GAINING REAL-LIFE PHOTO SHOOT EXPERIENCE WITH NFC: LMS SUMMER CAMPAIGN
WORDS BY NFC STUDENT JESSICA PHILLIPS
As an NFC student, saying yes to every opportunity makes for the best adventure, and it’s not every day you get the opportunity to work on the set of a photoshoot. When LMS The Brand, a shoes and accessories brand based in Sydney, reached out to NFC looking for photoshoot assistants I jumped at the chance to try something new. Sydney-based LMS The Brand flew to Melbourne for the perfect backdrop to their “New Romantic - Summer in the City” campaign, taking to the streets of Melbourne and shooting multiple locations within a matter of hours. LMS The Brand also happens to be founded by Lisa Mandy Seskin, who is one of the amazing teachers at NFC which just highlights the incredible real-life experience our trainers have!
The idea of working on a photoshoot set and seeing the behind-the-scenes of a campaign was so exciting, especially as I am really interested in content creation, as capturing social content was a huge part of the shoot. Working with the Creative Director of LMS, Eloise Jaksic and Content Creator, Hannah Juneva, on set was so inspiring and it was really motivating to see how they worked, how creative they both were and how fast they could think on their feet to create the best campaign shots possible.
Before heading to the first shoot location, I met the LMS team and another NFC student assisting the shoot, Jas, at a hotel to prepare for the shoot. Jas and I steamed garments and packaged shoes and handbags before packing everything neatly into a giant suitcase that we would use throughout the day to transport everything required for the shoot. Jas and I worked from a run sheet that detailed all the outfits including which shoes and accessories matched each outfit, and then strategically packed them to ensure dressing the models on location would be as seamless as possible.
Once arriving on location, it was our job to pull out the outfits in the correct order, corresponding to the locations, along with matching shoes and handbags. We helped dress the models and ensured that all elements of the looks were captured by Eloise and Hannah. Eloise had scouted the locations for the photoshoot prior to the shoot day, and it was amazing to see the vision she had come to life. As we walked around Melbourne, we kept our eyes peeled for any new locations that would complement the shoes and outfits or match the theme of the shoot. It was so much fun to walk through Melbourne and stop on the side of the street when we found a tram or a sculpture that matched the outfits, racing to find the pair of shoes that would match this surprise location best!
LMS, as a smaller brand choose to focus on appealing to their target consumer and they now shoot with point and shoot digital cameras and also shoot on iPhone for both stills and videos. This way of capturing content allows LMS to show their personality through their promotional material and feels a lot more relatable for the customer! For every outfit, multiple forms of content were captured to highlight the shoes and handbags, and to create a large pool of campaign content for LMS to draw on. With over 10 outfits to shoot and multiple locations, you can imagine just how much content was captured.
Assisting on the photoshoot gave me hands-on experience helping in the creation of a campaign shoot - even getting really hands on by splashing the model with water, to recreate the famous water splash in the opening credits of ‘Sex and the City’, where Carrie is splashed by a passing taxi! The creativity of the shoot, and the LMS teams’ ability to think on their feet was amazing to watch and be a part of. It really made me think about what I want to do in the future and inspired me to think about what goes into the creative side of campaigns.
To be hands on and involved in the shoot was so exciting and I loved seeing then final product when the campaign launched and seeing all the photos and content that was captured in front of my eyes. I am so grateful for the experience and am so looking forward to working with LMS again!
SEE MORE BEHIND THE SCENES, ON-SET CONTENT FROM THE CAMPAIGN SHOOT: