Things and ideas

We just completed shooting a campaign that used all real people – no talent. It was a large number of untrained actors – 21 – and that included 5 kids,  two babies and a dog.  We tapped friends and family and then headed out into the beautiful Pacific Northwest and shot for days.  We came back with thousands of images and 10 perfect ones for our campaign.

Using professional talent usually means getting results you can count on. Talent is comfortable in front of the camera, relaxed, photogenic and easy to direct. Real people have real nerves, they trip over lines, and they stiffen up on set. But they have something professionals can’t offer – believability. Many great campaigns have used real people instead of talent – Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign featured real women with curves and wrinkles and was so impactful it was even featured on Oprah. Domino’s  new recipe ads, GEICO’s disaster retellings with the help of Little Richard and Don LaFontaine, Charles Schwab’s rotoscoped “Talk to Chuck” campaign  and Canon’s current “Your Second Shot” all use every day people to tell  stories and bring believability to their benefit claims.

Shooting with real people has its extra considerations – keeping folks relaxed is huge. Being careful how far you ask them to stretch or perform is also important. We also shot an insane number of frames. But these three strategies worked and in the end, we got beautiful, likeable pictures of real people the audiences will connect with.