BEHIND THE SCENES AT OUR MOTHER’S DAY CAMPAIGN...

Meet our Creative Producer, Julia

Production genius, location scouting extraordinaire and all-round beautiful soul – meet Julia, our Black Pepper Creative Producer. She’s the brains behind scouting the perfect location, organising the models, working closely with our photographers and making sure everything is smooth sailing on the day.

We sat down with her to talk all things Mother’s Day campaign…

What pre-planning goes into a photoshoot?

So many elements go into the planning of a photoshoot, but really good pre-production means your shoot day should be completely stress free and enjoyable for all on set.

The Black Pepper Mother’s Day shoot was no exception, with a multitude of talent roles (our beautiful ladies Carolyn, Riina, Emma, Nat and handsome Leo the dog!) and image capture requirements for our two day shoot. Having a really solid creative plan is the best start to a streamlined production, so that as we move into the planning stage we know exactly what we’re aiming to achieve.

For this shoot the location really was the key to this planning, and we settled on the beautiful Lake Daylesford, which has stunning paths, a mixture of Australian and European trees, and as the locals told us often during the shoot ‘healing waters’ – what more could you want for a shoot location!

In the lead up to the shoot we spent a day walking around the lake planning positioning for our shoot, access logistics for the crew, talent, and boat, and the best time of day for lighting for the photographer. We visited again on a second day with the stylist to go through set dressing for our hero areas.

Additional logistics included planning on boat launching, accommodation and travel details for the group of 25+. 

Tell us about your role on the day of a photoshoot?

On shoot day I’m RUNNING!!! And looking at the time A LOT. Lots of popping in between the different stations to make sure everything is setup for the day, and that the next thing is ready to go before the last thing is finished. Once the crew have arrived I ensure each team has the right brief so they can get started – hair and makeup artists are provided visuals references, styling team get the shoot run order and we do a Q&A on any garment specifics, photography team walk through the first few shots so we know what needs to be setup first. We usually have a start-of-the-day safety chat depending on the location, sometimes the council or property owners may have specific watchouts for the team – safety around water, sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen, watch out for bees!

Once everyone is going I setup the unit base – basically the home away from home. A central spot where the team can get a drink, something to eat, sunscreen, rubbish bins, first aid, pens, chewing gum, cleaning supplies, etc etc.

Shoot days can move quickly when everyone is focused on the task in front of them, so I work on the tasks a couple of steps ahead to ensure we can keep things moving. When we call a ‘wrap’, the team have a quick cheer and then it’s into overdrive mode for tidy up.

What was your favourite part of the Mother’s Day campaign?

My favourite part of the shoot is always seeing everyone in their element having a great time!  Lots of skilled professionals working hard together to get a great result, and that comes from creating a positive environment on set where everyone can enjoy what they do best.  Lots of laughing on this shoot, you can see in the images that everyone was having such a great day.

Do you have any funny stories from any of the days?

Launching our historic boat “Louise” turned out to be more of an adventure than expected!  When our lovely boat owner Roger required help from myself and some of the team, little did we realise we would be waist deep in the healing waters of Lake Daylesford loading and unloading the boat on the trailer.

 What do you think customers are going to love most about the campaign?

I hope our customers will love our beautiful friends Emma, Nat, Riina and Carolyn, and the warmth and energy they bring to the images.  A group of amazing Mums enjoying a Mums Day out together, sharing stories, food and lots of laughs – what could be better!  We had so many Mums on set for this shoot, our amazing Photographer Tintin, who is a new Mum, Mums of kiddos and fur babies, step Mums, substitute Mums, women celebrating being Mums together.

 

As a mum – what are your plans this Mother's Day?

This Mother’s Day I’m looking forward to some homemade cards from my kiddos, a walk on the beach, and lunch at a place of my choosing!  Best part of the day is calling my Mum to say happy mother’s day (and then calling my brothers to remind them to call her too!)