“The Passion, the People, the Process – The Players That Make a Video Come To Life”
September 30th, 2009 - Written by AdminAs mentioned, Hotcakes New Media’s director and co-director worked as a pair on To The Rescue’s music video. They each brought a different approach and focus to directing and working in this way allowed them to get the best of both worlds. David’s approach was more practical and actor driven. His focus was ensuring that the actors were giving a credible performance. Andy’s approach was more artistic and subdued. He gave the actors more leeway in the performance, but focused on the overall look of the footage. Together, they were able to get the performance they needed and the look they wanted.
Finally – the various production assistants…
The “PAs”, as they are called, are the glue that holds the set together, the people who do the grunt work and tend to the fine details that are small yet crucial and quite significant when it comes down to getting everyone on the set properly organized. They type up the scripts and pass them out. They produce the timing schedules, keep logs for post- production, deal with artists’ payments and schedules and coordinate and attend planning meetings. They also act as the right hand man or woman for the director – and everyone else needing a hand – on the set. They really do a lot of the running around to ensure that the continuity on the set is maintained; Their “to do” list is endless and without limitations really.
This was my role for two scenes in the “Are You Bulletproof?” video. The PAs for this project performed a number of duties: We helped to move lighting as directed; we got actors to sign their release forms, we helped move the crowd in the band scenes; we even ran cables (this is when someone holds the cables and follows the camera operator closely to ensure that cables don’t get unplugged – and nobody trips). It is a busy and tiring job, but the shoot would not be possible without the PAs.
The spoken word…
Of course, if you have any dialogue in your video, you will have a writer on staff who will have consulted with the Director and provided those spoken words to bring about clarity and add a dimension of interest to a situation being played out in the scenes.
Expect The Unexpected
I think that we have everyone just about covered here. But before I leave it there, I will mention that we also had a few make-up artists on some of the sets, and we can’t forget the editor and post-production artist, who was responsible for bringing all of the footage together to deliver the final product. These are the players behind the players who make it all happen for our viewing pleasure. But one must remember that even the best planning can never fully protect you from unexpected complications. No one said that making a music video was easy and with the world as the stage, there are bound to be uncontrollable factors that would add challenges and a little bit of drama to the process.
Most music video projects involve a small budget that may require that the production company use their creativity, their connections and readily available resources for actors, extras, props and locations for the video. This involves great networking skills and a list of contacts in your corner. It’s not impossible, but it can prove to be time consuming and difficult if your plan does not come together seamlessly.
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