ON LOCATION: GAME Shoot

Thanks to Jeff and Denise Bein for loaning us their awesome property in Paradise Valley, AZ for this shoot for GAME (Great American Merchandise and Events). Heat was over the top hot (113) but we all had the pool to jump into...crew just peeled off and jumped in for a minute or two several times an hour. Had a video crew out from Jobing.com to shoot some behind the scenes footageand interview me for their "Pursue the Passion" series on cool careers. Pace was brisk on this one...long shot list included product and lifestyle over a couple of days. Thank goodness our production coordinator, Jane kept breaking the crew unilaterally...I would look up from the camera or shot list and the set would be empty...lol, boy when Im in the zone.This shoot was stressful but the truth is it was probably one of the most fun of the year. Working around the kid energy is the best and it can really inspire the creative flow since they are up for just about anything.

Had a pretty fun set where half the crew was in the water...kids, crew, gear. Its one of the things I love about this business...for someone with the attention span of a two year old having things change up from day to day is big.

Had a underwater housing standing by to protect my box but in the end it wasn't worth the cumbersome compromises to shooting. A zip lock bag worked great....had been carrying a few with me since the Fiji shoot. Just screwed a UV lens filter over the plastic and onto the lens and then used a xacto knife to cut away the plastic. This creates a good seal on the lens end. Same thing with the eye piece,

not such a good seal here but good enough. I learned th

is trick from a photographer in Thailand in the mid 80's. It isn't water tight by a long shot but if you don't drop the camera in the drink it is good enough for 98% of what might splash up.

POOL SET-UP - Shooting & Directing kids...

Three kids in this set up. The shot was conceived in pre-producton with the front kid simply getting sprayed by the product and reacting, the young lady and the rear boy are wackin the product and having a good 'ol time doing it. Whats critical here is that the kids have a clear line of sight to their roles. Each is given a specific task or a role to play. As a general rule, I literally show them what we are looking for...basic posing and types of expressions and energy they might try. Very broad stroke direction on the front end and fine tuning once I see what comes out of them naturally. If they get in the zone themselves, I give them a wide berth. If I overdirect, they end up in their heads and spontaneity is lost. It is really hard to get them out once they are pushed there. In the pre-digital days, it wouldn't be unusual to shoot dry (no film) for a few minutes just to get kids comfortable with the shooting conditions and see what their spontaneous energetic reaction to a short set of directions is. When directing kids I always try to hold back on heavy handed direction until I need to...small course corrections only. After they start repeating, then I jump in like a lion tamer.

We had cast enough kids, 7 to get 3 heroes and allow for burn outs. I think we need to put a apple crate under the little girl to get her high enough out of the water too. The boy in the front got worked the hardest, he kept delivering great variety and believability on cue.

Once we started, we were essentially finished shooting inside of about 20 minutes. In post production, we shopped the water a little bit, increased the effective size of the product, erased the C stand that was holding the product in place, a corner of the 12 x 12 and that was about it.

MAKING STYLING DECISIONS ON SET

Like casting decisions, I prefer to put in my 2¢ and back off when it comes to on set styling decisions. It has been my experience that responsibility for the myriad of options that take place while shooting is something that I don't really want. In fact, I often don't even want the stylists to that responsibility either. Unless they are working directly for the client their task is to make a decision, be ready with options and let the client approve or revise. Their job is to execute the AD's vision not take responsibility for it.

It often seems that these never-ending styling decisions (blue goggles or pink?, solid bathing suit or print? should they wear the goggle on there forehead or over their eyes?), are often what the client "would do different" if they could on the back end. They can be hot potatoes. On more than one occasion I've had a "minor" styling call turn out to be the reason a shot was "just OK" instead of great or worse...we have to reshoot something. I rarely fall on my sword about styling calls anymore...let the stylists and ADs earn their keep.

When in doubt, I just shoot a few more minutes with a alternate choice just to cover myself. But beware the "lets just shoot it both ways" syndrome...particularly if it starts to bec

ome a knee jerk reaction to actual decision making. When the shooting schedule is tight...it can eat up a tremendous amount of time. When it comes down to it...the bottom line is the client. If it makes them happy, I shoot it both ways.

LAST SET-UP OF THE DAY

Usually late light is so beautiful it is used as a main...in this case, we would use it as a rim (edge lighting) on our subjects and to do all the work on the background of the shot. This killer light pouring through the trees established the attitude, direction and integrity of the two 500ws dynalite 4040 heads coming in at 45 degrees on either side of the whole set-up. Because of the trees, a significant amount of the sunlit was cut down by the time it hit the kids in the foreground...our rim lights basically just put that light back. In addition to how this would look on the children, this was also the key to bringing out as much definition and detail in the water we c

ould. The set still (right) shows Ken flagging one of these lights from flaring into the lens. Another assistant can be seen flagging the lens from the sun at camera position.

