Directing Industrial Video

XCheck

XCheck

Veteran
Well... not necessarily my cup of tea, but I've been asked to shoot an industrial video on a modest budget.

I don't expect it to be anything over 5 minutes (I'd prefer under 3 min). It's going to feature a part of a production line in a business operating 24/7.

I wish I had more details to share, but everything's sketchy for now. I am mainly doing it to build a reel.

Anyone doing this sort of stuff? What's your approach?
 
I've done a few. The one I consider most successful -a safety training video for crane operators- I had a completed script before hand, a detailed storyboard -something I don't care to do for a dramatic piece- and the corporation's safety officer by my side for most of the shooting. All this gave me a real education about my subject and made me confident that I captured the meat of the subject, which allowed me to take the time for the beauty shots.

Another -an instructional video for a national event sponsored by a huge soft drink company and a department store chain- despite my pleading, I first saw a rough outline of the event on the flight to the location, had a contact who left me completely alone and a completely unorganized trial of the event at which to shoot. While this didn't end in a complete disaster it kept me scrambling all the way through post and the finished product was far from what it could have been had there been any preproduction at all.

I've found that no matter how much you may want to be prepared you're at the mercy of your contact in the organization. If you can impress upon them your need to know as much as possible about what you are capturing before and during the shoot and your need to have someone knowledgable by your side while shooting you'll be way ahead of the game.

By the way, I find that they can be challenging and fun, and there's nothing wrong with that. Good luck.
 
Hey good luck, I've been approached to do a five minute piece for a woman going solo on her home decorating business, NO idea on what to charge, am in post with 'my' film now so it'll be a bit before I can get to it, rsbush has some good advice, I did a safety video for my day job once and it turned out horrible, no script, no preproduction, random shots and vague sound bites from our safety guru, it never saw the light of day, there is a God! let me know how it went, Mike.
 
XCheck said:
Well... not necessarily my cup of tea, but I've been asked to shoot an industrial video on a modest budget.

I don't expect it to be anything over 5 minutes (I'd prefer under 3 min). It's going to feature a part of a production line in a business operating 24/7.

I wish I had more details to share, but everything's sketchy for now. I am mainly doing it to build a reel.

Anyone doing this sort of stuff? What's your approach?
Click to expand...

I don't do this as a 'living', but I am making a series of films which will be used in my wife's and my seminars for still photographers. The films are range from 'how she does a shoot', to 'how she does 'art' with photoshop, painter, or similar digital tools'.

I'm currently reading the book given below in the URL at amazon. I think it has some good points on shooting 'documentary' type material. Since you don't seem to be shooting a commercial, but rather a corporate video, it is more in the style of documentary than other forms.

One of the 'main' things is to have a good list of what is important to your client, get a list of 'shots', and where either interviews or 'action' happens. For example, having a manager talk about a process may be interspersed with cuts to the actual process, but what is important of that process and illustrates the managers narrative is what is required in the planning stage.


URL:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...104-0354277-3903167?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
 
Thanks, jay one :laugh:

I actually have that book - a good opportunity to re-read it. It's supposed to be for trade shows and such, so it is going to be more of a cross between commercial and industrial.

I'll be meeting with the 'client' in about a week and a half, so I want to have a good idea on what to ask him for.
 
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