress party to blow all others out of the water. Little did we realise, however, that photographer Chris Frazer Smith, who shot the stills for the campaign on a the same, gigantic scale had other plans for the enormous cast used, in order to take full advantage of the immensity of the costume, hair and make-up operation necessary for a shoot of this size. Whenever they weren’t needed in front of the video cameras, Chris ensured he had cast members off-set, shooting their portraits against either a black backdrop or the rural seaside landscape.

So what happens when you shoot portraits of a gang leader, Marie Antoinette, a charioteer, a blue-haired medieval elfin knight and a minotaur, and put them all side by side? The results are surreal, to say the least; the absurdity of the pairings requires serious suspension of disbelief, which, plus the momentary self doubt (“is that an actual cowboy?”) make for a rollercoaster ride of a viewing experience, which is as bizarre and it is brilliant.