Good Creative Dies Without Great Communication

Speaker A: Foreign. Guys, welcome back to the podcast. Today I want to talk about something that's been on my mind and this has kind of been a very frequent topic here for the team at Film Lab lately because I believe it's one of those tools that may seem obvious but is often overlooked when it comes to building a business, managing a team, executing efficiently and creatively on projects. And that tool is great communication. I believe that great communication can solve problems before they ever happen, can help people, people feel like they know what's expected of them. It uh, can set those expectations which will then help them succeed. And overall just makes every interaction, whether it be with your client, with your crew, even with setting expectations with yourself, it can make those interactions so much better. I think about most of the time when we have an experience friction on our team, it's usually because there's uh, unmet expectation or a lack of clarity surrounding a project, surrounding somebody's role, surrounding the time that they'll need to spend on set, whatever it may be. It's usually comes down to a breakdown of communication. Now for us being a video production company, obviously the creative is at the forefront of everything that we do. However, good creative almost never survives bad communication. A recent example of how bad communication kind of hurt the creative was just this week we had a in house, in studio shoot, actually literally in this room on the paper roll, right behind the camera. And it was for an E commerce brand. They sell some really, really great stuff and they kind of set very loose expectations. It was very vague what was to be expected. Us, we want X number of photos and then we want just like three generic videos. Now we were busy with a lot of other productions. Um, eventually we got together, started talking pre production. But in this process the guy who was going to be filming the video didn't get the expectation set that we needed him to define what those three videos are going to look like and how the approach is going to be. And because we didn't take the time to really identify, hey, you are responsible for ideating on this, refining the concepts and making sure that they're approved and solid. He thought somebody else was taking care of that. Well, we get to the day before the shoot and the questions start coming up, okay, what are we filming tomorrow? What's the plan? What do we need? Any other elements that we feel like we might be missing? And in that moment, that's when the question came up, well, what are we filming? What are those three videos supposed to be? And then it turned into a bit of like a He said. She said, well, oh, I saw this example. But so and so said, it should be really easy. Or I thought this and the breakdown of communication got in the way of the creative. And if we hadn't talked about it before then and we just showed up on set, then it probably would have been quite a fail. And. And. And something that actually isn't that hard to pull off. It really isn't that complicated. In fact, it was so simple that we didn't really communicate and set expectations like we should have or like we do on almost any other production. So that was a really great learning experience. To say, okay, just because something may seem straightforward, it may seem simple, that doesn't mean it doesn't require communication. That doesn't mean we don't need to bring clarity to what it is we're shooting, how we're gonna approach it. Because the moment we did that, we spent five minutes talking about, okay, here's the examples they sent, here's the elements we have pulled together, whether it be talent, the paper roll, colors, the product, whatever, and here's how we think we can pull off something creative that's gonna, like, take, tick the boxes for them, but also be something we think is good. And we just took a few minutes to communicate about it and define that. And then everybody felt good, everybody felt confident, everybody was happy. Now imagine if we didn't do that. We showed up on set. It would have been messy. We would have been asking the client, okay, what are you wanting here? How do we go about this? We would have been trying to just figure it out on set, but just taking a little bit of time taking to communicate and get everybody on the same page. Everybody went into that shoot feeling so confident, and it went unbelievably smoothly. Now, communication really is kind of the tissue that connects everything that we do, whether that be in our relationships, whether that be in business, in the creative work that we do, whatever it is, that communication and the ability to set expectations and to get people on the same page having a shared mission or common goal is the connective tissue that makes all things work. And that is especially the case within pre production. Now, pre production is where you've kind of defined what the creative is already. And obviously that takes a lot of communication. Understanding what the client's looking for, you trying to articulate the vision that you have in your head, and then somehow bringing those ideas and your different approaches together into one cohesive approach, and making sure that both the creative team is excited about it and that they know what they need to pull off and the client feels like it's going to take care of their needs and expectations and do what they need it to do for them. Now that's obviously just an establishing the creative. So that could be an episode in and of itself, just talking about how important communication is in that aspect. But let's get into how communication truly can impact negatively or positively the pre production process. Pre production, and you could also bundle in creative under that is really where you set the expectations for everyone moving forward on a project. That is, like I said, where you really align on the vision, the approach, the, the creative approach that you're going to take with pulling this project off. That's also where you align on budget, that's where you align on timelines. That's where you define what the deliverables are. And this is a really important stage that you do not to skip. Because imagine getting to the end of a project and never, uh, really having to find exactly what end deliverables