Executive Producer Craig Oppenheimer worked with New York-based fashion and beauty photographer Joshua Pestka to estimate and produce a shoot for Target Optical and Knock, Inc., the creative agency that handles many of Target’s in-store displays.
I had the pleasure of working with New York-based fashion and beauty photographer Joshua Pestka to estimate and produce a shoot for Target Optical and Knock, Inc., the creative agency that handles many of Target’s in-store displays. Target has a great track record of pairing up with well-known designers to produce affordable lines of clothing, and they recently collaborated with AndrewAndrew to create a variety of glasses to add to their collection of frames available in Target’s optometry department.
The concept of the shoot was to photograph two professional talent, each in two different “looks”, and to capture a portrait of the eyewear designers together as well. While we’d be shooting everyone against a white wall, the images would ultimately be composited onto colorful backgrounds and displayed on large posters throughout the stores and on Target’s website. After a few calls to discuss the approach and creative concept, I was off to the races to pull together all the pieces of the production.
My first task was to book the crew. Knock supplied a list of preferred stylists (many of which frequently work with Target on other campaigns), and I reached out to their reps to check availability, discuss rates, and to ultimately book them for the shoot. I pulled together a team featuring hairstylist Cynthia Alvarez, makeup stylist Quinn Murphy, and wardrobe stylist Susan Joy (all of which would bring along assistants.) Then I worked with Joshua to book first assistant Liam Canning, second assistant Mike Broussard, and digital tech Andrew Mailliard. We also brought on Mark Burnett as our tailor to lend a hand with quick adjustments and alterations to the wardrobe once on set. In addition to our crew, Knock’s creative team also planned to attend the shoot and bring their videographer to capture behind-the-scenes content. We also had a few client representatives from Target attend and bring an optometrist to the set to make adjustments to the glasses and fit the frames properly on our talent.
My next task was to book the talent and confirm a studio for our shoot. Based on direction from Knock’s creative team, I booked Iulia Cirstea as our female talent and Matt Pierson as our male talent. With a crew this large, I knew we needed ample space to shoot and stage our styling team. Joshua and I decided that Jack Studios would be an ideal location since one of their studios offered a private styling area as well as two shooting spaces that were perfect for us to shoot the stills in one area, and have the videographer shoot behind the scenes content and interviews in a separate area. Jack Studios also has in-house catering, which proved to be very convenient (and delicious).
After a few days of pre-production to execute the wardrobe shopping and solidify all of the details, I sent out a production book with all of the pertinent information. With that, we were prepared for the shoot and excited for a fun day ahead. Upon arrival, we loaded into our spacious studio where our stylists quickly worked their magic to dress and prep the talent. We had a few frames that we wanted each talent to wear with multiple outfits, and our plan was to capture each talent individually wearing a single frame, then shoot both of them together, and then swap glasses while changing looks. After, we would repeat the process over again. This helped to stagger the styling/prep time for each shot and helped to keep the downtime to a minimum.
Here are a few BTS images from the shoot:
Once we finished shooting the talent individually and together, our plan was to set up a video interview of the designers before capturing a few final shots of the designers together. The agency and client did a fantastic job conducting the interview, and the designers were very entertaining to watch and hear their reactions to the questions. In addition to the interview, the videographer was capturing b-roll of the talent and designers interacting with the products throughout the day, which helped add some additional context to the final video.
Below is the final video:
Finally, here is what Joshua had to say about the project:
The chance to work with Knock and Target on the AndrewAndrew optical shoot was exactly the kind of job I like. Since the shoot encompassed both fashion and portraits for final imagery, they knew that they wanted to express the creative individuality of the frame as well as the personalities of the designers. My task was to help bring it together into a single, cohesive package that told the story of both the concept and the creators well.
Production, in this case, was imperative to get right. Client, celebrity, talent, team. Everyone had different needs that required being met, and the word of the day was organization. The Andrews ended up being incredibly easy to work with, clients, too. In the end, we had a really smooth preparation leading to a really smooth shoot.
The photos appeared in Target stores around the country and on their website a few months after the shoot, and it was a pleasure to see the exposure the shots were getting. The images seemed to help Target drum up some impressive publicity around the designer collaboration, and overall it was a fun project to be a part of.
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