Like Buttah
On advertising shoots, occasionally there is a variable that can’t be fixed with better pre-production, or realigned with a creative shift; a five-year-old child is one of those.
I enjoy shooting with children and I would even dare to say the some of my best photographs feature them (such as this and this), but getting a little girl to do a specific action –on cue over and over again–is a unique challenge.
We shot the print campaign for Country Crock alongside the broadcast production, and had to share the charismatic Cammie for the truncated hours she was allowed to work. The TV spots were done in the morning, and we were set to get her in the afternoon.
I watched much of the AM shoot in the video village with the folks from the agency. She was a sweet kid, who did funny and surprising takes, charming all of us. But as I stood at the back surveying the multiple monitors it dawned on me that her primary activity was eating noodles with our plant butter melted into it. Cammie was loving it, but three bowls in she appeared to have had her fill.
Cut to an hour later and she’s sitting on our set, with a big smile, and the photo team attentive and ready. The prop stylist pushed a bowl of steaming noodles in front of her and Cammie said, “No thank you, I’ve had enough noodles.”
A gentle nudge for her to try it brings a clear, “No.”
I always try to be sensitive to performers boundaries, especially with children. For a while we did some work-arounds: “How about you scoop up lots of noodles on your fork and show it to us?” We made a game of it, playing up our delight every time. Some of these frames are great, but the client insisted on seeing some shots of her actually eating the noodles (and their product).
At some point she was pulled away for a break and her stand-in Nica dropped by. We gave her a quick tour of the set and our equipment. She then turned to me and asked, “Is it my turn now?” I looked at our producer, Sean Frith, who silently nodded, “Yes.”
As we began, Cammie came back. It crossed my mind that perhaps she would feel competitive seeing her Nica replacing her but we got the opposite response.
Being the only two children on set, they were now fast friends. I saw an opportunity and invited Cammie to join me behind the camera, to photograph her buddy. She stood on my applebox gleefully giving instructions. “Look here,” she said, then pushed the shutter button.
After a couple of minutes I said, “Great, let’s switch!” And Nica excitedly climbed onto the applebox by the tripod. Cammie is now in place, fork in hand, a bowl of noodles in front of her. I lean into the little girl by the camera and whisper, “Ask her to try the noodles. Say, ‘Eat it for real.’”
Cammie does it and we get a few good frames of this. A combination of playing up for her friend and a number of hours having passed since lunch and she happily eats a few mouthfuls of noodles with Country Crock plant butter melted in.
Thanks to Rainbow Partridge, Michael Franklin, David Metcalf, Amy Medellin and Estee Mathes of Ogilvy Chicago for having me on this rollercoaster of a shoot. I’ll hit the midway with you anytime.
BTS photos by Sean Frith of Field Trip Productions, in Vancouver BC