Special K 'Dare to Wear Red' Digital Banner Shoot
On Tuesday I was the production assistant for a shoot at Holborn Studios in London, the client was Kelloggs and the shoot was for a group of moving and still images for digital banners. The idea was: a woman walks down some stairs and looks at her reflection in the mirror and walks on. So, once everyone was introduced to each other we brought in the kit and got the heavy stairs from a van. On the shoot there was: the director, two producers, the DOP, a photographer, gaffer, a stylist, hair/make-up, two runners, art dept assistant, the model and also the clients and the agent.
Firstly, the mirrors were unwrapped and touched up by the art dept along with the stairs, as everything was white and clean. The lights, the camera, and a monitor for the camera were all set-up. I assisted the DOP, Charlie, by standing-in for the model whilst he set-up the lights for the first shot (a MS over the shoulder as she steps into frame, looks at herself in the mirror and walks on). It was also decided on having a frame rate of 50, the end result could then be slowed down. Later on in the shoot, they re-did this shot as the frame rate had managed to change to 25fps. Most of the shots had lens flare, so a torch was shined into the lens to create an interesting effect.
Whilst the location was being set-up and ready on schedule, we waited another hour for the model to appear from hair and make-up to begin shooting. The clients were stood behind the camera with the director to oversea each shot, the director made sure they were happy; whilst I topped them up with tea and coffee. During the first few shots, I was asked by the producer to log each shot to make it easier for the edit and comment on whether it was a good take and was banner size it would be.
There was a break between filming when a photographer came in and took some shots of the model. He shot tethered to his computer so we could see the shots straight away and have a good look through them. I was shown the story-boards for the shoot on an ipad.
We then shot the model descending the white staircase in various shots and I operated the wind-machine. Overall, it was really fun to watch, even if it was a lot of waiting around. The production team worked well together in a professional way. I met other aspiring directors and writers; one of the runners has done a few other jobs on music videos, I asked him what his most favourite/memorable shoot he has done so far is and it was a tour video with 'The Saturdays'. The other runner has been writing a feature length documentary for a few years. And I also talked to the art dept assistant, her first job was working on the set for Law and Order UK and she has worked on various other films in the art department. Overall, it was a great experience, everyone got along well, the studio provided amazing sandwiches and I've met some lovely people.
