Over lockdown there really wasn't as much client work available - so I turned my attention towards creating content at home - namely shooting little product spec ads on almost £0 budget in order to develop my creative problem solving as well as stretch my ingenuity when faced with limited equipment and space.
I consume a lot of content from such experts as Daniel Schiffer and Austen Paul, which ended up inspiring me to have a stab at creating a product video for Jack Daniel's Whiskey that had rough, gritty vibes as well as a more narrative driven theme beyond just showcasey product shots.
After browsing Amazon for Jack Daniel's related merch that I could feature in the video, I came across a very affordable Jack Daniel's Poker & Whiskey Glass set - and that's when the idea clicked to set up a Poker scene in which the drink features but isn't central to the visuals.
Space-wise my apartment is TINY. Like seriously the living room and kitchen are the same area. Furthermore at this point in my personal development as a videographer + editor I only had one light and softbox, which made the shoot extra challenging not being able to shape my human subjects with more detail and refinement.
After setting up the poker scene as well as my massive softbox which was way too big for it's own good (120cm in diameter!) I realised it would be impossible to shoot a poker scene with both players at opposite ends of the table. So I ended up shooting both characters on the same side of the table individually and doing some post-production magic to sell the idea that they were sat opposite one another.
Overall the product shots and the poker scenes took me 2 evenings to shoot and wrap up , with the edit taking a few solid nights of work to get it to a point where I was satisfied with it. The masking out of the poker chip as it flies into frame towards the end of the Spec Commercial was tricky, as I didn't have access to a green/blue screen and so had to literally do it all manually, frame by frame.
This was all done quite a while back as of writing this blog post and there are plenty of things I would have done differently now if I attempted this again - but considering I was shooting on an A7S ii (which had really come to the end of it's life cycle) with one Tamron 28 - 75mm plus one single Godox SL60W, I am still really impressed with the result when I look back on this.
I'll be posting a few more shoots done in previous months, but once that is all up to date I can start posting new BTS content that has yet to be created - it'll be pretty cool to see how much I will have improved.