Today, my eyes have been opened to the wonders and magic of the team shooting in the studio! Being fairly new to Soup, and mainly focusing on the social and marketing side of the production, I’ve always been more than happy to get a feel for how the videos come together whilst watching creative director, Stew and video catalyst, Emma work their magic and show off their talents – so when I was offered the chance to join them on set to shoot for a client that I’ve been really interested in, I couldn’t think of anything better!
We arrived on an early morning and with coffees in hand, everybody was ready to start setting up and getting ready for action. Lights, cameras and tripods surrounding us, I soon realised how much high tech equipment and effort goes into each video that Soup creates. Little did I realise that the equipment was only half of what was going into this video, as we were to spend the rest of the day shooting and perfecting every part!
After over an hour of lighting tweaks, camera checks and countless changes of coloured tops to compliment the video (and mainly the green screen!), shooting began. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. How everything would work and how the day would pan out but it was smooth, seamless and showed me just how much talent and creativity Soup have – something I ended up feeling really proud to be a part of!
Nicole was the face of the video and great to work with. She spent the day delivering the whole script; rehearsing line after line and often repeating the same line countless times with all the facial expressions possible so we had the perfect shot and more than enough for Stew to create what I’m sure will be a masterpiece. The further through the script we got, the more we all realised that we were finding the right tone for the vid. Soup and the client wanted the video to be relaxed and appealing but also business like and the further Nicole read, the better results we got. We found that the best shots were often done when Nicole delivered the lines in her own tone of voice with a relaxed expression – even to the point where Stew’s prompt of ‘..now how would you say it? Camera rolling!’ became a running joke! This was definitely something that I found interesting for future experience, when I get the chance to be in the studio again…having a relaxed but professional team gives really impressive results!
My job was to prompt Nicole when she needed it, which, thankfully, wasn’t that often so I was free to give my prompts but also sit back and watch everything coming together. I was really beginning to like this whole studio business but also beginning to appreciate how hard everyone was working! By lunchtime we’d got through most of the script at least once and found a feel for how it was going to pan out. With tweaks to the final script and shots left for the graphics that will be later added in, was finally coming to life!
The afternoon was spent using various camera shots – close ups and wide shots with audio rehearsals, perfecting and finalising the green screen shots. We worked right through until the end of the day and I even got to do a bit of a voice over just for timing purposes – nothing for the final video but I was still a bit giddy at the thought of a voice over in a studio (even if it wasn’t recorded for the vid!).
As we reached the end of the day, shots were complete, coffee was finished and the lights were dimmed and put away, it became apparent that the first draft of the video was complete and at some point I’ll see it in full glory with graphics, animation and music that the team at Soup do so well! I thoroughly enjoyed my first day on a real set in a studio and, in a heartbeat, would definitely do it again!
Written by Emily Kench
Social Wave Caster
