Fisheye for the agency guy

We are in full transformation mode here at Mediablaze. It’s an exciting time with everyone in the agency working hard to get our new, shiny website up and running (Trust me it’s worth the wait). 

With a new website and brand we decided we want to update our employee headshots to better showcase our personalities and who we are as an agency visually. Plus, some people really needed new ones as some have more hair on their heads but some have less… Some have developed some fervent laugh lines and of course we have lots of new faces we want to show off!

Where do we start?

The first step to creating some standout headshots was to think about how we wanted people to see us. Which came down to 2 things: We wanted to show that we are a vibrant agency full of different personalities and the second was that we wanted to pay homage to the city that birthed us, London. Specifically the area that’s been our home for the last few years, Southbank and Southwark. 

Like any photoshoot we prep for, we start with some creative research. We love how much fun Mellor & Smith had with their headshots and how you really get a feel for their agency vibe on their About Us page. Once the research was done we created a series of moodboards to get the look and feel down. We pitched three ideas to our leaders but there was a clear standout direction that won in the end.  

The Devil’s in the Detail

Once the look and feel is approved we take a look at the budget (if there is one). What equipment will we need on the day - in this case we needed to hire a fisheye lens to capture the distorted effect we were going for. We also needed to work out logistically how many days we would need for the shoot, taking into consideration the government rules regarding Covid, we decided we could divide the agency in half and shoot for two days. These are all essential conversations that happen in pre-production meetings leading up to the shoot. Now, for anyone who works for an agency you might understand the challenges that come with organising internal projects and employees so we needed to make sure our brief to employees was clear regarding their time and what they needed to wear/bring. Spreadsheets were made and calendar invites were sent. The creatives crossed their fingers hoping everyone understood the brief and that nothing would go wrong on the day...please no rain. Please no rain. (A common creative shtick pre-shoot)

Creating great end results

It didn’t rain! (sort of...who are we kidding it’s London). It was really important for us to get these headshots right as a lot of effort had been put into the pre-production. So on the day we made sure we had plenty of inspiration for poses to show our 'shmodels' i.e colleagues on our phones and the results were amazing, if we do say so ourselves. Everyone really showed up and added their own flair to their photos. It’s always great to see an idea come to life and even better when the people there on the day are engaged and enthusiastic about what’s being created- it’s the winning formula.

Some fun was had

2020 has been one helluva year for everyone so it’s important to savour those moments that make you laugh and boy did we laugh on this shoot. One of the great things with doing an internal shoot with colleagues is the banter and the laughs. We had so much fun with this shoot so we must admit to a little Tom Foolery. We had our very talented Junior Designer behind the camera getting up close and personal with some colleagues as well as the “clean” London streets, shooting at angles we never thought possible or maybe... shouldn’t be. We had our Head of Digital attempting to tee up on the top of a park wall. Account Managers & Directors balancing on poles and hanging upside down on railings not to mention our Creative Director throwing a very nice cup of orange juice into the air without even flinching as it came down right next to him, just to name a few hilarious moments. Check out some of our behind the scene footage below.

and of course...

Talk to the content marketing specialists

Are you ready to explore more creative and effective ways to communicate with your customers? Get in touch with Emma Braham, our Designer to talk about your creative content.