Earlier this year I was commissioned by Carvana to capture images of Nascar legend Jimmie Johnson for his upcoming car reveal. I worked alongside a film crew that were capturing content for the tv commercial that would reveal the new paint scheme.
Adding a stills photographer to a video production is a huge value add to the creative. Let me explain, you have already invested resources into creating a video spot. You have your star talent in approved wardrobe, they have been though hair and make up, there is a dressed set or propped environment. This creates a perfect opportunity to capture a solid set of still images… Otherwise you are leaving creative fruit on the production tree!
Improve your ROI with allocating time for stills. I regularly jump in at the end of the scenes to capture images that will add to the creative work. Oh, you do not need images from the set?? I can also set up a seamless background to capture the talent for use in a variety of ways.
Having a solid 20-25 images for use in digital or print will help to cover your needs when there is a shift in the creative or you need to add to media placements. Having quality content is never a bad thing. Imagine having a deep well of creative assets that will help give your marketing and advertising teams coverage for any situation.
The initial scope of work was for Jimmie to be photographed on a white seamless set in his fire suit, with his helmet and racing gloves. They needed a nice mix of full length, waist up and tight head shots for use in various promotional materials. My team and I set up inside the lobby of the Carvana dealership while the video team prepped.
Jimmie would only be available for a few hours and stills was the first stop on his schedule. After we captured what we needed and the Art Director was satisfied with the images, She called an audible. “It would be great if we could capture Jimmie standing next to his car in the delivery bay, Maybe even a few shots of him in his car, would that be possible?” Without protest I said yes. My only request was for 15 minutes to build out a lighting set up for the new location.
