The preprod of this piece took more than the prod and the postprod. How to find a creative two-line video to communicate the problem and the solution?!
The answer was by extensively brainstorming ideas and offering the client beat options then executing it to be a KISS: keep it simple and stupid. A great method I learned in Norway working with creatives there.
The storyboard was created to communicate all the ideas and the client had the chance to see the video upfront before we even pressed the red record button.
One important takeaway from Pre-Prod: always recommend to the client what you like, listen to what they think, communicate about what is the best, and always compensate til you (both) find the best idea that communicates the message.
In Prod, it was easier: since we had the storyboard approved, all that we needed to do was to realize this fabulous artificial intelligence well-prompted pictures to reality. Easy, ain’t it?!
It was a nice opportunity to try something new: The FPV helmet from Tilta. It was comfortable with the counterweight balance that was rented from Ostron.
We worked on minimizing all the rich details in the living room to make sure that the focus remained on the USB-C cable and nothing else.
Two main challenges arose: characters and lightning. Since the DoP had to be the FPV person we had to choose one person that appeared quickly and reached with care to ask: “Did you pack ALL your chargers?!”
Even though it sounds like one sentence anyone could do it. It took more than just saying it. The walk-in, the posture, the eye language, the facial expressions and finally being a person with energy that does not take the video out of its context: it was easy to pick the filmmaker Kaye Van Loon. Even though she does not believe in her acting skills in front of the camera, we all feel she did the exact correct amount of acting naturally and delivered easily all aforementioned aspects.
The lighting was more technical and it was solved by getting the correct gear at the correct spot tuned correctly by me. Aputure Europe made it possible by offering all the solutions that were needed in a wide range of products: Aputure 600D, Aputure 300Dmii, Infinibar PB6, and PB3.
The Post-Prod was the easiest task as we did a one-shot. That did not stop our creative post-producer from wrapping some of the moves to make it more dynamic. Good communication with the team in EU Business helped to arrange all the GFX and VFX.
At the end, in 20 sec. Only comms and filmmakers can see all the work behind the scenes. I am so thankful for the social media team in DG Grow, the comm team, and the crew of El3ttar Films.
