Production Brief

And so we come to the final episode of Production Brief! It has been a blast entertaining your earbuds for the past two years, but, as all good things do, we come to the end. 

We launched this podcast in 2020 in the early days of COVID as a way of sharing vital information during the most difficult of working times. Since then we've evolved the format, expanded our range of guests, and kept the pie maker jokes fresh, but we're ready to tend to our own gardens for a while, hence saying our collective goodbyes. 

A big thanks to all our guests who joined us on PB, everyone who helped behind the scenes to prep each episode, and to ourselves for leaping into a new format and learning along the way. Every new experience is an experiment, and we hope ours has been kind to your ears over the past two years. Thank you so much for listening.

Brendan and Mark

In episode 22 of Production Brief we speak to colourist and host of The Colour Couch podcast, Vincent Taylor on the art and science of colour grading for advertising.

From etiquette in the grading suite to staying ahead of the technology curve, Vincent chats through his journey from DP to colourist, his 2021 essential skillset, and what drives his best work today at Harbor Picture Company.

For Ep 21 we kick off a new series of 'spotlight' conversations starting with director Madeline Kelly. 

Born in Sydney and now working across the US and Australia, Madeline is a Young Director Award finalist and Canne Lion winner. Her commercial work includes brands such as United Nations, Gilette, Maybelline, Nike and Blackmores.

Madeline talks through her fantastic commercial spot for the 2020 UN Women gender equality campaign 'She'll be Right', making the move to the US as a relatively new director, the challenges and opportunities of being a female director in 2021, and her overall approach to collaborating with agencies and creatives.

Madeline Kelly is represented in Australia by Rabbit Content and in the US by Curfew. You can check out the commercial discussed in Episode 21 "She'll be Right" at http://www.madelinekellyfilm.com/shellberight

Cornel Wilczek is an award-winning screen and commercial composer and the owner of  Electric Dreams, an award-winning production company making music and sound for brands.

Cornel's feature film work includes ‘Cut Snake’, ‘These Final Hours’ as well as recent TV series Stateless, The Glitch and Offspring to name a few. His company Electric Dreams is the music behind many top brands including Myer, Carlton Draught, BCF, Twinings, McDonald's, Tennis Australia and NAB.

We chat to Cornel about the similarities and differences between scoring for commercial production vs film and TV, the art and science behind a memorable brand tune, and why commercial production continues to be fertile ground for composers to experiment and hone their craft.

In Ep 19 we chat with storyboard artist Maria Pena, the woman behind some of Australia's most iconic commercials. 

For the last 30 years, Maria's storyboards have helped many of the world's top agencies and directors sell in their concepts to clients such as Macys, Subaru, Tooheys, the ADF, Geico and many more. 

We talk through Maria's process from initial sketches to final shooting boards, what makes a director/artist collaboration work, and why Maria's work continues to be sought out after so many years in the craft.

Find out more on Maria at her website https://storyboarder.com.au/

Episode 18 features Mark Toia, one of Australia's most in-demand commercial directors, as we take his back catalogue of car commercials for a spin. 

Mark is a DP/director/feature film producer behind some of the world's biggest brands, including Ford, Honda, Tourism Australia, Coke, Hyundai, Mazda, Isuzu, Bank of China and Yamaha to name a few. His 2019 super bowl commercial for Jeep racked up more than 106 million views in the first days of release and his work is frequently sought out by creative agencies around the world.

Mark gives us his roadside take on what it's like to shoot cars (and many other subjects) for a living, how the automotive genre is faring in 2021, and his essentials for a successful vehicle spot.

So we're a bit late out of the 2021 gate, but what worth waiting for isn't worth waiting just a little longer...In this episode we look at how commercials convince us to be better (and safer) humans with Creative Director Nigel Dawson.  

Nigel has spent some 40 years in advertising and worked on the Transport Accident Commission account for more than 16 years, producing over 150 behaviour change campaigns to help lower Australia's yearly road toll.  Nigel walks us through the tactics common to the behaviour change genre, how sound and vision work to deliver visceral impact, and how the genre has changed over the last 20 years.

Nigel is currently co-founder and Creative Director at Three Wise Men and continues to specialise in behaviour change work, creating campaigns for VicHealth, Childwise, Worksafe and Quit. 

Commercials mentioned in this episode:

Quit for LIfe Sponge Ad (1979): https://youtu.be/ZCkx610Gn6M
Worksafe Bakery (2008): https://youtu.be/-FOsfry3ZJs
Sticky Blood (2021): https://youtu.be/X4FO863k75Y

In this episode, we sit down with Mark Grentell and Rick Pearce of Sydney's Spectre Studios to get the dummies course on Virtual Production (VP).  We chat about the adoption of this relatively new technology in Australia, how it's currently been used for commercial advertising production, and where VP is headed over the next few years.

If you're a crew member curious about virtual workflows or a producer looking to set up a business case for VP, this is the episode for you.

Spectre Studios is one of the leading XR studios in Australia bringing feature films and experiences into true room-scale VR.

