HOW TO GET 20 TEAM HEADSHOTS AND A HIGH QUALITY TESTIMONIAL FILM IN ONE DAY - SPAULDING RIDGE
I’ve been working as a professional commercial and event photographer for twenty years now, and a professional corporate videographer for even longer. You would think I might have got bored by now - I got bored in my old job, which was as a Senior Creative Producer and Manager in TV, but in truth, this life I live now, every day is different, every project is differrent and every client is different.
What makes life particularly fun and rewarding for me is when a client comes along with this kind of brief: can we have twenty headshots AND a high quality corporate film in one day and at a price that won’t break the bank. There is a challenge, both creative and logistical to doing this. For some it would be impossible, for others, not worth the candle. For me, it was an absotuely awesome day. And my assistant filmed it to prove it.
Spaulding Ridge is a London-based blue-chip consulting firm and a global leader in business transformation designs, implementing and supporting business technology solutions for companies in a wide range of industries, thinking beyond templated solutions to provide real competitive advantage. They help the organizations get maximum value from the work they deliver, now and through the life of the system.
We set up a classic white backdrop space for headshots across the morning - and here the key to getting this right is being able to organise your people. If time is tight, you need to have someone really ON it, to get those bodies through the door. My process, as you can see from the pairs of portraits, is to get each subject to relax and have fun. If your photographer is worrying about light, technique etc, they are the wrong person. The client and how comfortable you can make them, is everything.
By lunch time we were into video production. You can see from the reslults how great lighting and camera placement, together with all the kit and all the experience not only massively speeds up the process but delivers really high-end results. A really great testimonial film that looks and sounds good is a film people want to watch. Again, the key to success with corporate videography is to have one of you, the client’s team take charge of organising your subjects, and knowing how to prompt them and interview them to elicit the best answers and results. Naturally I can put a team together to do this for you, but no one knows your company and its needs better than your own employees, so this becomes a cost you don’t need to swallow.
I probably could have done all of this on my own, but it would have been tough, so finally, what you will also see at the bottom is the Behind the Scenes film my assistant shot for me.
THE HEADSHOTS
THE TESTIMONIAL FILM
THE BEHIND THE SCENES FILM