Teleprompter Operator Makes a Pit Stop at Jaguar LandRover, USA

 

 

I love cars! And so I got revved up upon hearing that the American Movie Company, Teleprompter Rental and yours truly were hired again to shoot the internal videos of the 2016 line-up for the Jaguar LandRover brand!

For an entire week, I drove daily back and forth from Manhattan to Mahwah, New Jersey, the headquarters of Jaguar LandRover North America.

Nigel Goldsack, a prominent producer at the Brainstorm Creative Agency requested my presence. We worked together before and formed a professional, mutually respectful relationship. I was eager to see familiar faces again!

I worked closely with Amy Sheppard, the production coordinator of the shoot who flew in from London.

Each morning I meticulously formatted the scripts to be read directly to camera for every video we shot. Amy and I paid particular attention to updates from the legal department whose input was important. For the rest of the day I was the Teleprompter Operator for Brett Bogart. He holds the position of Chief Facilitator of Jaguar LandRover USA. It was a pleasure to work with such a good friend and our on-camera talent for the shoot.

 

The new series of videos are for Jaguar’s brand new, mid-size Sport Utility Vehicle
, the Jaguar F-Pace.  To quote their very own description:

The F-PACE takes the Jaguar DNA of legendary performance, handling and luxury, and adds practicality and space. The technologically advanced F-PACE is a performance SUV with maximum driving exhilaration. It also delivers state-of-the-art technology and connectivity. F-PACE has the performance for every road and the capacity for every day. A Jaguar for the driver, a Jaguar for the active lifestyle.

It is curvaceous, powerful, luxurious and my personal SUV dream vehicle!

The videos we made are for salesmen of the brand to be fully informed about all the exterior features, interior design and all the innovative technologies. This familiarity with the vehicle will enable them to speak intelligently about and sell the vehicle with enthusiasm to a prospective buyer.

We also cross-compared two other SUV’s on the market, that are the competition for mid-size luxury SUV’s. They are the Porsche Macan and The BMW X4.  
Both are equal adversaries.

In order to excel at selling the Jaguar F-Pace SUV in the United States, we shot two separate videos informing the sales team about all the features and latest technology featured on the competition. If a likely buyer is looking into purchasing a mid-size luxury vehicle, it is best to understand the rivals

For this particular shoot, I used American Movie Company’s signature 12 inch Professional Autocue Teleprompter with our upgraded HD Ultra bright monitor.

I set the text at the precise margin specification so the eye movement from the teleprompter would be minimal. I also pre-set
 the font and text style according to the talent’s preference. (I had notes from a previous shoot in 
2015 for the Jaguar sports car line-up.) I also packed 75 feet of HDMI cabling for this job. The main reason for bringing this added item was because I knew we would be shooting partially on a tripod (on sticks) but mostly
 on a Dolly Track. Experience taught me to anticipate. Given the specific tracking shots that would reveal the vehicle, it was apparent and very important that I provide enough cabling to extend from the camera/teleprompter rig all the way to where I sat at my laptop. It was from here that I would be scrolling the text from our Script Q4 software.

Lastly, I must make another very important point. Prior to the actual shoot, I spoke in detail to the 1st Assistant Camerawoman (known as the 1st AC). We were to be building the camera and teleprompter rig together. I gave her needed information about the weight of the teleprompter. This device weighed approximately 30 pounds. 
It was crucial for her to know that the teleprompter would add about 17.5 pounds to the front of the camera. It would make it very front heavy. I was prepared to provide 10 pounds of counter balance weights to keep the rig balanced. I always take this extra step and reach out
 to the crew and especially to the DP (Director of Photography). Invariably, my effort is appreciated. It is important to ensure that the camera movement is unhindered by the teleprompter.

When going over the details we made a final request of the 1st AC and that was to provide a 
tripod that would be heavy-duty enough for the rig.

Again, experience in this field was invaluable. I knew what to recommend for use with this teleprompter – a Sachtler Tripod, with a 150-mm ball head, capable of withstanding a weight capacity of 55 pounds. And thus, we had the perfect camera and teleprompter rig!

The shoot went smoothly – no bumps on the road! The parties involved were very pleased with our service and we in turn thoroughly enjoyed working with them.

We will meet again in late 2016 for an update on more vehicles. No wonder Jaguar and our English clients have become favorites of ours.

 TeleprompterRental and these esteemed clients are driven to continue to forge a lasting relationship.

I have to hit the road. Don’t blow a gasket.  (I can’t help myself!)  Just paving the road for the next blog.

Thank you so much for reading my musings.

See you anon on the next blog!

 

Teleprompter Operator Makes a Pit Stop at Jaguar LandRover, USA