Curating the Vibe
The relentless task of the creative who works with other creatives is taking the ideas and concepts from someone else’s mind and making those thoughts a reality. We talk so often about “bringing someone’s vision to life” but we never stop to actually consider the implications of this statement. For the working artist, it is the core of everything that they do. To not only bring this vision to life but to do it well. Every client is different. Every client has different passions, different values, different styles. The job of the artist is to listen and respect the ideas of their client but also be confident enough to give their own suggestions on how to make a project happen. To balance realism with creativity. We find that each project brings a new set of challenges but also a new growing experience as creatives. One lesson that we are continuing to learn is how to curate an atmosphere that will contribute to the success of the final product.
Our Experience
For our shoot with From Scratch, we were shooting both photos and video to highlight their new clothing line. This differed from our usual product photoshoots because we were on location at a small private basketball court in the city of Lancaster instead of in our home studio and we were using natural lighting as opposed to our studio lights. A real run and gun shoot. From the get-go, this created an entirely different vibe for the shoot. It was grounded, authentic, unpretentious, and it was fun! We had a great time connecting with our client and the models for the shoot. Connections are arguably one of our favorite parts of our job so to be able to focus on spending time with people was a delight. Even when we were all freezing on top of a parking garage, it was still such an enjoyable experience. One of the most memorable parts of the day was trying to set up a white backdrop, using only our C-Stands and two sandbags. What we failed to take into account was that shooting in an outdoor location came with its own set of difficulties. The main one being wind. Once at its full height, our white backdrop essentially became a sail. My one job for the shoot became standing behind the backdrop and holding it up, lest it fly off to another street. The only thing you can think about when you are having these experiences is “my job is so weird.” All this was because, to a certain degree, we knew what we wanted the vibe of the shoot to be.
Our Takeaways
Curate the Vibe. What do you what the onset vibe to be? Do you want formal and professional, do you want laid back and casual? Do you want it to be a collaborative experience or do you want to be given exact instructions from the client? To a certain degree, you have the power to decide what the atmosphere will be. The people we work with will vary. What may work for one client may not work for another. It is our job to be able to read the people, read the project and figure out what will work best for them and for us.
Your onset experience influences the final product. This is not something that we immediately think of. We tend to think of the stages of the process as just that; stages. But every step influences what kind of deliverable you end up with. If you don’t plan well enough in pre-production that you may be struggling when it comes to the day of the shoot. And if you don’t keep your cast, crew, and clients comfortable on the set, then you may not have achieved the desired quality for the final project.
Put your clients first. This is obviously not to be taken to the extreme, but when you are building a relationship with your clients you need to respect what they want their on-set experience to be. Collaboration is absolutely invaluable and it is the cornerstone of building solid business relationships.
Conclusion
Every shoot is a growing experience. Working with people who are different from us. Understanding someone else’s vision for a production is a difficult skill to learn. Learning to tell when a project needs to be studio production or a run and gun shoot, curating an atmosphere that meets everyone’s comfort level, making sure that you have made it an experience that everyone would be happy to have again, this is one of the unspoken things that needs to happen when you are working with clients that you are still building relationships.