Top 5 tips for a smoooooooooth production
Running a shoot ain’t easy. Sure, anyone can hire a photographer, ask them to turn up and hope for the best. But add in talent, styling, set dressing, lighting, sound - and suddenly you’ve got a whole crew of people who are all looking at you to tell them what to do next. Or worse, they’re doing their own thing with no direction at all.
That’s where good production comes in. When it’s there you won’t even know it. An invisible accomplice. A silent assassin. Things don’t miraculously run to schedule, stay on budget and come out looking incredible. It’s all been orchestrated by one of the greatest conductors of all - the producer. (Not to toot my own horn, as it were, but producers are bloody brilliant).
From recces and schedules, to mind-reading and things going wrong - grab a cuppa and have a read of the things we’ve learned (often the hard way) over the years. Producer friends, photographer fellows and brands alike - we’d love to hear what top tips you have on your list and if they're the same as ours!
1 - Never underestimate the importance of a recce
Measure twice, cut once. The humble reconnaissance is your secret weapon. Use it on every shoot if you can. No amount of poring over Google street view can compete with actually being in the physical space you’ll be shooting in. You need to experience that environment ahead of the shoot. Only once there will you be able to see where the lighting is best, which angles will work for you, what equipment you might need. And if you’re on location you can only understand the noise, the busyness, the sun, and the challenges when you see the location for yourself. A recce helps the team hit the ground running on shoot day, and puts your client at ease.
2 - Learn to be a mind reader
This is a skill you need to learn and hone the more shoots you do. Keeping a temperature gauge of how everyone is doing on set is one of the key elements to it running smoothly. Anticipating people’s needs before they even know them will earn you kudos and prevent disasters from happening. It all beings with asking the right questions, getting to know everyone on set, noting what people are gravitating towards at the snack table, asking how they’re feeling that day. A well-timed whipping out of a KitKat Chunky to the right person could make all the difference, so be observant. Do the brand team need a drink? Is the photographer getting hangry? Are those kids about to have a meltdown which could be avoided with the swift production of some chocolate buttons and a game of snap? These premonitions will save your bacon time and again, and keep you ahead of the game.
3 - Be a realist with your schedule
Optimism is great and - don’t get me wrong - we love to squeeze every last drop of value out of our time shooting on location. But when it comes to scheduling we’ve learnt that it pays to be realistic and err on the side of caution. You need to think of every possibility and make time for it in the schedule, allowing time for not just the obvious things, but all those other things which you may deem insignificant. Those are the things that suck up time. Wardrobe changes, client approvals (and amends!), transporting cast and crew from A to B, set dressing and so much more can be real time suckers. Plus, you need to have some wriggle room for things to go wrong. It’s no use creating a schedule that’s unrealistic, just to make the client or photographer happy. The only person that will come back to bite at the end of the day is you - so keep it real, and be honest with the time you need.
4 - Communicate communicate communicate
Okay, so I know this sounds basic. But we learnt this the hard way during an incident when Matt was up a slide and I was lost in a changing room - a story for another time. You always need to be able to get hold of your team, at all times. And vice versa. So for us, radios are an essential piece of kit on any shoot, no matter the size. Be like Captain Lee (and Below Deck fans in the building?) and make it clear it just won’t fly if people leave their radio around or turn it off. Ask the team to over communicate if anything, speak out on radio if they step away from set, update you if they’ve completed a task, and let you know if they’re free to help. Radio chat should be clear and concise, particularly if it’s a busy shoot with lots of case on location.
5 - Expect the unexpected
So you’ve done your recce. You’ve made your schedule. Your team is happy and communicating. It’s all going well. “I’ve nailed it,” you say to yourself, “this is a piece of cake!” But then you’re out shooting on the beach, and one of the kids needs a wee. The model dog you had to convince the client to pay for won’t behave. The monitor’s stopped working. The photographer’s got a headache. And there’s a suspiciously dark ominous cloud looming over the horizon. Now what?
Well, here’s the secret.
Perhaps the biggest part of making a production run smoothly is knowing that it won’t.
Once you accept that your impeccably made plan is likely not to be executed to perfection, you can open up the ability to adapt and be flexible. You’ll need to make calm, quick decisions and be honest with your team about the situation and how you plan to deal with it. The only certainty is that something will come up that you haven’t planned for, and when that time comes you need to accept it with open arms and a smile.
You’ll figure it out - you always do.
