Despite a precise schedule, thorough preparation and a team of professionals, we have to admit that fate can place a deep-fryer between our plans and reality.
Last summer, the Productions Optimales team booked several Longueuil streets to shoot the Visibilité chauffeur video for Nova Bus.
However, when we arrived in the morning, we discovered that a fire had broken out in precisely this area. A deep-fryer left unattended brought all activity to a standstill. The fire department and police were on the spot, their barricades blocking ours, and the result was a three-hour delay in the shooting schedule, with some thirty extras on standby. But it wasn't all over yet. While we waited for the situation to be resolved, a park adjacent to our first shooting location awaited us. Proximity to the location was one of the key criteria in the scouting conducted by our director of over 30 years' experience, Éric Côté. As a result, all we had to do was change the shooting order on the schedule.
To improvise, you need to know your plan.
A shoot is an event. The coordination it demands and its intensity call for unparalleled logistical efficiency. Yet even under the cloak of experience, unpredictability strikes. That's why a good production team knows that the most predictable thing about a shoot is the unpredictable. In these moments of urgency, impeccable preparation is an indispensable asset. To achieve this, the importance of pre-production is paramount.
The unpredictable and the 80 % / 20 % rule
That's why, in preparation, we always organize things with a 20 % margin for the unexpected. Everything that happens beforehand is crucial in order to deal with chance with maximum control.
Facing the unpredictable
During the shooting of Visibilité chauffeur, thanks to the coordination between the production team and the client, we avoided the worst. Careful choice of locations, well-defined objectives and a well-prepared production schedule proved to be our most valuable allies. Defying the odds, the shoot was completed on time and with all the necessary shots. The final result was in no way affected by the incident. This turned out to be the consequence of longer, more methodical planning. The locations had been chosen for their proximity after two location scouts, and considerable time savings had been made as a result.
The beauty of the unpredictable
The Visibilité chauffeur video made its way to the screen. It was the sympathetic story of a bus driver and his son. It showed the young child playing with a miniature bus and his father driving a real Nova Bus model. Once completed, the final product also offered its share of surprises and unpredictability. After the video went online, orders for Nova Bus miniatures poured in. In just under 24 hours, dozens were sold. Who could have predicted it?
