Film & Commercial Directors Spotlight Magazines feature some of the world’s top commercial directors and directors of production (DOP). In these magazines you will find portfolios of the best directors that collaborated with the biggest advertising agencies, brands and film studios, all displayed in one place. Each director is featured with up to 8 best TVC, advertisement spots, fashion films, corporate videos, or other type of audiovisual content, accompanied by short description and some still images.
We had a chance to speak to some of the directors of production featured in our magazines about the challenges they face at work, tips and tricks for aspiring directors, and more.
Federico Cambria, a famous director based in Milan, reveals a secret to a successful film shoot: “Having fun definitely helps as directing is team work. I think great concentration and fun make the team think and move as a unique living organism. This is amazing and the key for a successful project. People work better than your expectations, if you are talented and know how to push them to their best.”
Dedo Weigert, a director, producer and DOP working in feature films, commercials, documentaries and television series, about the challenges he faces as a director of photography: “Many of the films that I shot as a director of photography involved very serious challenges from shooting near the North Pole at -60°C, very ambitious images, working with Russian cosmonauts, like Yuri Gargarin on the NBC film “Soviets in Space”, shooting the frescos of Fra Angelico and recreating some of his subjects in the tusk and landscape, designing optics that were according to several professors against the laws of physics.”
Cinematographer Jesse Eisenhardt has produced videos for companies like Google, Yahoo, and eBay, here’s how he boosts his creativity: “Shooting shorts in addition to commercials helps keep my storytelling skills fresh and lets the creativity flow. Commercials are challenging in a specific way because you are typically limited by certain factors, like running time, safe framing, etc. With a short, sometimes the only limits are your creativity, and the budget! Both types of shooting are always exciting, but filming shorts brings me back to my film school roots.”
Travel and advertising photographer and director Chris Willan about the different techniques used in his videos: “There’s a lot of different techniques in these videos, but everything is anchored to the first principles and my first love of photography. There’s single shots, sequenced shots, traditional time lapse elements and more complicated travelling time lapse. I even shot the high-line in New York, one stride at a time! And then there are the super slow motion ‘hero’ shots which are still derived from a single shot. But I suppose the differentiator for me is people. They still feature prominently. I love building a rapport with people I meet travelling and I think that energy and love shines through in the majority of my work. It can be hard work getting released for everyone you shoot, not everyone would go to those lengths, but for me the people make these experiences and that’s what we’ve wanted to express in the destination videos.”
Dedo Weigert, the owner of Dedo Weigert Film, a film production and camera rental company, about the equipment and technology importance in film production: “For most production tasks you can live, use and survive with almost anything that has always been used, but if there are extreme demands for quality in controlling light, shaping light with the highest degree of precision, then directors of photography will find us. For example all the special effects of the Harry Potter series were shot exclusively with our lights and similarly on Lord of the Ring, and many others. Not everybody needs that precision, and not all the time is such precision useful, but that is our main domain where we can show exclusive advantages. At the same time, many thousands of small teams are using our Portable Studio concept all over the world, because it is more compact, lighter, more versatile, and pretty much indestructible.”
How to create a mood for the video shoot – advice from a renowned director of photography Jesse Eisenhardt: “First, I’ll read the script once through and try not to think about how to film it, just take in the story, the characters, almost reading it like a novel. I want to feel the emotion of the script first, before making any decisions. The second time through, I’ll start taking notes, writing down questions, coming up with shot ideas, and visual concepts. And after that, I’ll present these ideas to the director, and start assembling some visual references so we can find a common ground for the look we are aiming to achieve. I look for anything visual, movies, photos, magazines, music videos, those all can be really key to finding that right look. Then, when we are on set, I always leave room for improvisation, because you need to be ready to adjust to any changes. Often times once I start setting up a scene on set, no matter how much planning has gone into it already, we will find some way to make it better.”
You can read full interviews with Jesse Eisenhardt, Dedo Weigert, Chris Willan, Federico Cambria and other directors and DOPs on our blog. You can also find their work and work of other talented directors in our directory.