So you got a corporate gig? No not the 9 to 5 type but the freelance makeup and hair booking type. First off congratulations! Corporate shoots can be a lucrative pocket of the industry. You will be working with interesting executives, CEO’s, CFO’s and successful business owners and their employees. I will refer to individuals above as “talent” for the sake of this article! Corporate shoots and other shoots involving several people on-camera for interviews are sometimes also referred to as “talking heads”.
Corporate video shoots include lots of moving parts, last minute changes and balancing the busy schedules of all involved. However, your role on the shoot is much more simpler, working at a slower pace and less stressful than working on commercial advertising shoots. Corporate video shoots provide a great balance to the more demanding advertising campaigns!
For example, let’s say you are hired to work on a corporate video shoot. The company needs to capture content like employee testimonials, executive’s talking about the status and health of the company for their annual meeting, webinars for investors or shareholders, client facing virtual meetings or to update the company website. The overall makeup and hair goals for corporate shoots are to make talent look pulled together, fresh, natural and not overdone. Natural makeup, no shine and fly away control are top of the list and get this done in 15 minutes or less! LOL, remember you are working with “real” people, busy executives who may or may not consider powder to be a necessity! Work quickly and efficiently especially with the men. Wardrobe styling note: unfortunately on these types of shoots, there is not a wardrobe stylist involved. However, there are many opportunities to work directly with executives in choosing looks that best represent them and their brand.
`
The day before or in the days leading up to a shoot, you should receive a version of a “call sheet” with the names of who you will be working on along with the arrival and shoot times. The corporate call sheet will be much less formal than that of a commercial booking. Remember, a call sheet contains the details of the shoot including location, call times, contact information, talent names and schedule of the day. For jobs of this nature it may just be the names of those appearing on camera with their estimated time of arrival.
Something very important to note: working closely especially with executives, key officers and upper level management; client confidentiality, privacy and professionalism are all musts! I can’t stress this to you enough. You may hear privileged information; not to be repeated. Also, you may learn personal details about the individuals that should not become public knowledge. In some instances, you will be asked to sign NDA’s. An NDA is a confidentiality agreement in the shortest of terms. It is an agreement not to disclose specific information. An NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties, typically to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets.
10 Makeup & Hair Priorities of a Corporate Video Shoot:
You will rarely do a "full" face of makeup or complete hair style.
You must work quickly and efficiently; always check the “talent” on the monitor.
You may or may not be staying on-set during their interview. Chances are you will need to be prepping for the next talent.
Be prepared to work on all personalities, skin tones and types.
Master the “man-application”.
Your phone must be in silent mode.
You might be staging near the set so keep talking to a minimum and speak quietly.
You may be met with resistance from some of the talent. They may skip makeup all together. Just go with it and let it go! :-) Don’t force them to accept makeup or hair services.
You will generally have between 10-15 minutes for makeup and hair per person.
Client confidentiality, privacy and professionalism is of the utmost importance.
Notable Mentions: Keep sitting to a minimum, always be ready for the next talent or to jump on set for touch-ups. Never bring books or a laptop! No matter how busy you are outside of this booking and no matter how much down time you have on the current shoot. Always remember you are on the “client’s dollar” so stay present and offer them excellent service and your full attention.
Thanks so much for joining me here at the “On the Set” blog! See you next week; same place, same time!
If you haven’t joined the On the Set private Facebook group, jump in here!
Also, grab your free copies of “30 Words & Phrases Every Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Needs to Know Before Working on a Commercial Shoot!”
