In fact, my decision to start writing my Tech Talk articles was inspired from some of Ernie’s advice to me.

What are some of the publicity campaigns or achievements you are most proud of?
For various reasons, I’m proud of several on-set campaigns in which I’ve been involved. Without going into great detail, here are a few titles and the reasons for which I am proud of any achievements.

Ernie' s IMDB "known for" - with any one of those films a publicist could be proud.

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998, Miami) – IMDB Link:
The studio won that year’s Motion Picture Showmanship Award from the Publicists Guild, the highest honor bestowed for a p.r. campaign (both during production and the film’s release); being the on-set coordinator, I shared in that award (the film was the first of five I’ve done with the Farrelly Bros.)

THE GREEN MILE (1998, Hollywood) – IMDB Link:
Stephen King visited the set for just 3-4 hours one day (on his birthday, Sept. 21, 1998) and was very gracious in allowing me access to him for media (we did an L.A. TIMES interview on-set; a photo opp with director Frank Darabont and Tom Hanks which wound up in USA TODAY the following week; an EPK Q&A about the writing of the book and its adaptation by Darabont into a movie; and a photo opp with his celebratory birthday cake, quite a lot to do in 3-4 hours)

THE ALAMO (2003, Austin) – IMDB Link:
because the project was filmed in Texas (Austin, not San Antonio), I felt it necessary to allow every major state newspaper to visit the set and file a production story while filming continued; we achieved all that (with papers from Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Ft. Worth) and got great local coverage for the movie.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (2004, Texas) – IMDB Link:
we filmed for three weeks on location in Odessa, TX, where the story takes place; there was hesitation by the studio to actually shoot in a town that despised Buzz Bissinger’s book; upon our arrival there, the local newspaper writer assigned to the film asked if he could visit the set every day during the three week, a very unusual request; we allowed it and got 19 cover stories in the ODESSA AMERICAN from this reporter, Cliff Hamilton; also, we began filming on a Thursday, and I suggested to the producers that the production throw a tailgate party that first Friday after filming wrapped around 6:30 pm, inviting the Mayor and 200 of his personal friends; Billy Bob Thornton stayed for the party (the set caterer grilled hot dogs and hamburgers) and the front page newspaper story the next day had a photo of Thornton shaking the Odessa Mayor’s hand; also in Odessa, I hosted four media outlets one Friday night during filming of one of the story’s crucial football games — NY TIMES, ESPN, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and EPK, and somehow managed to get all that work done in eight hours!

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (2004, New Zealand) – IMDB Link:
our set was closed to local media for security reasons, so I had to get creative in handling the constant onslaught of media requests; without ever bringing a reporter to the working stages, I staged a few “set visits” involving some of the animals we imported from the States, none of which were indigenous to NZ — reindeer and wolves.

As filming wound down, we brought a cadre of press out to the local farm where the wolf pack (10 animals) resided during production; the reaction from the press who had never seen a wolf with their own eyes was eye-opening, startling and very poignant; with the reindeer, the government ultimately chose to disallow four reindeer from entering the country (due to a unique virus they carry that is nonexistent in NZ), so a Hollywood SFX company manufactured four animatronic reindeer for the scenes showing the White Witch in her sleigh; we invited the local newspaper and TV networks out to the studio facility to show them the reindeer, all the time telling them we had reindeer in the film; you can imagine the stories they filed when they arrived fully expecting to see real reindeer, then realizing they were “reel” reindeer

WE ARE MARSHALL (2006, West Virginia) – IMDB Link:
a moving, true story about the 1970 place crash that claimed the lives of most of Marshall University’s football team, we filmed on the actual campus and in the town where this tragedy took place, kicking off production with a press conference and a block party in Huntington, WV, where over 10,000 locals showed up to be greeted by star Matthew McConaughey.

