Important Roles On Set

We are lucky to have so many creatives in Atlanta that are experts in what they do. With the movie industry here and the photography industry growing, there is enough work to go around for our freelancer friends. It doesn’t take art school or training to know what is a good or bad photo. In a photo driven society we are all pretty tune to determining the quality of images. But it does take a talented team to make sure every aspect of the image is excellent. 

When a client comes to us with any photoshoot especially a commercial advertising campaign, we send them a proposal which includes the budget for all of the crew and cast that we believe are important in making the photoshoot successful. 

After a phone call with the client to determine their goals for the project we will decide what roles we need on set. Most of the time that includes a hair and makeup artist, prop stylist, wardrobe stylist, set designer, lighting assistants, digi tech, maybe a food stylist, professional actors or models, and of course the photographer. Sometimes certain projects will need retouchers or other post production specialists, but we want to discuss why having multiple roles on set is important. 

While we are huge proponents of helping out wherever needed on set, we believe that if everyone has a specific goal and job, the photoshoot will be much more efficient in regards to time, energy, and resources.

TIME:

If our model’s hair is crazy, then it is going to distract from the product that the image is meant to feature, so it is important to have a hair stylist. If we are handling food in photographs, a prop stylist might not know all the tricks to make food look good on camera, so we would want a food stylist on set. In order to be efficient with our time on set and get the best content in the alloted time, we need to have multiple people on set. Yes a producer can probably help with the lighting, wardrobe, and propping while producing, but it will take them 5 times as long and they won't be able to focus on every one of those tasks.

ENERGY:

Hiring professional models is very important for saving time and getting quality results. We work with un-trained talent often, and if it isn’t in the budget to hire from an agency that doesn’t mean the images won’t look good. Jason is great at directing people on camera, but working with professional models and actors will allow us to get a better photograph much faster because they know what looks good on camera and the rest of the team can focus on their job. Jason can focus on the lighting, the angle, the settings, etc, instead of focusing on directing talent. Everyone can direct their energy to their own job which will create the best results.

RESOURCES:

We might have a higher budget than other photographers and production houses, but we can guarantee that having a team of professionals on set is going to result in great images that do what they are supposed to do whether thats sell product or tell a story.

While we are hiring professionals for their skills we are hiring them for their resources, kits, and equipment. When we have a digital tech on set, their rate includes a rental fee to use their equipment. When we hire a makeup artist, we pay for a kit fee because we are using lots of their makeup that they have to pay for! 

It is very important for clients to set aside budget for photoshoots for all of these reasons above. The cost of a photoshoot is being dispersed in many ways, between many people to cover necessary fees in order to get the very best possible results. 

Check out this behind the scenes video to see what it looks like to have multiple roles on set. This shoot was a fashion editorial for Manhattan’s lookbook.