Back in January, I messaged Jake Mavity (a director I came across online since making my Instagram portfolio). I had seen his work before and admired it without knowing it was his. Once I had found out that he was a director, I dropped him a follow and sent him a message telling him how much I liked his work and if he had any advice to give me as a new graduate trying to progress into the same role that he works in..
He was kind enough to reply to me and ask if I wanted a Teams meeting, to which I jumped at the opportunity. Since then we have had multiple phone calls and catch ups. He would give me advice on treatments and processes of production from start to finish.
In April, he asked me if I’d like to virtually shadow him for a casting; it was to cast for a McDonald’s ad that he’d been asked to do to promote Mental Health Awareness Week. If it wasn’t already apparent through the creation of Pardon My Brain, mental health is something that is consistently underlying in the work I create. Before the casting, I asked Jake what he was looking for during the process to get an idea of what aspects are on the mind of a director during the casting stage of a project. By finding out what type of personalities and specific qualities he was looking for, this made it even more interesting to observe when the casting was taking place.
In April, he asked me if I’d like to virtually shadow him for a casting; it was to cast for a McDonald’s ad that he’d been asked to do to promote Mental Health Awareness Week. If it wasn’t already apparent through the creation of Pardon My Brain, mental health is something that is consistently underlying in the work I create. Before the casting, I asked Jake what he was looking for during the process to get an idea of what aspects are on the mind of a director during the casting stage of a project. By finding out what type of personalities and specific qualities he was looking for, this made it even more interesting to observe when the casting was taking place.
Once the casting call was done Jake copied me into multiple emails between him and the producer, production team and countless others that were involved in the project. Previously, the only planning processes that I had been involved in was during my time at university.
Being able to shadow this process for the McDonald’s ad, it was interesting to learn how the communication, planning and overall process functions between professionals in their field.
The casting call was a great opportunity for me to understand the process behind casting as it wasn’t anything I had been part of before. I learnt the basics of how to professionally work with children and cast them in a way which made them comfortable. Once the casting call was done Jake copied me into multiple emails between him and the producer, production team and countless others that were involved in the project.
Previously, the only planning processes that I had been involved in was during my time at university. Being able to shadow this process for the McDonald’s ad, it was interesting to learn how the communication, planning and overall process functions between professionals in their field.
It was a great opportunity for me to understand how intense a professional production is from start to finish, and I was so grateful just being able to see this video being planned and coming to life. But my gratitude was extended when Jake asked me to shadow him on the shoot.
I was extremely excited to be able to be on the shoot, because previously it felt like I was watching the progress of the production from the shadows. So, to be able to show my face on set, I was able to put faces to names and see how Jake works after speaking to him for months.
When the location recce came around, I was asked to come down and observe the process after countless emails of location scouting. I made the trip to Hemel Hempstead and watched the team start to visualise the world of the ad. I was also told beforehand that we would be working with Nanu Segal. With Jake and the crew being incredibly excited that she was part of the project, it made me look forward to seeing a highly acclaimed DOP at work. During the day, I was a stand-in subject for Nanu to test her different visions with the camera. It was a great opportunity to get to know the team before the shoot day, and how they were preparing to execute Jake’s vision of the ad.
In terms of what happened on the shoot day, I battled with Jake to not only shadow, but to act as a runner as well. This meant that I was helping supervise the kids on set settle in, helping the production designers with the heavy lifting, but ultimately, the biggest takeaway from the day was shadowing Mr Mavity in his element. I also had a radio during the day, so I could listen to the communication between the director, assistant director, DOP, producers and a few others. I looked proper cool.
The shoot was a success and a delight to be a part of, and I’m so grateful to Jake for allowing me to be a part of the project from start to finish. It gave me more lessons than I think he realised, and it proved to me that despite different inconveniences and struggles during the shoot, this is the environment that I want to work in.
I’m glad to have a mentor like Jake, and I look forward to hopefully continuing to learn from him in the future.
I’m lovin’ it.