We also filmed the movie’s final scene at the campus’ solemn fountain which honors the fallen, with most of the 500 extras that day locals with a history connected to the school and tragedy; we allowed the local media to cover the day’s shoot, making many friends in town during our four-week stay there.

There can a be a bit of confusion as to what the unit publicist does for a film – how would you describe what your role entails? How does it fit in with the film’s overall marketing strategy?
A unit publicist is the studio’s marketing rep on a working film set during production, handling media set visits, ad photo shoots, production of the DVD materials and other such duties.

Because a film production equates to a small (or large) short-term corporation, you are also the spokesperson for that corporation.

You also act as an ambassador to most set visitors, be it press, dignitaries or studio executives.

Essentially, at the studio’s direction, you assist in launching the project’s marketing campaign in the media while filming progresses, regardless of how long in advance production happens before the film’s release date.

You prepare written materials (synopsis, cast/crew biographies, production notes) for media distribution, whether the set welcomes media visitors or not (there are as many “closed” sets as there are those that schedule media visits).

You host the media on-set (TV, print, radio, internet) and arrange interviews for them with the key cast and filmmakers.

Sometimes, those visits result in immediate placement in the media; other times, the stories are embargoed by the studio to coincide with the film’s release…ideally, after a major media outlet visits and gathers all their materials, a teaser story runs say at the end of filming, with the larger article at time-of-release.

If a set is closed to media, you can enact ways to obtain publicity such as photo plants, column items in the entertainment media, etc.

You are a cog in the wheel of the studio’s marketing campaign, concentrating on the public relations aspect of that campaign. The role is a vital one in the studio’s marketing efforts, with the publicist planting the early seeds of the p.r. campaign which will grow into the larger marketing effort closer to the film’s release.

At what point in a show’s schedule do you usually commence and end?
It depends on the scope of the project. For large tentpole films, you could have a month’s prep and similar wrap. For smaller projects, the norm is a week’s prep and 1-2 weeks wrap.

During prep, you prepare the start-of-production release, update the industry trade paper film charts, begin collecting biographic background on the cast/crew and review the shooting schedule for opportunities for media and EPK coverage.

During wrap, a typical report recapping publicity achievements is prepared, along with finishing unit photog IDs and writing the presskit notes for the studio.

What are your primary publicity goals when working on a show?
Awareness for the project is always the primary goal of a public relations/publicity campaign. If the studio represents the symphony orchestrating the campaign, the on-set publicist is one of its key instruments.

The goals for a production publicist vary with the project at hand. There are films where media visits become a revolving door, what I like to call “publicity by the pound,” where every usual major media outlet gets invited to cover the production, including small TV markets in a “junket” style visit.

There are those where a specific campaign begins while filming ensues, whereby the studio carefully chooses outlets deemed suitable to their overall campaign (one major newspaper like the N.Y. Times, one major magazine like Vanity Fair, etc.).

There are also films where media will not be invited, a “closed set” policy implemented by the studio or filmmakers because of the sensitive subject matter of the film (like “Brokeback Mountain”) or cast members and filmmakers who prefer to have no media while they’re working.

There are still ways to begin building awareness even if a set is closed (photo and column item plants either in the consumer press or online).

I guess the main goal is to complete all media set visits successfully, i.e. the journalist(s) observe filming, talk with the key players (cast, filmmakers), tour the sets and walk away with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The unit publicist is one of the tools to help build awareness early on, with the studio taking those achievements on set and expanding on them as they approach the film’s release date.

Can you foresee the publicity still image being redundant to the process of publicising films?
No, even though video is as important and maybe more so.

Do you expect the images culled to only a few of the best images or do you prefer greater choice of being delivered sometimes hundreds of images?
I still say have the unit photog shoot as much as they feel he/she needs to capture the documentation of the project…even though the work is edited down to a few hundred key images.

You can choose to edit the amount of any specific scene, but each scene much be documented.

Are there any steps you’d encourage an aspiring photographer to undertake to improve their career prospects?
Stay current on equipment and digital aspects of photography.

