Budgeted for a twelve hour day…
You are always racing the clock. It’s not a normal job where you punch in at 7:58 and count the hours until break and lunch and time to go home. The crew gets there early, breakfast eaten and trucks are unloading before they are even on the clock. Every department humming. Grip and electric loading in, steamer going in wardrobe, talent is in the chair, and ADs and PAs are sending vital information over walkies. I love the beehive buzz of a set early in the morning. Check the camera angle, block the shot, change the hairstyle to something a little looser, approve the placement of the artwork, and talk over timing with script.
And sometimes there are days you do this times three. Company moves, changing locations, or gosh, even changing spots. Three. That’s the most spots I have shot in one day. Your heart never stops pounding. You pray that you and the client and the agency will be in sync because you probably don’t have time for a long discussion about, well, anything, really.
But I do love the logistics. Yep, the mere logistics can be fascinating in their challenge. We can figure this out, you say, weeks before as you look at Storyboards that involve one spot in a high-rise office interior, one in a restaurant, and yet another – wait – is that spot following a teenage girl through a typical day? Yes. That is what it is. And two of them have product shots, one is just an art card. Two are sync sound, one is MOS. And we need to shoot it all in one day? Yes. Okay…
So the morning is on the stage, for the sync sound spots. There is a two-wall set with a translight of a cityscape outside the office windows, and the other set is built deep with tables and chairs to look like a busy restaurant. Shoot the product right there on each set, in their environment in record time. Break for lunch, then take off for location.
Our location scout has found a private school where we can shoot exteriors and interiors that afternoon as we follow this darling teen girl though her day. Dress the science classroom as a kitchen, with a valance over the windows, a toaster and a pitcher of orange juice, she passes a note to a girlfriend while her teacher writes on the board in another classroom, girls gather at their lockers in the hallway, and outside we find a grassy path along a fence to walk the dog and a field to practice soccer in, and the sun goes down. We made our day. Now breathe.
Want to watch it?
Pamprin - Beautiful Day.