the client is expecting, or never really having talked through, when do you need these finished videos or assets by? And then you get to the very end, they're like, okay, I need this in two days, let's go. Right, that puts you in a very painful, uncomfortable position. And it may be a spot where you're actually going to be letting down the client. Now if beforehand you set the expectation of okay, you will not be able to see V1 until three weeks after the end of production or whatever your timeline might be, that is now an expectation set early on. And throughout that process, as you continue to refer back to those dates and that same expectation, it's not going to be an uncomfortable conversation, it's not going to be hard because if they then want to change things up and they say, okay, actually we need this a week after production is finished, you can say, well, I'm not able to because as we said, this is our timeline that we established at the beginning of the project, or yes, I can make that new timeline work. However, there will need to be a rush editing fee incurred because of that. And they'll usually understand because you set that expectation early on. Now obviously in pre production, it's important to establish expectations through communication with your client. But I believe it's also really important to set expectations with your creative collaborators, whoever those might be. Whether you're working with a producer, whether you're working with a director, a dp, a gaffer, an editor, a VFX artist, a wardrobe stylist, um, a talent agency, a location manager, Whatever it may be, you need to set expectations with them as well. What elements of the production are they going to be responsible for? When do you need certain details and dates by? If you're working with a talent agency, when do you need everybody's auditions back and when are you hoping to make a decision? What is the budget that you're willing to allocate for that job? How long do you expect the days on set to be? What does the schedule overall look like? Is there travel involved? All these different things are so important to establish beforehand. If you're going to have somebody and hire them on as a gaffer, but you're having to let them know, hey, you're really going to be a one man band. If you set that expectation initially, they're going to be comfortable with the idea of pulling their own stands around and maybe wearing a couple of hats on set. Even if it's not the proper way to do it. If you're setting the expectation early on, people are willing to be flexible because they go into it eyes wide open, fully knowing what is expected of them and what they signed up for. What gets hard is when somebody shows up on set and you say, hey, you know, we actually didn't have the budget to have a sound guy. So after you set up the lights, I need you to go grab our audio kit and run audio for all of these scenes. That's when people can start getting irritated because the expectation wasn't set right early on. Now, I can talk till I'm blue in the face about this, but I can tell you that almost any time I've had friction in the creative process, anytime I have had issues with a client, anytime something really just hasn't come together the way I wanted it, it's usually because there was a breakdown of communication or a lack of proper expectations set along the way. Now, you might be like me. You might be somebody who cares about what people think. I, I am a recovering people pleaser. Uh, my whole life I've always wanted people to like me. I've wanted to be friends with everybody. And because of that, there have been times in my life, but particularly in my career, where I was almost too nice, or at least in my mind I was too nice to just say it how it was. I, I wasn't as blunt, I wasn't as straightforward. I usually sugarcoated things because I didn't want to make people feel uncomfor. I didn't want to disappoint somebody, whatever it might be. I would usually kind of like Lighten things up and make it not as straightforward or maybe a little bit more vague. So then I could kind of wash my hands of that if they misunderstood. And now that wasn't always intentional, but that was sometimes the effect that would happen because I was just too nice to be straight up. I have since realized what one of the nicest and kindest things you can do is to be 100% honest, completely straightforward with somebody. If they are going to be in a situation that might be uncomfortable. I tell people straight up beforehand. Hey, this is kind of what's going on. We have to pull a 12 hour day. We're not going to have a lot of hands or help on set. Are you willing to do this or hey, I know your rate is generally $900 a day right now. Budget wise, I've only got 800. If you don't want to do that, that's okay. But that's kind of what I have right now. And then what I'm doing is I'm just communicating straight up and I'm being more straightforward and then I can trust that they're adults, that they are well reasoned people and they can decide whether they want to work with me or not. But they are going into that situation I eyes wide open, knowing exactly what the expectation is for them in their role. And it's been the same way with clients. There have been times where I've kind of bit my tongue where oh, they have this idea and they're so set on it and they believe that it truly is the direction they want to go. I actually have an example about this, now that I think about it. There was a brand who was so set on getting a celebrity or influencer to kind of be a spokesperson for a commercial for them and they were so gung ho on this idea that I really debated if I should fight them on it. Because I have worked with many different influencers. I've shot a lot of different campaigns with some very talented and high profile and highly visible individuals. And I've seen that more often than not. Uh, it doesn't actually work. It doesn't actually impact the brand's sales like they want to. Maybe there's a little bit more visibility, maybe there's some more general buzz or excitement, but it doesn't usually in the brands I've worked with lead to the sales or to the results that they are looking for. And so I debated, should I bite my tongue and just say, okay, whatever you want, let's move forward or do I practice communication? Do I Practice honesty. I thought to