Consultus Nursing and Carer Shoot.
On 19th May, we began a two and a half day photo-shoot for Hansell’s long-term clients Consultus, with one main aim; to produce a portfolio of images that sum up who Consultus are, what they do and how they do it.
Being an Intern at Hansel Design I had the opportunity to be involved in the process from start to finish. Here I have put together a few key points that we followed throughout the pre-production process, the various roles that I played over the 2 days and things I learnt along the way.
Understanding the client and what they expect from us
Consultus is the UK’s leading independent provider of live in Care and Nursing Services to people in their own homes. Given that Consultus are one of Hansell’s long-standing clients, we already had an in-depth understanding of their company and the services that they deliver. Our job was to assist them in conveying the quality of services delivered through the use of high quality photography.
Planning
A great deal of planning and organisation went in to the build up for the shoot. A location was selected, Models were chosen from Fresh and Ugly Modeling Agencies, and appointed their roles. My main tasks were to help with grouping the models and creating reference material, such as model and location cards to be used on each day of the shoot.
Three main ‘stories’ were agreed upon. These stories would be represented throughout the photography, in order to capture the ideal shots for nursing/care and training services.
Preparation
On the 19th of May, Matt and I met with Lindsay Franklin – Consultus Marketing Manager, Robert Decelis – Photographer, and Christy Church – Hair and Makeup Artist. It was important that we carried out a recce of the location, ensuring it was suitable for shooting the following day. This included access to necessary facilities, preparing props and clothing, labeling key locations to make them easily identifiable to crew and models, setting up and assessing the photography and potential lighting issues.
Shoot Days – Nursing 20th and Care 21st May
On 20th May, the crew arrived at the location and began the necessary preparation for the day. As the models arrived I would meet and greet them, ensuring they were settled and an appropriate outfit for their character had been selected and approved, in preparation for their shoot.
Once the shoot was in full swing, Matt – who Art Directed the shoot and I communicated on walkie-talkies throughout the day. He provided the necessary information about the next shoot; I would then gather the Nursing Client and their respective Nursing Nurse, direct them to hair and makeup and then on to the next location in preparation for Rob and Matt.
Putting this system in place meant that the first day went very smoothly. The sun even came out just in time for the outdoors ‘wider world’ afternoon shoot, all the models cooperated fantastically, and Frank the dog model delivered a first class performance.
We were slightly more apprehensive about the second day, as we had double the amount of models coming for the Care Shoot. However applying the same system we had in place on the first day allowed us to keep on track throughout the day.
Andrea and Celia – Care Dept Managers at Consultus, were on set all day working closely with Matt and Rob to ensure that each shoot correctly portrayed the story we aimed to tell. The shot-list was closely reference throughout both days of the shoot, to ensure that we captured a diverse range of images, made best use of each of the models and conveyed the three main ‘stories’ visually in all photography.
Overall it was fantastic to get the chance to help out on the shoot and be involved in the whole process from start to finish, I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable and invaluable experience that I will definitely reference as I continue to develop my design skills further.
- Sophia Martin (Intern at Hansell Design)