With the next 'COVID-normal' step for on the horizon for Victoria, we thought we'd follow up our last State of Play episode with an updated view of the near future of advertising production in Melbourne. 

To get a fresh perspective, we speak to Martin Box, Head of Production at Airbag, one of Australia's most awarded production companies, and get his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities of the last six months and well as his outlook for the remainder of the year and into 2021.

Airbag is a creative collective of international award-winning film directors, creative technology practitioners and visual effects artists with their main operations based in Melbourne, Australia.

And we're back. Had a bit of a breather there as we headed into lockdown 3.0 here in Melbourne, but we've brushed the dust off our mics and recorded a new episode with Patrick O'Sullivan, aka The Wandering DP. 

Patrick gives us some great insight into the makings of his career as a commercial DP and popular podcast host. We talk about the ups and downs of forging a production career in Perth, one of the most isolated cities in the world, and what life is like outside the COVID bubble. 

Patrick O'Sullivan is a commercial DP based in Perth, Western Australia, and works across the country and internationally. He is also the host and creator of The Wandering DP a popular podcast about cinematography and filmmaking techniques - https://wanderingdp.com/

In episode 12 we chat to Andrew Stalph from post production studio Mr Fox about the challenges and opportunities of editing during a crisis. 

Andrew talks about how the role of an editor has changed over his 20 years in the industry, how he approaches collaboration with producers and directors, and how remote editing is helping campaigns to stay on track during COVID-19.

Mr Fox is a full service film and video post production house in Melbourne with editing, Flame VFX and post-producing services.

We chat to Sarah Alekna owner of Highway Casting about the past, present and future of casting advertising talent in Australia. With social distancing fast becoming the new norm across all industries, getting back into the casting room is a very different prospect in 2020.

Sarah talks through her journey as casting director, how the industry has changed over 20 years, and how production companies and agencies are overcoming casting challenges today to keep projects on the burn during COVID-19.

Highway Casting is based in Melbourne and provides talent casting services for film & TV.

For our first double-digit episode we chat to Head of Production for Sydney and Perth, Jackie Archer from Wunderman Thompson about the new normal in agency side production during COVID-19.

During the episode we touch on client-less remote shooting, Jackie's doomsday approach to backup plans, and how COVID-19 is impacting production runways and client collaboration. Also new to this episode is a pre-show production update where we check in with contacts from across Melbourne and Sydney to hear how production levels are faring in June compared to May.

Jackie Archer is an awarded Integrated Producer and current Head of Production at Wunderman Thompson. 

What exactly is safe right now? With restrictions lifting in Australia and the economy grinding back into action, now is the ideal time to start charting the high road to a corona safe production workplace. 

In Episode 7 we take a deep dive into current COVID-19 safety protocols with some sage advice from Kieran Cato of CATO Location Services, and an extended discussion on currently available guidelines. 

We cover safety officers on set, how Cato Logistics have pivoted to meet the extra precautions, and where the industry can look right now for guidance on safe and productive ways of working.

Full episode notes and links available at productionbrief.com

Food, glorious food!  In this episode, Mark and Brendan continue their 'safe set' conversation with Tanya Badenhope from Sweet Seduction catering.

The holy lunch break is an integral part of any TVC production (and TBH our favourite setup of the day) but with social distancing and hygiene measures currently pushing us apart, the treasured bain-marie is under threat.

When it comes to creativity, we eat therefore we think, and managing meal breaks is often the key ingredient in maintaining a productive set. Tanya talks on set catering options during COVID-19, the impact to their business from cancelled bookings, and details measures any production can put in place moving forward to keep crew safe around meal times.

Sweet Seduction has been providing catering to film and TV productions in Melbourne since 1985.

Today we talk to DP Marcus Cropp, Director Jesse Richards from Cummins and Partners and live streaming expert Aaron Maguire from Live Streaming Events and get three perspectives of the same socially distanced shoot.

Safety on set is gaining a number of new pointy angles at present, with productions forced to interpret and react to changed social distancing recommendations and ways of working. To help ruminate on this a bit further, we've decided to devote the next few episodes to what it means to have a 'safe set' during the COVID-19 crisis. 

In this episode our trio touch on remote shooting realities, new casting hacks, PPE precautions on set, as well as how to manage client/agency feedback over live-stream.

Marcus Cropp is a DP/Cinematographer based in Melbourne. Jesse Richards is a Content Director with Cummins and Partners. Aaron Maquire runs Live Streaming Events.

In this episode, James MacGregor from The Vision House talks through the impact of social distancing restrictions on the camera rental market. Commercial rental turnover is a good indicator of the amount of in-progress advertising productions, with most medium to large sets requiring specialist camera and grip support to operate. The Vision House is one of the oldest players in camera rental market and in this two part interview, James reflects on the personal and professional impacts of COVID-19, ways of working under the new restrictions, and his outlook for the future of commercial production in a post-COVD world.  

First episode! Well after much talk about what to say and how, it turned out to be a pretty short session. Brendan and Mark explain the idea behind a podcast dedicated to the advertising production industry, why it's a good time to launch in a time of crisis, and a hint for the next 'full' episode.