1) There are a lot of opportunities for directors, purely because of the new and different platforms out there. Keep your eyes open for the projects that are going to give you the best diversity of experience. Which ones will best forward your career and showcase your creative talent? Be on the lookout for good stories and good characters. Search for the best opportunity for well-crafted storytelling on every platform.
2) Try to be as diverse as possible in your body of work— know how to produce content in all forms. Don’t get stuck in the traditional ways of making things. A producer who can take a creative idea and bring it to life no matter the platform will make you an infinitely stronger producer, and a much more valuable asset.
Also, keep your eyes on the story to ensure it’s being told in the best way. You’re not just a facilitator, you should incorporate yourself into the actual storytelling process. The creative output will be better for it.
3) We recently did a project with Nat Geo and VW where we shot 360-video in the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
No one had done a high-resolution, 360 timelapse video over a 24-hour period like this before. As sun exposure changed throughout the day, we needed to make sure the exposure was consistent on all four cameras during bright daylight and the starry night sky.
We designed a rig that could fit high-resolution cameras with fish-eye lenses. (Most rigs are designed to fit smaller, more compact cameras with lower resolution.) We worked with Supply Frame in Pasadena to create a prototype of the rig. Then, we incorporated a software that allowed us to control the speed and exposure of the cameras. All of this happened in the compressed timeline of two weeks.
The lesson: Creatives will bring you ideas that you never thought possible. Our job as producers is to find a way to do things that have never been done before. Pull out all the stops to bring the creative idea to life.
4) Volkswagen and Deutsch debuted the “America” campaign. We’re proud of this work because everything about the production revolved around the story, and the team never lost sight of that.