SHOOTING WITH PROTYPES

The manufacturing of new product lines often run behind the deadlines for final art for catalogs, POP displays, packaging and sales sheets. The actual product we shot in this case was a proto-type...if were lucky to have two of them. If we are really lucky one of them will actually work for longer than 15 minutes. In most cases, the prototype has already been through its paces performing other tasks before it gets to the photography stage which means by the time I see them they are often "tired". The crew on this GAME shoot included their company engineer whose task it was to watch over the prototypes and keep them working long enough to complete the photography. Of course, Whenever I hear the word "prototype" I usually expect to also hear the phrase "oh, well we can fix it in photoshop" somewhere down the line too. Even when they work perfectly, they are often only seconds or minutes from breaking down in some way shape or form. Everything comes to a screeching halt as the glue gun or soldering iron appears.

GAME's art director, Gabe Loncsar and VP of Marketing, Traci Feldman are veterans in this industry and are rarely ruffled in these circumstances...in fact, as a general rule they have already anticipated the event and are a step or two ahead of me in assessing what the next logical response should be. Because of the post production options we have today, problems like this are not necessarily definitive shot killers....unless, of course.... they are.

In this case, the product worked just fine for about 30 seconds until our first kid landed right on top of it, breaking it into several pieces. How we lulled ourselves into thinking this wasn't going to happen with three children playing around it at once is pretty crazy....talk a room full of pros in pro production meetings overlooking the most obvious risk. I remember the look on everyone's face when it happened...it was a "of course, exactly what were we expecting?" moment. 20 minutes and three hot glue sticks later it was patched together again we changed course on how to execute the set-up. We agreed that shooting each child individually and then photo shopping everyone together would be the best solution we were looking for. All I really had to do was keep the angle of attack of the camera within a 2' square window and everything would comp together on the back end pretty easily. This approach allowed the children the spacial freedom they needed to focus on the product without worrying about colliding with other children. As I recall, we had 8 kids lined up taking turns running in and around the spinning "Skip N Splash" while I shot and then out again. It became a game unto itself which only added to the energy the kids gave us.

ON LOCATION: SHOOTING PRODUCT & KIDS - Part I of 2

THE CLIENT

One of my favorite clients in Phoenix is GAME - The Great American Merchandise and Event Company. You probably know them as the "rubber ducky" company. This shoot would complete principal photography on several new items in their

product line for catalog and packaging.

THE PRE-SHOOT - August 2, 2008

The Phoenix forecast was predicting temperatures to rise to over 110 degrees. Our crew arrived at 8am to begin work in the relatively cooler temperatures of the morning. Our plan was to be done with shooting the talent by 11am and then continue again from 2:30pm until sun down. This shoot involved children in most of the set-ups and the considerations involved in their comfort and health while working where critical to the success of the shoot. Happily our location had a large pool for the children to play and stay cool in.

A great deal of the production considerations and logistics attached to a commercial shoot like this address talent issues...As there would be as many as 10 children at the location at times, multiple "handlers" to supervise them were required, releases, waivers, food, liquids, umbrellas and "ground rules" for both the children, their parents and a host of other behind the scenes issues had to be addressed by our production team. S.O.P.

The location was a beautiful home in Paradise Valley that boasted an acre of grounds that would afford us plenty of room to shoot, stage equipment, talent and their families, craft service, parking....this was another case of avoiding a myriad of problems right off the bat by knowing what to look for in pre-production during the location scout. In fact, the location was almost too perfect....with the tennis court, trampoline, pool, large play set, rambling lawns and the tempting assortment of toys in many areas of the property belonging to the owners, one of our more serious concerns were the multiple opportunities for our kids to tempted away from supervision by all the opportunities for playing on the grounds. We decided to contain everyone in just one shaded area and allow only the pool to be used with 2 or 3 adults supervising the

m at all times.

THE FIRST SET-UP: BLOCKING & LIGHTING OPTIONS

As a general rule, I want to start blocking the first shot as soon as I arrive on set with the art director.

While our crew is staging and

setting lights we will throw in the product and whom ever is available to stand in and just start to zero in on the basic direction and camera angles we want to focus on and start fine tuning the final positions of the lighting.

When kids are involved, this is when I start pulling them as soon as the stylists are done with them and begin working with them individually to get a feel for who the naturals are and start building trust and a working dynamic...it has been my experience that when everyone is off in their "prep modes" at the very beginning of a shoot the kids are more relaxed because they sense things haven't really started yet. With the art director we start blocking out the first set-up and putting the kids through their paces, determining which of them the best candidates for the "hero" positions in the set-ups to come and which should play the supporting roles. This is where you find out if the ones you hope will be the best are the best...which often isn't the case. While blocking the 1st set-up (pictured above) we also got our first taste of the failure of a protype we were shooting. After about 30 seconds we realized the "Water Tunnel" wasn't pumping out near enough water and we ordered a couple of hoses to be hooked up to add water to the environment.

The shot was back lit by the sun and filled at 1:2 for the packaging requirements...clean with open shadows. On location, I like to use large silks to diffuse, scrim or fill. The natural feel of this type of fill can't be beat but one of the problems encountered with any panel filling is the "squint factor". If it is being used within the eye line of your subjects it can often be quite bright for them to look into... painfully so for some. The client wanted camera eye contact with at least one of the kids and you could see the grimacing almost immediately from them. Oh well, bring on the strobes.

