TV advertising, a project manager's retrospective
How does a foreign TV commercial work and what should you know in advance?
These were some of the questions we didn't have the answers to when we agreed to be production managers for an international TV commercial. The client was a multinational company based in Germany and was used to working with the most sought-after advertising agencies and film companies in the industry. The project was to be filmed in Brazil and had to be completed 75 days later.
In this blog post, I want to share the most important lessons we learned from this production. I have divided them into 5 points;
Find the right local people to work with.
Screen models and get them approved by the customer.
Find recording locations.
Set up a detailed day plan.
Be prepared to work around the clock.
My name is Nicolai, partner and project manager at Reisefilm. The aim of this blog post is to shed light on the complexities of executing a foreign film production, as well as share my experiences.
Finding the right local people to work with
One of the first things we did was to find a local company that could help us with production. We were going to a place we had never been before and needed "boots on the ground" to locate filming locations and purchase the necessary equipment we would need. After sending out a few emails and conducting video meetings, we landed on a company that inspired confidence. The company set aside two people to assist us during production, one on the administrative side and one "fixer", named Pedro. It was extremely important to land the right fixer as this person would act as our right-hand man before and during production.
"Fixer" is a word for a jack-of-all-trades. This person should take active ownership of the project and must be familiar with the local customs, language and places we will be visiting. We did our research and couldn't be happier with the person we got on board.
I'd like to emphasize how important it is for the fixer to be good at working with people, taking initiative and handling unforeseen events.
An example of this was when we went out to an island to film. The island turned out to be crowded that day, and time after time our fixer managed to clear the locations in a very good way with his interpersonal skills.
Another example was when we were filming at a location and a local security guard ended up stopping the filming because he thought we didn't have permission to film there. Even though we had permission, it wasn't easy for the guard to understand this, and here our "fixer" solved this with patience and a positive attitude.
Another important aspect of having a good fixer is how the customer experiences the production. Our client sent down a person to oversee the production, and it was very reassuring for both us and the client that the fixer was in control of all the locations we went to. This helped to create a good experience overall.
In addition to this, the company our fixer worked for helped suggest accommodation, make-up artists, drivers and clothing designers. They also helped us to apply for permits to film, and to purchase various items we would need for the production.
Picture of Pedro (the man, the "I got it", the fixer) and me -on the job.
Models
Since this was an international TV commercial, the models had to have different ethnic backgrounds so that as many people as possible could relate to the content. This turned out to be one of our strengths as several of the people in Reisefilm have traveled the world in recent years, forming a network of people who were relevant candidates. We made a presentation of the people we thought might be suitable, and agreed with the customer relatively quickly on who we should use. The result was six people from Norway, the USA, Australia and the Philippines.
Important to keep in mind when you are responsible for the management of models:
VISA & Vaccine
A critical task is to get all the models to submit applications for permission to enter the country as quickly as possible. The processing of applications varies, and for some people it was literally burning a hole in the ground. We also found that Brazil is not always good at communicating information in a way that is easy for foreigners to understand, which made this process even more time-consuming.
Also remember to check which types of vaccines are required and which are recommended.
Logistics & security
Communicate to the models early on that there may be one or two extra days beyond the planned production days. On this project, we had decided to use 5 production days in total, but some of the models had to spend 7 days in Brazil due to flights.
Rio de Janeiro has a lot of crime and there are cases where tourists have gotten into fake taxis and been robbed. This meant that we had to get people we trusted to pick up the models when they landed, this was arranged by our fixer.
Plan how you're going to move between locations. We hired 1 maxi-taxi and a production van so that we could move between all the locations quickly. This also means you'll need to budget for food, accommodation and salaries for two extra people to act as drivers.
Make a list with the contact details of all the people involved in the project and hand it out to everyone. There are a lot of people to manage on a large production and you won't know where everyone is at all times.
Costs
Flying people from all over the world is expensive and it's important to keep this in mind when budgeting for a project. We clarified this with the customer from the start and agreed that the actual cost would be covered by the customer.
Other costs to note when creating a budget are accommodation, food, drivers, makeup artists, clothing designers, clothing, production items, and any other small items to survive where you are, like mosquito spray in Brazil's forests.
Recording locations
"We started looking for places to film early on. This is where our fixer came in, Pedro traveled tens of miles ahead of the production and took pictures of potential locations. There was a lot of back and forth about the locations, but we landed them relatively quickly. Start your search as soon as you've found local people to work with.
Film permits are another important aspect. Some locations, especially where there are a lot of people, require an approval that you are allowed to film. We found several locations that were relatively similar, but there could be big differences in the cost of filming permits. By keeping this in mind, we saved the client a few bucks, we also had an assurance that we could film at all the locations we were going to (you don't have time to lose several hours of filming in one day).
Day plan
It's incredibly important to create a detailed daily plan in advance of production. With a solid production plan, you know where you need to be at any given time, what people you need at any given time, what equipment you need and, most importantly, when you need to pack up and move to the next location to catch the daylight.
A good daily plan allows you to start preparing for the next task early, making production more efficient and enjoyable.
You can read more about how we work here.
Be prepared to work around the clock
We worked on this film production for 75 days in total and it was rare that we had a day off. When you agree to do a foreign production, you have to be prepared to put in several hours a day to keep the wheels turning.
On this job, we operated in 5 different time zones, and it was our job to make sure that communication flowed smoothly between all parties.
An example of this is that the customer in Germany wants to change some details on a piece of clothing. The clothing designer doesn't start his day for another 7 hours, and when the answer comes, this person needs more information from Germany (who has now finished his day). It's easy to see that this requires time and presence.
It's to be expected that you'll have a lot of questions in the loop at any given time that you need to keep track of and follow up on. If you aim to do this as efficiently as possible, you'll need to adjust your day so that you're "on" during the different time zones' working hours. Be prepared for things to take much longer than you're originally used to. Work in a structured way and initiate all processes you can as early as possible.
The reality is that unforeseen events will occur. The key to much of our success with this production was that we collaborated well, handled stress and were solution-oriented. That said, this production was incredibly educational, fun and an amazing experience. We were a total of 17 people who traveled along the coast of Brazil and created memories for life. The customer was also very pleased with the end result and the fact that we saved them 70% of the costs they usually have on such a production. This was made possible by using a minimal production rig and outsourcing as little of the work as possible.
You can see the link to the finished project here.
Picture of all the people who helped make this a success, 1 person is absent.
