BenAnyan.com

My first shoot was for a $10k commercial in Accra a few years back. I’m thinking about it now on a $500k set in Joburg and realizing how quickly time flies. Even though it’s my 9th time in Africa’s Valhalla of production, the attention to detail and slick techniques never gets lost on me. 

Travelling is something every young creative looks forward to, but with this ‘privilege’ comes a heavier weight of responsibility. There is the savouring of beautiful landscapes, tasting new cuisine, being feted by production house, experiencing local thrills etc. but interspersed with these is some very hard hard work. 

The client needs to feel that you are representing their best interest, that even with the top notch production house bringing the ad to life, your presence will ensure that the film is better and they’re getting more value for money. 

It is very hard to anticipate what your client, his boss, her husband, their puppy will be looking out for when they see the first cut. It’s hard to be so pre-emptive and constantly pay rapt attention to detail. It’s very hard to know and accept that if something goes wrong…anything at all, you are the easiest person to blame…even if it is the client’s fault.

In this last shoot, I’ve felt all the usual pressures, but at an all-new high; 1 because it involved three sets of cast for three regional clusters (28 African countries), 10 languages and 12 variants of the same product which all have to be part of the different variations of the 30” story. 2) because clients from the different regions live-monitored the shoot remotely with varied POVs that needed consolidation before lights and equipment were dismantled and set up for other shots. 

Not to mention that with the amount of money involved, the implication of a mix-up is enormous with pan-continental implications. 

Amidst all the action, I learned 2 things even more;

(1)  Decisiveness- As CD on a fast-paced set, with so many moving parts and unexpected developments, I had to make some quick calls. It’s very hard to be decisive when there’s so much on the line. If client disagreed later, well it’d be too late to come back because an additional shoot day would cost no less than $120k.

Honestly, most of these decisions were made intuitively. Many occasions, there was no time to intellectualize, ponder, consult, deliberate; I had to make a call and live with it. My decisions absolve the production house if client has issues and should strengthen client’s faith in me when they learn of it. So yeah, I did complete a crash-course in that. 

(2)  Composure- Being in-between a perfectionist director with a world class show reel and a demanding client who loves options and options and a shoot like this with so many complexities, will make the worst stomach ache feel like a tickle. There were countless occasions that required me making uncomfortable/late requests and dealing with the threat of an unbudgeted extra day shoot. My undergrad composure was subjected to postgrad assessment. The absence of it would have meant chaos, tantrums and unresolved problems.

 So as I reflect on the great memories of this past week, I’m grateful for the very uncomfortable learning opportunities. 

PS: Originally written in Dec 2020 @ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-first-500k-ad-benjamin-anyan/

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