Is there ever such a thing as too much pre-production? In an industry where the only constant is change, we have all had to learn how to have a plan A, B & C ready to go. In my experience the secret to success is thorough pre-production and planning along with a clear strategy to reach an aligned goal.
This summer I really put this theory to the test while onsite in Paris capturing content for a TOP sponsor at the Olympic Games. Here are my top takeaways.
Schedule
Plan your scheduled filming days around Olympic events, break it right down into minutes, work through a variety of shot list requests – remember these are Olympic venues that 100,000’s of people will be passing through. Security is tight, access is limited and the normal ‘throw money at the situation’ does not buy you anything. Be prepared to compromise, be creative around how you visually show your narrative and get to the venue two hours before you need to be there. Nothing happens quickly.
Culture
Content at Olympic venues can only be captured by the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and that is no different for sponsors. The IOC established OBS to serve as the permanent host broadcaster for the Games, so there is no need for each host city to rebuild the broadcast operation which allows the highest standards to be maintained from Games to Games. But what does that mean for production and content capture as a sponsor?
As you can imagine many TOP Sponsors are used to choosing their own production houses and crews for any sort of content capture and creation and suddenly this is taken away from you and you are provided with a crew of three individuals for either 4 or 8 hours a day, depending on what your needs are. There is no choice of who the crew are, what equipment they have and what their previous experience is. As an ex-Global Studio Director who handpicked every production house and freelance crew member, I’ll be honest it gave me a few sleepless nights lying awake wondering how I could guarantee top quality content without understanding who I would be working with. I was sure the whole team would be very talented, but would they understand how to capture content that worked for our client, something that we had established with a specialized team of individuals over many years. What sort of equipment would they have? Will the content captured onsite match the aesthetics of the brand work meticulously captured pre-games? And perhaps most challenging of all was in the age of the influencer, how do we control the fact that NO capture can be made on handheld devices (yes, phones I am looking at you!!!)… SO MANY QUESTIONS…!
And what was the answer, on reflection it was simple. It was about providing your OBS team with all the information you had, bringing them into the fold of your vision, your goals and what you need from them to help achieve those things. And most importantly setting a culture of trust and respect from the minute you meet them. The OBS teams wants success for you as much as you do, so lead with open communication, clear daily objectives and a creative vision for content capture that everyone can get on board with. Grabbing your team a coffee, making sure they have water and food on breaks goes a long way too!
Types of Content
Don’t underestimate the power and beauty of a timelapse. At an event where you can’t capture the individual rights of every attendee and as a sponsor who is using the material for commercial purposes, you must be so careful of what you are showing and what is recognizable. Here enters the timelapse, it shows a buzz, an excitement, a feel of the games, without anyone being recognizable. Our wonderful OBS team soon got very used to me requesting at least one a day and the post team were incredibly thankful to have b-roll they could use without cropping or blurring individual faces.
So as we look back and reflect on Paris 2024, we can hold our heads high. At the end of the day the Olympic Games was broadcast to billions of television viewers worldwide with over 350,000 hours of TV broadcast and millions of spectators over 35 venues. Yes, you are there at the Olympics with a job to do, so with all of the uncertainties my advice is to plan, plan, plan. Thank goodness for those 6 years in Live TV production and being able to adapt literally in the moment – I think it saved me!
Behind the scenes at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) where all the feeds and streams came in to be shared with Media Rights Holders.
