In todays lesson we had a visit from Ollie Allgrove who is a producer and creative executive at The Mill, who has extensive experience in producing/directing music videos(as well as features and other audio visual products. He mainly runs productions in Europe and even as an EP he still gets involved. For all his experience and talent, it's hard to believe that he never went to film school; instead he became a runner for a few projects and made sure that he wasn't late to set and that he did everything he was told. Gradually, after learning tips and tricks from a variety of projects he worked his way up the ranks and became what he is today...a success.
Ollie Allgrove:
The company started 27 years ago and is now the largest post-prodcution company in the world.
Here are some examples of his work:
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The Mill wanted this Orangutang to look as realistic as possible as it was entirely made from CGI. This was evident when speaking to Ollie as he was very passionate about getting ideas across in a creative way and making it look authentic.
This also links to a project he worked on with Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong where he only had a budget of £5,000 and half of that was spent on location alone. When asking him how he made such a good video for such little money bearing in mind technology wasn't advanced, he told us that he had to be efficient and making the money go as far as possible.
This also links to a project he worked on with Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong where he only had a budget of £5,000 and half of that was spent on location alone. When asking him how he made such a good video for such little money bearing in mind technology wasn't advanced, he told us that he had to be efficient and making the money go as far as possible.
This next shot would have normally cost around £145,000 to be done with professional but Oliver was able to pull it off for £147 and the result didn't look half bad. Rather than using expensive rigs and equipment, he simply used a few weather balloons, covered the camera in sponge and attached some trousers and shoes to the bottom of the camera to make it look like the legs and feet of Joe Lean and then dropped it off the roof of the building.
This video took one and a half day to film and the whole process took between 4-5 weeks including post-production so Oliver told us to use our time wisely and efficiently.
Tips from Oliver:
The treatment is the first time that directors can have a look at what you want to show and you have to pitch it well to land the job, directors want to trust you enough so that they can part with their money and then it is your job to produce something good
The treatment is the first time that directors can have a look at what you want to show and you have to pitch it well to land the job, directors want to trust you enough so that they can part with their money and then it is your job to produce something good
Think of the way you speak on paper because that can affect your chances of even getting an interview. When presenting your ideas, be simple and hook them in. Show an interest in the artist and song and have plenty of ideas.
Watch other music videos to get ideas of the sort of stuff that gets commissioned.
The highest budget job that Oliver worked on was "Wide Open ft. Beck" by The Chemical Brothers. It approximately cost in the region of £200,000 - £300,000 and took 4 and a half months to make. There was no deadline and therefore it wasn't released until it was up to a certain standard.
Steady progress on the blog, Haydon. This account of Ollie Allgrove's visit is useful, with some good illustration of his work at The Mill. You need to provide more detail of your own production journey - meetings with George and lighting design, auditions for casting etc - to have a comprehensive account so far. Storyboards must be the priority this week; they need to be completed, filmed and edited as soon as possible, preferably before the break.
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