Case Study: Julia Michaels

Thankfully the brief from Julia and her label was quite open to interpretation, "either live action, animation or still photos of couples of all kinds (white, black, asian, latino, jewish, muslim, straight, gay, mixed race couples, etc.) in real life relationship situations (kissing hugging, arguing, grocery shopping, etc.).” We shot predominantly over one day in London, at a multitude of locations (with the addition of capturing three separate (and very early) summer sunrises at Primrose Hill), before taking the footage back to our edit suite in Tunbridge Wells, cutting the content and remotely sharing between director Pedro in Ghent, Brussels and Republic Records in New York, USA.

Case study: Raleigh Ritchie

Some productions have a lot of crew, others a bare bones, but at Birdhouse we have a team of professionals that can match your budget and brief. Before serving Khaleesi as Leader of the Unsullied on Game of Thrones, Jacob Anderson was busy masquerading as alternative R&B artist, Raleigh Ritchie.

Camera training and check lists

You can shoot professional quality videos with little more than your phone.

Through our camera training we equip you with the skills to create content that engages and inspires and takes your audience on a journey. We run through a series of scenarios for shoots and what would be needed to capture all of the content effectively. Additionally, you have PDF check lists for extra support, to make sure you have everything you need on the day of filming and recce/location scouting.

Importance of narrative

We have extensive experience of working directly with clients and collaborating with communication agencies to produce award-winning content that enhances your business.

Combining our knowledge and experience, we’ll show you how and why the narrative is so important, using our emotional infographics you will understand how we steer an audience to feel differently at each point of our films.

We’ll show you how to get great content from even the most nervous of contributors and tell the story that you want to tell.

CV-19, H&S and waivers

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a huge impact on our sector and everyone working in it. We’re following government and industry guidelines to ensure the safety of our clients and colleagues and we’ll give you the guidance, help you get certified and follow the APA guidelines and operate a safe set.

We also cover contributor waivers, disclaimers and who to notify when you’re filming on either private or public land.

Lighting

We will teach you how to ‘read’ the light in any location, and teach you the fundamentals of lighting in a way that can be easily, and practically applied. Natural light may not always be available and fluorescent lights can give a dark and drab image, that isn’t always noticeable until the edit. We walk you through the options available, what to do when the sun looks great but is far too bright for your contributor and how to achieve natural looks easily.

Framing, composition and working with subjects

You’ve chosen the right camera for you, but how to correct frame for your platform and audience and creating consistently high quality images is another thing entirely. How do you work with subjects, contributors and even the general public.

How to stabilise your shot, tripod, monopod, selfie stick or even a gimbal? We’ll show you how to experiment and get great footage, but also maintain a consistent look throughout your film.

Sound

Sound is so often over looked, but can make such a huge difference to your audience.

We introduce you to different type of microphones, such as shotgun and clip-on lavalier mics, and choosing either wired or wireless, for use in noisy environments.