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25 Apr 2023 | TEL260 Agency | Individual Response | 1512 words
The aim of this module was to produce marketing material for an external client. This was a great opportunity to both demonstrate and develop my skills, while also learning the technicalities of working with a brief. Our client was Potager Garden, a local garden with a cafe, lively outdoor spaces and a number of workshop spaces that offer classes in arts and crafts. I chose to take on the role of Director of Photography as this is a role I have performed well in on my own but have had little experience in working with a crew.
To begin, we conducted initial research on Potager and what their current marketing looked like. Their website was easy to find and has a clean design, making it easy for guests to book classes or reserve a table in the cafe. The organisation also runs an Instagram account with 13,000 followers. Regular posts show photos of the garden, cafe, staff and photos from events. However, this was the only online presence we found. There wasn’t a lot of information on what Potager actually is and what else the organisation offered.
The brief told us that Potager isn’t just a cafe or a garden centre. It’s actually a whole project about community and bringing people together. As for the marketing campaign, not only was their main goal to attract new guests, but also introduce other parts of Potager to cafe regulars. The team and I saw this as a great opportunity to create something for social media to help boost their online presence.
Despite being closed for the winter, the owner, Mark, let us visit Potager prior to their spring reopening in early March. We wanted to get to know the project, the people involved and see the physical spaces we would be working with. Our first impression of Potager was very positive. We immediately felt welcome and it was very clear the staff have such a deep passion for the project. After speaking with Mark, we learnedthat Potager is a non-profit organisation - even though the cafe is a running business, all the money earned goes straight back into the garden to support its growth and conservation. The goal is for the garden to be the least commercial it can possibly be. To the back of the site, there is an Ofsted rated ‘forest school’ which a small group of children attend regularly. The site also has multiple allotment areas that volunteers can visit to grow fruits and vegetables. Mark expressed the positive impact of the volunteering opportunities and how it has helped people make friends and discover new interests. These were all things we wanted to show off in our material.
Following this visit, the team and I began working on ideas. We had very little restrictions in terms of filming locations which was a big advantage. Our first idea was to create a short fictional film focusing on the story of a man and his dog. They would take a walk around Potager and finish their day with a warm meal at the cafe. We felt this idea would introduce the rest of Potager to cafe regulars, as well as advertise the garden as a great place for family walks. The Director and I discussed whether the man would be a fully developed character or just remain anonymous and simply just be a tool to carry the narrative. This idea was our ‘safest’, with the production only involving exterior shots other than one or two in the cafe. Finding both an actor and a dog would also be fairly easy as the crew members already had contacts.
Our second idea was a documentary-style film, involving a tour given by a child from the forest school. This film would also include clips and interviews from other people at Potager but would ultimately be narrated by the child. Like our first idea, this film would display parts of Potager the public aren’t familiar with but certain scenes would be slightly harder to achieve. For example, we would involve more time in the cafe, so we would need to work around the public at peak times. Additionally, finding a child who knows Potager well enough and whose parents would be comfortable with our project may also be a difficult task. However, as a team, this was our favourite idea because a tour would allow for more detail and featuring a child would further express the family-friendly atmosphere the garden has to offer. As a DoP, I thought a lot about the forest school and the camera angles we could use to simulate the child’s point of view. This is also offered a lot to play with in terms of colour, which would make our film look more eye-catching, particularly if this video was to be used on social media; adverts that are more visually interesting are much more likely to attract attention from users. We partly expected this to be the chosen concept and therefore submitted a risk assessment early, especially as we would be working with a child.
Our final idea was simply a short film on how Potager began and how the project has developed over the past decade. On our first visit, Mark told us about how the land was originally abandoned and was slowly made into the beautiful garden they have today. This was the idea we favoured least because ideally we wanted to create something set in the present and display what Potager has to offer now.
Following our pitch, the documentary-style film was the favoured choice, so we immediately began putting all permissions and risk assessments in place, ready for our shoot over the weekend of the 25th and 26th March. We chose to film on a weekend because the forest school wouldn’t be in use and we therefore wouldn’t be disrupting the facility. This was also a great time to get footage from the cafe.
Our shoot was very successful, with each member of the crew working effectively and efficiently to achieve all the footage we could possibly need. The most difficult thing was the weather, particularly as our shoot involved a lot of filming outside. The Director and I had put together a schedule prior to the shoot, based on the weather forecast for those two days. The weather turned out to be a little worse than expected on the first day so we had to modify this schedule on set. Fortunately, this didn’t affect the outcome of our shoot at all.
As Director of Photography, I was able to provide shots that were well-framed with good exposure as well as being aesthetically pleasing to look at. This was my first role on camera and I learned a lot about working with a Director and achieving the vision they initially had for the film. Likewise, I was able to negotiate ideas with the team, particularly if a proposed shot wasn’t attainable or didn’t look good. For example, we wanted a shot that started low and moved into the greenhouse and slowly raised to eye-level. We didn’t have the right equipment to obtain this so together, we decided this would instead be a static shot from one height and a subtle zoom would be added in post to mimic a tracking movement. Along with learning about working with a director, I also had the chance to experiment with different lenses. In particular, I wanted to get some cutaway shots of the flowers outside and I chose a 50mm prime lens to get the best shots I could. Likewise, I chose to use a lens with zoom for the forest school, just because children can be unpredictable and I simply wouldn’t have the time to reposition the tripod at every moment. This was a good decision as I managed to get a lot of extra shots that we otherwise wouldn’t have had.
As it was raining on the first day, I felt our shots in the greenhouse weren’t the best they could be, so I made the choice to postpone the rest of the greenhouse shots to the second day, where we were expecting more sun. This was a great decision because I was then able to obtain some amazing shots that made the greenhouse look fantastic. I also found a good position to get some great sun flares.
I am really happy with the outcome of this shoot and I believe I was able to carry out my role to the best of my ability. I was able to get so many usable visuals that the team were also very happy with. On reflection, I wish I had conducted a test shoot beforehand, just to get more confident with the Sony FX6 camera and its functions - even if it had just been on campus. I think our final piece looks professional and accurately hits all the points mentioned in the brief. Following feedback from both Potager and our peers, the video portrays Potager as the warm, friendly outdoor garden the staff and regulars know it as.
Author: Bethan Radford
Module: TEL260 Agency
Assessment: Individual Response
Classification: 1st / 74%
Degree: BA (Hons) Television
Submission: 25th April 2023
Words: 1512