Back in January, I messaged Jake Mavity (a director I came across online since making my Instagram portfolio). I had seen his work before and admired it without knowing it was his. Once I had found out that he was a director, I dropped him a follow and sent him a message telling him how much I liked his work and if he had any advice to give me as a new graduate trying to progress into the same role that he works in..
He was kind enough to reply to me and ask if I wanted a Teams meeting, to which I jumped at the opportunity. Since then we have had multiple phone calls and catch ups. He would give me advice on treatments and processes of production from start to finish.
In April, he asked me if I’d like to virtually shadow him for a casting; it was to cast for a McDonald’s ad that he’d been asked to do to promote Mental Health Awareness Week. If it wasn’t already apparent through the creation of Pardon My Brain, mental health is something that is consistently underlying in the work I create. Before the casting, I asked Jake what he was looking for during the process to get an idea of what aspects are on the mind of a director during the casting stage of a project. By finding out what type of personalities and specific qualities he was looking for, this made it even more interesting to observe when the casting was taking place.
In April, he asked me if I’d like to virtually shadow him for a casting; it was to cast for a McDonald’s ad that he’d been asked to do to promote Mental Health Awareness Week. If it wasn’t already apparent through the creation of Pardon My Brain, mental health is something that is consistently underlying in the work I create. Before the casting, I asked Jake what he was looking for during the process to get an idea of what aspects are on the mind of a director during the casting stage of a project. By finding out what type of personalities and specific qualities he was looking for, this made it even more interesting to observe when the casting was taking place.
Once the casting call was done Jake copied me into multiple emails between him and the producer, production team and countless others that were involved in the project. Previously, the only planning processes that I had been involved in was during my time at university.
Being able to shadow this process for the McDonald’s ad, it was interesting to learn how the communication, planning and overall process functions between professionals in their field.
The casting call was a great opportunity for me to understand the process behind casting as it wasn’t anything I had been part of before. I learnt the basics of how to professionally work with children and cast them in a way which made them comfortable. Once the casting call was done Jake copied me into multiple emails between him and the producer, production team and countless others that were involved in the project.
Previously, the only planning processes that I had been involved in was during my time at university. Being able to shadow this process for the McDonald’s ad, it was interesting to learn how the communication, planning and overall process functions between professionals in their field.
It was a great opportunity for me to understand how intense a professional production is from start to finish, and I was so grateful just being able to see this video being planned and coming to life. But my gratitude was extended when Jake asked me to shadow him on the shoot.
I was extremely excited to be able to be on the shoot, because previously it felt like I was watching the progress of the production from the shadows. So, to be able to show my face on set, I was able to put faces to names and see how Jake works after speaking to him for months.
When the location recce came around, I was asked to come down and observe the process after countless emails of location scouting. I made the trip to Hemel Hempstead and watched the team start to visualise the world of the ad. I was also told beforehand that we would be working with Nanu Segal. With Jake and the crew being incredibly excited that she was part of the project, it made me look forward to seeing a highly acclaimed DOP at work. During the day, I was a stand-in subject for Nanu to test her different visions with the camera. It was a great opportunity to get to know the team before the shoot day, and how they were preparing to execute Jake’s vision of the ad.
In terms of what happened on the shoot day, I battled with Jake to not only shadow, but to act as a runner as well. This meant that I was helping supervise the kids on set settle in, helping the production designers with the heavy lifting, but ultimately, the biggest takeaway from the day was shadowing Mr Mavity in his element. I also had a radio during the day, so I could listen to the communication between the director, assistant director, DOP, producers and a few others. I looked proper cool.
The shoot was a success and a delight to be a part of, and I’m so grateful to Jake for allowing me to be a part of the project from start to finish. It gave me more lessons than I think he realised, and it proved to me that despite different inconveniences and struggles during the shoot, this is the environment that I want to work in.
I’m glad to have a mentor like Jake, and I look forward to hopefully continuing to learn from him in the future.
I’m lovin’ it.