This came up on a shoot recently in the SF Bay Area: everyone on your shoot has some basic physical needs that you need to prepare for in your planning, scheduling, and execution. I know this sounds silly, but I can’t tell you how many times a day has been planned with no time for breaks to use the bathroom; no periods, however short, to catch a breath between set or location changes; or to spend 30 minutes contemplating a tuna sandwich and an apple. These are not nice-to-haves – they’re critical for the effective functioning of your crew (I had the DP mention to me, specifically, as we rounded 4:00 pm with no lunch break, that he was getting concerned about making errors). Plan for having humans on your shoot and accommodating their very-human needs.
Protip: have extra-long straws available for your female speakers to use (I snatch one or two from Starbucks when I grab that morning’s cappuccino) when drinking from a water bottle – they’ll appreciate that their lip gloss doesn’t smear while they sip.
ACTION ITEM: Be sure to incorporate the physical requirements of talent and crew in your production schedule
Despite my contributions to this blog (and other social media platforms), I’m not generally a big fan of social media for reasons best described a couple of weeks ago by a SF Bay Area-based producer friend. She’s used the example of making corporate videos: our real lives are like the entirety of a videotaped interview with all the glitches and outtakes, hemming and hawing, and derailed trains of thought. Whereas the bits our friends and associates post are their best clips, free of hesitancy, awkwardness, and doubt. I think the real injury is, sometimes, comparing our raw footage with others’ “best-of” clips when the two are not really comparable at all.
Ever wonder what it takes to set up for a video interview? Wonder no longer – here’s the entire setup, from start to finish, in a 30-second time-lapse video shot with a GoPro camera from about 2009.
Had another one of those weird flights (London Heathrow to SFO) where the plane is almost empty. Love getting a row to myself, but it’s a little bit creepy, too.
I actually like flying in and out of SFO, but this stuff drives me bananas, not least because I feel for visitors from out-of-state, especially those for whom English is not their primary language. When you step out of Baggage Claim, you’ll find your shuttle at the blue and white painted curb. See it?
Of course not, and it’s ridiculous to think you can. That’s okay, just follow the signs helpfully printed in 8 point Helvetica…
… because of course SFO needs to make its signs all but unreadable at any distance longer than your arm. Oh, there it is.
See, all you have to do is push your nostrils into it:
ACTION ITEM: How is your organization making it needlessly difficult for users to get their grubbies on your product or service?
Returned recently from a job in New Zealand, landed around 6:00 am on a Sunday at SFO. I drove over the Bay Bridge toward home, paused a moment on Treasure Island, snapped this pic of the San Francisco skyline.
Rolland Video Blog 