myself, these people value my opinion. Therefore, they're coming to hire our team at Film Lab, and they are asking for our expertise. Whether they are saying that or not, they are here because they believe we can contribute not only to just film and edit and deliver something, but making sure that they have the right idea, that the direction is strong, that the creative is sound and it's strategic. And so I was like, all right, this is what they are asking me and paying me to do, even if it's going to be uncomfortable. And I talked to him. I said, hey, I do not believe that hiring somebody, especially with the budget that you have, is going to have the impact that you're looking for. Number one, I don't know if you can afford the person you're wanting to go after. Number two, even if you can, it's going to probably pull all the attention away from your product and make it all about that individual. And three, it's gonna suck up most of the budget. So, actually, what we're able to create and the variety of scenes and props and complicated camera moves we can do are gonna be significantly limited because we put all the money into talent that I actually don't believe will bring the result that you want. Now, at first, in that call, it got a little awkward. You know, they sat there, they kind of looked at me and they're like, well, no, I've seen it work for other people. And the more they sat with it and the more that we kind of had dialogue and they. I helped them understand that I'm not trying to attack their idea. I'm not trying to tag them creatively. I'm just challenging the thought that an influencer or a celebrity is going to help sell their product, when really I thought their product was good enough that it could shine on its own. And we needed to help put that in the hands of real people and help them see what it can do for them. And as we had that dialogue, yes, it was uncomfortable at first. Over time, they started realizing that really, I just wanted the best idea to win. I wanted to see their business succeed. And because of that, I was willing to challenge them, and I was willing to communicate it in a respectful and kind way. But it was focused on collaboration. It was focused on getting a better result for them. And when they sensed that and felt that their respect for me grew, they appreciated our team as a whole more. And we had a really great partnership and made some really great pieces together with them. And it ended up bringing a lot of great results to their team over time. We took that large budget, we split it up into multiple smaller campaigns, and it, uh, was a big win for them. And that never would have happened had I not taken the time to clearly communicate. Okay, I'm talking a lot about communication, so let me talk to you about how I love using our NAN Link app to communicate with our lights. So our friends at Nanlite were able to help us hook us up with these lights here in this studio. And what's really cool about this is I am self recording right now. I don't have a big team of people helping me out, but you look at the production quality of this, it looks amazing. And part of that has to do with having a great set, but a huge part of it is being able to have our lights set up and ready to go. And what's cool. Speaking of communication, I can communicate directly from this iPad through the nanlink app to any of the lights inside of the studio. Check this out. I can turn it on and off. I can change the color or tone of this. I can hit off the backlights behind me. Whatever we need. I've got complete control of the space and it makes it so much easier. And as I'm recording this podcast episode completely solo to have control of the light and the setup that I want and it reduces my time to get to creating down dramatically. And I love that more than anything. So hope you guys like my little plug with communicating from, uh, this iPad to all our nanlite lights. But couldn't be more grateful to our friends at Nanlite. Now, uh, let's get back into the podcast. If you've done a good job in the pre production phase of setting the expectations properly and making sure everyone is on the same page for the direction and the vision you're going, then hopefully your experience on set is going to be a lot smoother. It's going to be a great experience for everyone involved because they know what their job looks like, they know what the run of show and the day looks like, the client has a strong understanding of your creative approach, and then it's really just executing on all fronts. Now that being said, you cannot anticipate every problem or issue that may come up, especially when you're on set. Honestly, something will always go wrong to some degree. Whether it's you're missing a screw for your base plate so you can't mount your camera to the tripod, or an SD card went missing, or a talent forgot to bring wardrobe they said they would, or some a, ah, crew member is running late, something is always going to come up. It is so important that when things don't go according to plan and when those situations come up, because inevitably they will, that you utilize communication to help instill confidence in your team. Hey, everything's going to be all right. Let's figure out how we're going to take care of this. Do we need to run to the store and grab another screw? Do we need to go get a new, uh, wardrobe item for this person? Can we start setting up this gear before this crew member gets here? Can we talk to the location and see if we can add an extra hour of time being here on set? If you're able to communicate with confidence, with clarity, and be solution focused in your style of communication, everyone around you is immediately going to relax. And those problems aren't going to be making mountains out of molehills. You're going to be able to keep those problems small and continue to make the production day go smoothly. One of my biggest things is I do not like drama on set. Now, that being said, it doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any friction on set. Now, I think good creativity and the best products come as a result of friction. Maybe you have two different people who have a different idea about how to pull off a shot. And as they're talking back and forth and discussing it, some people might get irritated and start arguing and start feeling like they're personally being