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	Media Type:	Website
	Website URL:	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYHF6malm1A
	Website Title:	Gigniks: Commercial Director
	Description:	Interview with a commercial director. WHAT YOU DO: A commercial director takes charge of the production of a television or internet ad, bringing an advertising agency's creative concept to screen. This means overseeing the technical and creative aspects of production: tone of the commercial, locations, production design, casting, music, wardrobe, shooting style, and often editorial and post production as well. EDUCATION: A commercial director needs to understand all the technical aspects of film and video production (photography, lighting, sound recording, color theory, visual effects, etc.) and the equipment needed. No amount of training or education substitutes for hands-on experience, so the best education is simply shooting lots and lots of stuff. USEFUL SKILLS: A commercial director needs a strong and unified vision for the final product —a sense of style, an opinion, and a distinct viewpoint. You also need leadership skills, organization, storytelling instincts, attention to detail, and a good eye. You must have imagination and be able to picture more than what is written in the script. Then you need to be a very strong communicator, not just to land the job over other commercial directors in a very competitive field, but to communicate effectively to your crew and with the advertising agency after you get the job! HOW TO GET IN: Build a reel demonstrating your work. No one's hired you yet so you have nothing to show? No excuse! You should be shooting, shooting, shooting all the time. Build a body of work on your own. Learn as much as you can and establish your style. CAREER PATH: Shoot lots of things. Be original. Learn what looks good to you and why. Edit some stuff together and see how it looks. Most of what you make will be bad, but keeping making it and you'll get better. When you have some work you're proud of, post it online. Build yourself a website or get a vimeo or youtube channel. Make connections with people you like to work with—editors, musicians, grips, visual effects specialists, writers, designers, actors, etc. Join forces and trade favors with them. You need a team of collaborators you trust. Enter contests, film festivals, and commercial competitions—anything to get your work seen and noticed. When you have a decent body of nice work to show, send emails to production companies and agencies. Hopefully you can land some meetings and get representation. When you get an agent, take all opportunities they offer you for work. PAYBACK: A successful commercial director bills $5,000 - $25,000 per shoot day. Keep in mind that a typical commercial will be anywhere from paid 1 -- 3 days of shooting (sometimes you get lucky and shoot several ads in a row for the same client) and you DO NOT get paid for all the pre-production and post-production work that will come in addition to those days. Also keep in mind that you may only shoot a few ads per year. DOWNSIDES: Uncertainty is the biggest challenge. You may shoot two or three commercials in a month and then go for six months or more with no work. FUTURE OF JOB: Commercial directing is highly competitive. It seems there are more and more people competing for fewer and fewer jobs. That's the bad news. The good news is that filmmakers who are tech-savvy and internet-smart can work around the old system and break into the industry in new ways. If your work is good enough, people will notice. And advertising is changing, but the need for it will always be there. NETWORKING: Advice on Directing Spec Commercials: http://jaeminyi.com/6-mistakes-to-avo... Database of Film Festivals: http://www.festivalfocus.org/ New Filmmakers: http://www.newfilmmakers.com/resource... Directors Guild of America: http://www.dga.org/ Video produced by students at LACES (Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies) working with Gigniks' career media program. For more information or to make a donation, please visit us at: www.Gigniks.org
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	Categories:	11.02.02 Creative 11.02.03 Media 02.06.01 Production and Direction

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