From your perspective, what are key traits in a unit stills photographer?
1. maintain a quiet presence on the set while establishing your identity on the set
2. capture not only the scene, but behind-the-scenes as well, still an important aspect of documenting a film production
3. do not overshoot
4. if specific requests are made by filmmakers or cast, ensure you get them
5. work closely with the publicist…while both are individual entities on a set, I usually define this partnership as “flack and click”

If you had the opportunity to select a director and key cast for a film you were to work on who would you pick and what genre would you choose?
Director — Clint Eastwood (a consummate storyteller)
Actor — Richard Gere (a consummate pro who has rarely given a bad performance)
Genre — Musical

Ernie Mailk - photo courtesy of François Duhamel

A couple of weeks ago I spent a weekend with my good friend Junia Bashiru working on her directorial debut A Perfect Ten. Janet (played by Helen Embleton) has taken in Alex (Alexander Chard) as a less than willing dinner guest. This film is comedic and sinister in equal parts thanks to Junia’s script and the excellent performances of Helen and Alexander.

The gallery of behind the scenes stills: A Perfect Ten

If you can, try and make sure you minimise the number of people on your set at any given time. I did a recent shoot where the studio space was shared with costume, make-up and the actor’s green room. Luckily the presence of so many people didn’t affect the actor’s work, but the excessive ambient noise made the shoot far more challenging than it would have otherwise been.

Another good “on the day” preparation trick is to introduce yourself to the production crew – the make-up artists, art department, costume, runners and of course any producers or publicity crew. These people are all on the shoot with a stake in you producing great results and can likely be called upon for input as required.

Introductions
Even if you’ve worked with the actors on set, I find it hugely important to spend a short amount of time establishing your working relationship with them on the day (TT 08 – 5 tips for working with actors is a good starting point). That means giving them an overview of what your plan is for the shoot I usually spend at least 5-10 minutes privately with the actor for an introduction and overview of the shoot). I like to start this conversation with talking about my understanding of the character and how I’ve pre-visualised how they will be depicted in the end result and also to obtain their ideas for what they think will work best. The thing about actors, is that they’re trained to work with direction and they’re the creative who is most intimately familiar with their character you’ll find. For this reason you’ll find that if you give the actor good direction as to generally what you want, they’ll work their magic to create the poses and expressions you need.

Important stuff for you to communicate with the actors: How long it will take, What their “staging area” is (positioning in in relation to your lights) and how tight you’ll be shooting them.

The Shoot
Once you pick up your camera, or start the shoot process, maintaining communication throughout the session is imperative. If you need to stop, or pause make that needs to be communicated. Also, I like to provide lots of verbal feedback throughout the shoot. Some actors love seeing the images on the camera as a guide for tweaking their performance and other actors don’t want to see anything on the day. Its important to respect this and if you have your own specific preference for not showing them you’ll need to have a prepared and gentle explanation for not showing them your work.

You also need to remain open to working with curve balls – One particular example for me was an actor who came to the shoot significantly changed from when they were on the show due to another role they were in rehearsal for. This caused quite a stir with the producers on set, but I carried on with the shoot as though everything was fine. It is important to control what you can, but also accept and work with challenges that arise with the understanding that some things are beyond your control, devoting energy to those issues on the day will only distract you from the job you’re there to do.

Finally when things aren’t going to plan, or you’re having difficulty getting what you want from the actors (its rare, but can happen) its important to have an approach for communicating that gets you the results you want but without burning any bridges with the artist.

The Afterglow
This might sound like I’m stating the obvious, but once you’ve finished working with the actor, I find it really valuable to spend a few moments “debriefing” the actor after the shoot. It’s important to thank them for working with you and also to give them an update on “where to from here”. If I’ve not said it before, I’ll say it again working with actors is one of the real privileges of working in film and television. Establishing productive relationships with up and coming actors can be very beneficial professionally. I often get job referrals thanks to actors who have enjoyed working with me in the past and when I’ve had the opportunity to work with actors on second and third projects the results we achieve together do get better each time.

