One of the most interesting parts of the job for me is working with photographers, illustrators, and other hugely talented creative experts, to bring a project to life. Typically, it is Art Directors and Creative Directors who find themselves in this position, but it can often also apply to people who work in production, and any other part of a wider creative team. But for the purposes of this post, I’m going to be looking at it from the point of view of an Art Director.
A finished concept has been presented and approved by a client. Awesome, this is the fun bit, now we get to bring it to life. At this point, I think this can see yourself in one of two positions. Firstly, you will already have the photographer, illustrator or animator in mind, and it’s just a case of giving them the green light. Or more often, for me, you need to find someone who has a style which will bring your idea to life. I think there and plus and minuses to both scenarios.
I have rarely had an artist in mind ahead of the concept stage. I have been so focussed on finding an idea which brings the proposition to life, that I find myself in the situation where I have an idea I love but I don’t who can do the kind of thing I am looking for.
It may be to do with the way I find inspiration, (probably the wrong way). I save loads of cool creative work that I love, but I rarely note the names of the artists. So, I end up having to try to find people who can bring the vision to life. This can make it harder but can also lead to more varied work and you get to meet a wide range of weird and wonderful, and extremely talented people this way.
The next phase is directing. For various frustrating reasons, I haven’t had any TV ads actually go into production. So my directing has been for radio, photography, illustration and animation. I have found that it’s a very different experience directing for these different disciplines.
This next statement could be controversial, but I find that photoshoots can be extremely boring… There are moments of excitement, when you can see the photographer get the shot, and it is inspiring to watch a master craftsman at work, but there are long periods of time spent setting up equipment, waiting for light to change, and waiting for models to get ready. I find in these situations; I over-eat whatever snacks are available and feel fat and bored for around 50% of the time. But you can never truly relax, as you have to watch to make sure it’s on track. And sometimes new variations present themselves as the shoot is under way.
Illustration and animation is a different kettle of fish. Typically the illustrator/animator will go away with your scamps or storyboards and come back with a test illustration, or a short test animation. At this stage, you can give some pointers and then send them away to do their thing again whilst you work on something else.
How much do you direct?
Possibly another controversial one, but I say, as little as possible. I used to feel strong urges to jump in and point something out, but I realised this was mainly down to a lack of confidence, and a desire to feel in control. And I feel it is counter-productive. I know myself, when someone’s leaning over my shoulder, throwing instructions at me, it can be really stifling and off-putting.
These days, I try to provide as much direction as possible in advance - visual references, mood boards etc. and I like to share the proposition from the brief, to give the artist a sense of what I’m looking for. Ideally, I like to meet in person or at least chat over the phone. I try to do as much as possible to make sure we’re on the same page. After that, leave them to do their own thing. If a shoot is going well, I’ll happily lurk in silence all day, offering only the occasional thumbs up.
The next step is to see your vision come to life. Whether it’s illustrated or photographed, filmed or animated, this is my favourite part. When the finished work comes back to your inbox, after post-production magic has been done. It feels really real now…
…however this is also the part where I feel a slight, and unexpected pang of sadness. I’m quite a selfish person in some ways, when it comes to creativity, I want to be able to create everything. I’m like Dennis Waterman from Little Britain, I want to write the theme tune, sing the theme tune… When I listen to music, I always fantasise about playing ALL of the instruments, and when I see visual creative work, I want to do it all. There’s probably a dodgy personality issue there, but I can’t seem to shake it.
Which brings me to my last point, ownership. The work is now truly a collaboration. If you are the Art Director, then there is probably a Copywriter who has had an equal part in the initial creative process, there may be client facing colleagues, who will have written the brief, and who will have had to champion and sell in your vision, and possibly creative directors who may have been steering you and overseeing the idea. And now too, it is the work of the artist, who brought the idea to life. So who gets the glory?
This reminds me of looking through album sleeve notes as a teenager. I much preferred it when the songwriting was collective, ‘all songs written and performed by Iron Maiden’ for example, as opposed to ‘‘Ride the Lightning’ written by Hetfield & Ulrich.’ And I feel it is also the case with creative work. I think everyone plays a part, and so everyone can share in it’s success. I think this makes future projects much more likely to succeed too.
Photographer Archie MacFarlane with the Denvir team (and Mick) at The Scottish Creative Awards 2017.