WEEK 1

(Day 5) The art of doing nothing and everything

4/10/2022

(DAY 3-4 were work-from-home days with small tasks such as finding references and presenting ideas to the AE department)

The art of doing nothing and everything, a crash course into the industry and talking to strangers

I could only imagine what production was like, and only generally with barely any specific detail. I had no idea how things worked and couldn’t get a full grasp of it in the research I had done.

The team deliberately kept details from me until the morning of that day, giving me the duty of that day, giving me the duty of filming behind the scenes and interviewing the stylist as the project was related to fashion and has over 40 looks prepared for the shoot. Both tasks were things I had heard of and seen online, though have never really done by myself, and let alone do it without doing any research the day before.

When considering creative direction, I always thought that the work just ended at selling the client the final idea. However, they also had to be present throughout the entire production and post-production process to ensure that the actual product actually matched what they had planned as well as taking in clients’ comment/criticisms to make adjustments as well as coming up with solutions to any problem that would arise. This duty included being their during the entire shooting of the commercial.

At the film shoot, a majority of the time was spent sat down and looking at the monitor of what was being filmed, and an even greater time was spent waiting for sets and actors to be changed; it was a lot of nothing and everything at the same time.

There, I was fascinated by the inner-workings of a production, observing in detail how everything operated with each other- the client made requests to the AE manager, who would then relay it to the creative directors, who had to figure out a solution and present that to the manager or producer who would then relay it to the director/production staff to make these changes.

A role that really captured my attention was the live editor who put the filmed videos together in real time or replaced green screens with backgrounds within minutes of it being shot so that the clients could see the finished look right there and decide if they were happy with it or not without having to imagine what anything would look like after post-production days later.

Being there was a completely foreign experience, especially when I had to walk around trying to take videos on my phone without being in anyone’s way. It was stranger – I was approved to film yet I felt a constant anxiety of being questioned by strangers that I was technically working with. I tried my best to be as polite and non-invasive as possible, though some staff members were also nervous about being filmed.

I utilized my skills in being an overachiever in class to try and come up with questions that would incite insightful answers, minutely worried that the questions were too shallow or not worth asking. The stylist was very open and slightly nervous and found one of the questions difficult to answer.

I came to the studio at 7am and left somewhere close to midnight – again, not because they had finished but because the manager thought I looked tired and arranged for a van to drive me home first. I couldn’t imagine being the main model who had to be in every scene, was already filming when I arrived and was still filming by the time I was in bed, with another schedule tomorrow for a photoshoot.

The day had been hectic yet slow, though it managed to wear me out anyway, and I was plunged into experiencing the industry firsthand.