Life’s all about timing - waiting for the the right time to do something, not having enough time (often the case on shoots), and in emergency situations especially, making whatever time you have count.
We were asked by Samsung to create a case study on their new portable ultrasound device which was being utilized by 3 Emergency Medical Services located in the Dallas Fort-Worth area. This was a very quick turn-around project with not much lead time and a very slim crew. We provided a Producer-Shooter, hired a local sound guy, and from Samsung we had a producer and a product specialist.
We hit the ground running once we got to Dallas. The first night we spent going over the individual cases we would highlight at each location, and drafting a script. It was important for us to understand Samsung’s messaging and figure out how the cases would underscore that messaging.
We had two shoot days with which to conduct interviews with paramedics from the 3 locations, shoot b-roll and dramatizations at those locations, shoot an interview with the DFW EMS medical director, and shoot an interview and b-roll with the Trauma Medical Director at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth. At the end of the first shoot day, we had another meeting to go over dailies and plan for the next day.
And did I mention we got to mount cameras on ambulances and ride around?
There were a lot of challenges on this shoot - managing time, getting the right soundbites from the interviewees, and doing everything under the hot Texas sun. The final hero shot was done on a 10-foot ladder and being up there with sweat dripping down your brow making it terribly difficult to find that focus, maintaining balance atop what in the moment feels like a 100-foot ladder, while executing a camera move - well, all you can do is take comfort in knowing that you’ve got about a dozen paramedics and a doctor down below if anything happens.
All in all it was a great shoot and a nice exercise in getting your pre-production done during production. It was also a great opportunity to have some Texas bbq which was a nice way to wrap things up. And I did wrap some up and bring it back to the hotel for a late night snack. Tasted even better then. It’s all about timing.