Actors or their representatives will often have questions about the shoot and you should be prepared to answer (or gently deflect) questions like:
- When will the results be finished?
- Where will they be displayed?
- Will I get the opportunity to approve/veto the images chosen? (this is usually a contractual issue)
- Can I get copies for my portfolio?

As I wrote in my last article on the topic, there’s no one correct way for going about a specials shoot. This is my approach to organising and running a shoot, its worked for me in the past and every shoot I’ve done has gotten a little easier and a little more planned based on what I’ve learned from previous experiences. A final closing suggestion is to spend your time working on set as a means of learning tips and tricks that can be applied to other aspects of your photography. Much of my conduct in a specials shoot has been learned from watching directors and cinematographers working with actors while filming. Many of these techniques are directly relevant to shooting stills.

The images are light hearted and fun but act as a strong visual cue as to Webdemic’s creative approach to marketing. Check out Webdemic’s brilliant new website. WWW.WEBDEMIC.ORG

WEBDEMIC | Viral Marketing Experts

Going Nowhere - Specials shoot results in action

I’ve run four specials shoots thus far in my career – for ABC TV’s I Rock (Official Site), Marmalade Production’s The Syndicate (Official Site) and for Disclosure Production’s Ladies and Gentlemen (Official Site) and Going Nowhere (Official Site). Specials shoots ROCK! Imagine having the cast there to work specifically with you and having make up, wardrobe and even a photographic assistant or two at your disposal. It’s an amazing experience, but also one that is very different to working on set.

Part one – Planning

Working on film sets as a photographer is, in general, very much reactive. By keeping an eye on the Callsheets you can be prepared and plan for what lies ahead, but you’re almost entirely out of the planning loop. For a Specials Shoot – the photographer plays an important role in planning for the shoot – its the time for you to use your expertise to ensure the very best of results. Its been my experience that the more planning and preparation applied, the better the end results. Producers may want a shoot at short notice and minimal information, but realistically, it will undermine the end result, so where you can fight the good fight to increase your planning and preparation and everyone will be glad you did.

I have found that you need to have a strong concept to work with. When you first get (or have pitched for) the the commission you need to establish with the producers a strong previsualised end result. This means that we’ve sat down, talked concepts and purposes for the images from the shoot and we’ve planned (venue, resources, crew). If the images are going to be posters then you’re going to me wanting mostly portrait oriented images, if the images are for the web, then Landscape is likely to be more useful. Does the website concept entail a banner that has particular dimensions (a common design requirement for many websites these days will use a banner in the order of 950px wide by 150px -250px tall). If you want your actors to be well displayed in an unusually shaped space pace you’re going to need to consider how best to shoot to shoot the them to achieve the result.

Venue: Obviously film making and photoshoots often involve compromises, but things I consider really important to consider and account for are whether you have adequate space. If full length images or groupings of more than two cast per image are required you’re going to need to plan for a very big space indeed. You should also consider the need for work space for makeup and wardrobe as well as space for the extra bodies around you during the shoot – expect at least a producer or two!

Resources: If its a smaller production you’re going to need to advocate for the production to resource your shoot properly this should absolutely include refreshments and or meals for the crew, but also any equipment hire you’re going to need to achieve the desired results.

Crew: It is absolutely imperative in my experience that you have costume and makeup on set with you throughout the shoot. Its also necessary to have someone who can take on the role of “First AD” on the day, and who is familiar with the schedule and and keep the whole process flowing while you’re working with the cast. As with film making if you have the luxury of a gaffer seize it gratefully because on the day messing around with lights will interrupt your work with the artists. Finally, having an assistant is also important, because you’ll be run off your feet on the day and having someone on hand to take care of things as they crop up is a huge benefit.