How and Why to Choose a Director
TVC, Advertisements, YouTube Videos, Viral Videos and all others deserve to be crafted in the most appropriate way for what they need to achieve. This could be a small hand-held camcorder or a full scale film production with 200 people. The end product is your choice, but how you reach that product happens only with the best of the best. And to choose the best of the best, you must understand who it is you hire, a Director.
1. Why To Choose a Director instead a video production company
Imagine if the CEO of a Corporation was a committee instead of a single person. Daily decisions would be filtered through a group of people. A simple choice would wait for the next meeting. Effectiveness would become idleness. An entire group of people’s schedule would need to line up to decide anything at all!
Let’s not forget that a CEO has to answer to a board though. The board puts the CEO in charge because they trust him to make good decisions for the day to day activity that helps to progress the company.
What is your specific project? This could be a TVC, Corporate Video, Viral Video Campaign, anything at all. Who you would want to make the decisions for the vision of your project, A) a single person that understands your vision of the project and knows how to direct it to completion, or B) a committee of people that will need to make choice after choice, line up their schedules among other clients and then “vote” on what they like the best for each decision. The company is important, but they are very administrative. This is why all major TVC campaigns, Big Budget Commercials, and anything that an Agency produces, use a single Director to direct and a production house to produce and administrate. You will still have to choose a production house, but the vision must be carried between the Client and the Director.
2) Where and How to Find a Director
Fortunately Directors are found most commonly attached to Production Houses. Reach out to a production house and discuss the project with their producer. They will suggest a Director they believe is best to carry out your vision.
3) How to Define and Convey Your Vision to the Director
This is the hardest part. Before you deliver your vision to a Director, make sure to have defined this yourself. The quickest way to get off track is to start that way. If you have 10 different reference videos in mind and they are each a different genre, that’s not a clear vision. Make sure the genre is clear, make sure the vision is clear, and make sure it is understood what you are promoting in the spot. Because you are attached to a particular mood, tone, reference video, idea, camera style, actor, doesn’t always mean this is the only way or the best way. A Director has worked years and years to hone their skills of coming up with great ideas and visions on how to portray a message in a single quick 30 second spot.
Your vision + the Director’s vision and ideas = some of the most successful campaigns in the world!
- Keep it simple
- Explain where this will be seen(internet, broadcast, website, etc…)
- Explain the product in a small paragraph( Your Restaurant/Hotel, A Watch, Brand Awareness, etc…)
- Tell the Director what you want to accomplish with the spot
- Explain the vision clearly
- Provide 3-4 reference materials, videos/images/etc…
- Explain the mood
- Explain the tone
- Make the deadline and delivery time known
- Tell the Director what you would like to have from him(a treatment, other projects he/she has directed, the Director’s own idea and vision on how to achieve this, etc…)
- The Budget(if you do not disclose this, the Director will not have a clue as to what is affordable for your project, don’t ask for a quotation, tell the Director and production house what you would like to spend. This isn’t painting the side of a house(you don’t calculate the square meter cost), this is a creative process that can be $20,000 or $2,000,000.00) You will see a line budget at the end.
- How to look at a treatment and choose your Director
You will know it when you see it.
In most cases a Director will send you a treatment. The treatment is the best way to put a vision down in terms for all parties to understand. Remember the Agency, Client, Director of Photography, and other creatives have to see this and approve and understand it. This most likely will be a PDF with dedicated sections to the vision, look and feel, talent/actors, production plan, reference imagery, storyboards, schedule, adjusted budget(sometimes), and all other things the Director feels is necessary to reveal and relate the ideas of how to produce and shoot your campaign/project.
Because the Director has not shot a spot exactly like yours before does not mean he is not a good fit! Keep in mind, the Director is an expert on how to carry out a unique vision every single time! Besides, do you want to copy someone else’s idea or have your own unique vision? The production house oversees the project and the production house suggested this specific person because of the faith they have in the the and their abilities. The production house LIVES on client referrals and will deliver what they promised because of this.
- How to start.
When you have made your decision there will be a “kick-off” meeting to define all the steps and deadlines for each. This may be in person or via skype or phone conference. This is the starting point to producing your unique vision and reaching your intended audience.