It’s all in the preparation
Most people ask how we manage to shoot an entire 2 minute commercial in just one day It’s all in the preparation.
First - A creative call kicks off the creation of a great blueprint. The more detailed the visuals, are the clearer the day becomes. You should be able to tell how many actors you’ll need, how many locations you’ll film in and how many moves you’ll need to make throughout the day.
Example 1: A kitchen product is mainly shot in the kitchen and perhaps has some supporting scenes with finished foods at the dinner table & an outdoor table. Total: 3 locations. That day requires the main set up & lighting scenes to be at the kitchen counter, a move and second lighting scene at the dinner table, and a third move to the outdoor table.
Example 2: A lumbar support product can be used in almost any chair so you want to show it used in a wide variety of locations. An office chair, kitchen chair, living room couch, a car, a train or even a plane! You will also most likely want to show a man & a woman using the product so double those locations! That’s 2 offices, 2 kitchen chairs, 2 living room couches, 2 cars etc. That’s a lot of moves in one day and moves take time. Thinking ahead how can you utilize the same room and have 2 different looks? The location should be carefully selected to achieve that goal. You can find homes with 2 office desks in one room, different looking couches in the same living room, and a kitchen table next to a dining room table for different looks.
Next the shot sheet is made. A shot sheet is an order of the day created from the visuals in the script it is a timeline of how your shoot day should look. Some important factors that should be taken into consideration are: talent time constraints, the sun rising/setting, and how many floors (stairs take time) you are filming. When requesting an actor for a shoot be sure to ask if she has any time constraints if you are not done with her scenes & she needs to get home to get kids out of school that could be a problem! The sun rise/set is important for a few reasons the worst time of day to shoot outside is when the sun is exactly overhead (about 12 noon) because it casts harsh shadows on the body. You should also keep in mind in winter months that the sun comes up later/goes down sooner so you also don’t want to plan outdoor scenes too early or too late or you’ll have a night scene! Taking all factors into consideration at the onset allows you to create the most time efficient schedule.
