Beyond the Lens with Kyndall

I’ve never had a dull day working with Grova Creative. I get to spend my time learning all about the creative ins-and-outs of marketing and advertising by creating blog posts, making graphics, performing research, and most recently, going to a video shoot. Having never been to anything even remotely close to a professional shoot like this one, I knew my job would include taking some behind the scenes pictures for social media but other than that, I had no idea what to expect. My not-so-typical day out of the office was fast-paced to say the least and after seeing just how much actually goes into a shoot like this one, I could go on and on about all of the things that I learned. But, if I had to sum everything up, it would be in three take away points:

1.Planning everything, and then plan it again.

When I arrived at the location, the setup process was already in full swing. What looked like a typical warehouse on the outside was entirely transformed on the inside, complete with everything from a professional lighting setup to a fog machine. While I was walking into the setup of what seemed like it could be a bigtime action movie, immediately the extent of how much planning goes into something like this became very clear. I knew that planning beforehand was a crucial step, but I had no idea to what extent. As the day went on, I realized that every single step of this shoot was meticulously planned out. From the wardrobe, to the people in each shot, all the way down to the color of the lighting, everything was planned out to a T. For me, this was a major lesson because while I knew that planning should go into any kind of work, I never realized to what extent a detailed plan can make a difference in a situation like this. With what seems like a million moving parts, there’s definitely no guarantee that everything will fall into place but I learned that a detailed plan can help set you up to prepare for anything that might throw a wrench in your video shoot.

2. Keep your eye on the details.

You never see people on television or in videos with wrinkly shirts. It’s something that completely makes sense but never crossed my mind until I got to go behind the scenes on this video shoot. As it turns out, creating a polished appearance and getting the right feeling from a video is all about having an attention to detail. Staging for a video runs down into the tiniest of details, from picking the perfect props for each shot all the way to making sure everyone’s shirt is crisp and lint-free. The warehouse location for this particular shoot just so happened to be without A/C, something that may seem minor but in Tallahassee in the middle of July, it’s major. Along with heat, cameras and lights inevitably comes sweat, a small detail that may go unnoticed in person but will definitely make a difference on-screen. Making sure everyone looked the part before joining the shoot was a great experience, and I got to learn how big of a difference the details really make.

3. Collaboration is key. 

Out of everything that I learned and got to see at this video shoot, the one thing that stood out the most to me was the teamwork. This shoot had a lot of different parts and a lot of different people, the audiovisual setup crew, the camera and photography crew, the crew from Grova and of course, the client, TSPARK, whose employees were the on-screen stars of the show. I was continuously impressed throughout the day at everyone’s willingness to chip in and do whatever it takes to create an awesome project. I learned a lot from the different crews there, like the fact that those smooth and seamless camera shots you see on television take a lot more work than you’d think, and having the right people behind the camera makes a world of a difference (shoutout to Copeland Productions). The willingness of everyone at TSPARK to jump out of their comfort zone and get in front of the camera met with the dedication and expertise of everyone working hard behind the screen is what I think made the biggest difference in this project. The energy somehow remained higher than the hot temperatures throughout the day and every single person on set was ready to lend a helping hand wherever or whenever it was needed.

Going into this experience, I was excited to go to my first professional video shoot but I had no idea what I was walking into. I got to spend the day learning all kinds of things about video production by actually seeing it first-hand. Meeting all of the people and crews involved and seeing the hard work that goes on behind the scenes was an awesome experience and one that I’m proud to have been a part of. So while the final project has finally launched, I know that this is going to be one for the books and I’m glad I got to play a small role in making it happen.

Written by: Kyndall Oakley, Grova Creative

Photo credit: Mike Schwarz Photography