attacked. That is not the point of this. It is these two individuals against the problem. It is us versus whatever just came up, whatever question there is and how can we work together and talk through our ideas so that we can approach this in a creative way that's efficient and pulls off what we're looking to do overall. So I love when discussions are happening on set. I love when there's a bit of dialogue, because in those moments, we focus on letting the best idea win. So in communication, especially when you're on set, but really in any aspect of life or business, you need to be willing to set your ego to the side to be able to let somebody communicate with you very clearly, whether they like your idea, whether they disagree with your approach, whatever it may be, don't let your ego, ego get in the way. Hear them out, listen to it, and put your logical thinking cap on and. And be willing to keep your emotions out of it. That is where communication is. So big onset for the problems that come up for the different ideas and creative solutions that you can come up with. And overall, just setting the tone for the day, the way you communicate with your team, the respect you can have, the jokes and laughs that can be shared, can be a night or day differ conference and, and really make or break somebody's experience with you on set. And I can say I'm so proud of my team at Film Lab because every time a client works with us, every time they come on set, we don't use it as an excuse to be more stiff or more stressed out. We use that as an opportunity to communicate, to laugh, to set the tone of we've been here a thousand times, this is a great experience. And the client is always leaving feeling so confident that their money was well spent with us and that this is all gonna work out. And again, that doesn't mean problems don't come up, but we make sure we're setting a positive and confident tone in the way that we communicate and in the way our personality and like even our aura is communicating that confidence back to the client and back to the rest of the crew. And every project really comes together in the post production. And that's really where all the creative communication that happened beforehand, the setting and establishing of the vision, the things that went right or went wrong on set, you're taking all those elements and expectations together and you're trying to then make sure your editor is clued in about how to pull that off and what the client is expecting. Looking for maybe, oh, uh, we lost audio on this clip, so don't worry about that. Or we had to stop scrap this shot because it wasn't working out because of X, Y and Z. So we thought maybe we could approach it from this direction. And when you communicate all that and then you take it and start putting it together in the edit, that's where communication is at an all time high. However, you can streamline that process and the more you can make it efficient and clear, the faster you're going to be able to get your edits done and the better they're going to end up being. We use some really great tools that we pay a good amount of money for just to focus on the communication and expectation setting aspect during post production. One of our favorite tools is Frame IO. You're able to upload a video, you're able to have your clients comment directly on the video, they can draw on images, they can do it based off of timecode and you can see exactly what moments they're talking about, exactly what details they want changed. And that streamlines the entire process for us. No, this is not a sponsored conversation. I just Love Frame IO because it is helping that communication process process. In the post production process, we have paid for client portals, we practice and have built out email templates, all with setting proper expectations and properly showcasing clearly where we're at in the process of editing, when we need the revisions back and when they can expect final delivery. A ah, really great example of great communication in post production was actually a project that I worked with on another production company on maybe over a decade ago. They were working with my parents to build out a course and what they would do is as they were filming, they would communicate anytime there was a delay, they would communicate it very upfront and say, okay, this has happened. We are going to make sure that we're still on time by doing this, this and this. Just wanted to keep you in the loop. Then they would ask my parents, okay, I need you to give us feedback by Tuesday end of day. If we do not get feedback, then that will result in a delay or a shift of schedule. Now when my parents didn't get back to them, they'd reach out on Wednesday and say, because we've now missed the deadline that we established we are now behind and that may affect our long term schedule and final delivery. And because they had set that expectation and they'd communicated every step of the way, my parents knew it was on them because they didn't get the feedback in time or they didn't get the script revisions back to them in the designated timeline they'd all agreed to. And it resulted in way less friction. There were not arguments, there was more accountability for everyone involved. And so if you can do that with your clients, with your team, whatever setting those expectations of, if we do not get feedback by this time, it will result in delays or I need you to get this edit done, even if that means you have to stay up till 11pm, you know, when you set those expectations and you're communicating clearly, you're going to avoid a lot of contention and potential issues down the road. So if you can take the time in both your business and your personal life to communicate properly, to set expectations and realize that when you are communicating clearly, when you are being honest and straightforward, that is actually the kindest thing you can do. Because you're giving somebody the respect that they are an adult, that they can make the decisions if they're given all the information and that you trust them and you trust yourself, if you apply that to your business, you will be ahead of 95% of all businesses, especially if you are in the creative space. Because most creatives really aren't that good at it. That's all I got for you. I appreciate you guys, and I'll see you in the next one Sa.