Now our biggest concern was safety. Water, electricity and a dozen people in proximity who are very very grounded. Water would be spraying from three different sources, we had 2 dynalite packs of 500 watt seconds each pumping into two 4040 heads for fill. We had to be sure the packs and cables were off the ground, secured and covered. Nearly everyone would be barefoot in the wet and soon to be muddy grass so the conditions were quite excellent for an accident if we were not vigilant. In a case like this, one of the assistants is assigned the sole task of supervising & watching the packs, cables and heads at all times to be sure they are stable and the children are staying clear at all times. When not shooting the packs are fully discharged and unplugged.

PRODUCTION ISSUES

Our shooting schedule for the day was ambitious...6 separate set-ups in 8 hours. There was really no time or budget to run over. Given the heat, working in the direct sun, the kids and the issues involved with shooting fragile and finicky proto-types (more on this in Part II) there were more than enough variables to cause a unexpected run into overtime. The other unavailable luxury was waiting around while sets were being lit. Basically all the set-ups would have to be pre-lit in leap-frog fashion so I could go from one set to another with no more than 10-15 minutes in between. By the time Im finish with one set-up my 1st Assistant has the set-up ready for me and the art director to approve. After 10 minutes of fine tuning + 5 minutes of talent prep, a final approval from the art director and we are shooting again.

This kind of high volume production environment can be stressful but if the machine runs smoothly and the shots meet the preproduction expectations in terms of light and energy, the client witnesses the kind of bang for their production buck that keeps 'em coming back for more.

I cannot underscore how important having a good 1st Assistant is in accomplishing something like this. For me, this is the most important person on the set....the key to me being able to creatively focus. The 1st knows the gear as well or better than I do, knows lighting too (all of my 1sts are usually excellent photographers themselves). I want to be able to tell him/her where the lights go, what the ratios are, what f-stop/shutter speed range I want to work in and leave the rest them. This is the person that covers my back, I don't have to ask if the lenses or the cameras have been cleaned or the cables have been taped down or the boom arms properly weighted and triple checked. Without real trust in my 1st, I cannot spend the time I have to with the art director, client and the talent. At its best, this relationship becomes highly collaborative...I tell 'em what I want the shot to look like, show them the comps from pre-production, tell them how I think it should be executed and turn 'em loose. More often than not their own input and experience takes everything to a even higher level. More often than not there are also several interns on set...the 1st is also responsible for supervising and directing their efforts.

What's true is, this dynamic is applicable to every person working the set...the client, art director, photographer, producer, coordinators, stylists, assistants... when it is all in sync...when everyone is finding balance between commitment to their own individual tasks but is also in service to everyone else...when there is harmony in the collaboration you end up exceeding client expectations synergistically...it becomes unavoidable. No matter how you crunch the numbers, 2 + 2 will always ends up equaling 5.

SHOOTING KIDS: THE GREAT UNKNOWN

Casting had been completed by the GAME's marketing department. Not all of the children cast for the shoot were professional, some had been selected from the families and friends of company employees. While this kind of casting decision isn't uncommon, it is hardly rare either. It does present significant shooting concerns as children who are unfamiliar with working on a commercial photography set are unknown quantities when they arrive. Regardless of how perfect they look for the job, when push comes to shove this is work and children who are unfamiliar with the expectations don't always rise to meet those expectation and in fact, can be intimidated by the pressure to perform particularly if their parents are in close proximity. It can be unpredictable. Responsibility for getting the best out of the talent is always the photographer's. My experience working with children and other models who are not pros is often very helpful in winning a job in a competitive bid situation...it isn't brain surgery but it does require sensitivity, patience, a commitment to listening and having a natural intuition about the best way of interacting with each person. It is also important to know when to let go and pull in the next child waiting in the wings.

One interesting aside about the presence of parents on set....it isn't always a helpful thing. Parents being parents often step in with direction, correction, love, encouragement, frustration, etc. when their children are up to bat...sort of like parents in the bleachers during a little league game. At the same time, a parent's mere presence on set can make their child self conscious. If I am sensing that young talent Im working is holding back, this is usually the first possibility I check out. My wife Jane who is the studio's production coordinator is always incredibly helpful at times like these too. She has seen me eject parents on more than one occasion...it is a last resort kinda thing but it is not unusual for a gentle request to a parent to leave for a while. In these cases, the parents are usually more on tilt than their child so leaving is often as greater a relief to them as it is to their kid.

COMING UP NEXT - Part II

Shooting Children, Styling Considerations & Keeping the Light Flexible.

WATCH VIDEO COVERAGE
OF THIS PHOTO SHOOT!

Jobing.com asked me to participate in a video profile series they produced called "Pursue the Passion". Brett Farmiloe's interview with me and behind the scenes "B" roll coverage took place during this shoot. You can watch this interview and some of the shooting action here:
Pursue the Passion: On Location with Chris Barr.