In September of 2022 we had a massive two day shoot with three connected dental practices from the Hills District in Sydney. The goal was to showcase the patient’s smiles and to explain their personal smile journey. As well as get the dentists to educate and show off their personalities. We had lots of jokes planned throughout the day to make both the patients and dentists laugh. We will be editing lots of Instagram Reels, TikToks, Youtube Shorts and Youtube videos from the footage captured.
Let’s break the blog post down into 5 important components when it comes to a studio production.
1. Hair & Makeup
Sleepless nights and long days can make you look tired that’s one reason why hair and makeup is vital, especially, on a studio shoot.
Nichole Lee Makeup was one of our hair & makeup artists on the shoot. We got in touch to see if she’d like to be interviewed for our blog and she was very keen.
Q: Why do you love makeup? What made you get into it?
A: I love makeup because it can automatically make someone feel ready and confident!
I got into it because I was always interested in drawing, painting and crafts. I use to go through my mum’s makeup when I was little and play with it. I would watch my mum put makeup on and thought it was just so intriguing!
I have a background in fashion, so editorial and photoshoot has always been part of my life and now to combine makeup into the mix, it just makes sense.
Q: What was it like working with multiple talents on the same day? What sort of preparation do you need to do beforehand for a shoot of that scale?
A: Working on multiple talents on the same day can be stressful, normally because it needs to keep to time restraints of the day. But it is also fun and exciting to meet different people and I love the fast pace!
To prep for a large scaled shoot, I usually like gathering as much information as possible from the producer or the photographer/videographer, such as: a moodboard, brief, talent list and runsheet so I can have an exact game plan of what to expect on the day of filming.
Q: Whats the most important part of the face to focus on in editorial or is every face different?
A: I think every face is different and especially for editorial, there is at least one feature I can focus on for every person. Although I do love a good skin!
2. Studio & logistics
We had the challenge of finding a studio in the hills district area and stumbled across the fantastic Smack Studios after lots of research. The most important thing for us was to have a space for hair & makeup and for the studio floor to be soundproof. Unfortunately, the studio floor was not soundproof which was mildly concerning given that it was in a concrete factory complex, but we brought some thick drop matts to dampen the sound and filmed on a weekend which was their quieter days. The staff were really transparent with us, which is amasing in this day and age. Thankfully the audio turned out brilliant. Smack Studio is a new favourite of ours!
The preparation for this shoot was enormous, especially because we were filming 150+ videos over the 2 days. In this situation you really have to tick all the boxes and make sure you’re communicating clearly with everyone. Things are naturally always going to go wrong, but you put contingencies in place so you’re covered. As you can imagine lots of sleepless nights and zoom calls went into making this shoot a success. I even flew over to Sydney from London to direct this production.
We use google docs and google sheets to plan out our shoots so that client’s can easily collaborate live with us if they choose. The google suite seems to be the most popular platform for collaborating with clients. Most client’s understand how it works.
3. Camera operators and their gear
We had 3 camera operators on this shoot with 4 cameras in total. Every angle was captured in glorious 4k. It’s important for our camera operators to focus on the viewfinders whilst the producers oversee and worry about the other components of the shoot, such as: schedules and preparing/interviewing talent.
The crew tend to arrive an hour earlier than anyone else, we call this “BUMP IN”. In that time they’re setting up all the gear in the correct places and securing it all safely. It is usually fairly quick, because the set up is pre-planned and mapped out. You can also see the camera operators and producers downing pints of black coffee or Redbull.
They will tend to quickly feed themselves and then go back to work before anyone else. The camera operators are the real stars of the day. On this shoot we had a slow-mo shot of golden confetti falling over the patients final smiles. The camera operators needed to set up ladders to drop the confetti from and compose the shot for the best visual aesthetic. All our camera operators have public liability insurance.
Camera Operators will also stay later than most as well, so they can pack down (this usually take 30 minutes) and it’s called “BUMP OUT”.
4. Sound
Sound is very important on any shoot and it’s the big reason for what makes it professional over an amateur one. We had 3 sources of audio to allow for some backup incase of corruption and thankfully we did, because a couple interviews had some audio issues. Knowing this just comes comes with experience. There is nothing worse then filming for 16 hours with a client’s budget only to find none of it is useable. Depending on the size of shoot sometimes we will get a dedicated sound operator in if we feel it needs it.
5. Catering
Oh catering! the favourite part of the shoot! On our shoots it’s important we ask everyone for their dietary requirements. We get healthy/tasty food so that the energy levels remain high. For this shoot we got Vietnamese rolls with snacks and drinks. It’s important to have caffeine and bottles of water ready at all times.
That's a Wrap!
In conclusion, this shoot was so much fun for all involved. We can’t wait for you to start seeing the video and photo content from the 2 days.
To learn more about our process in detail read 5 vital steps for super-effective dental video content.
We’re no strangers to working with dental clients – from Invisalign™️ to Digital Smile Design, we’ve seen it all – and we know how to create deeply engaging content that connects prospects to your products and services.
Want to work with us to bring your vision to life? Schedule a meeting below. Let’s grab a virtual coffee.