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“Conscious Producing” with WeCreate 和WeCreate一起“有意识地制作”

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WeCreate is the new production service company on the block. Founded in 2017 by twin sisters Lynn and Lu Wang, it’s now a team of three producers, one creative director, and one director of photography. A small company, but with big projects on their hands: they’ve already produced commercial films for companies like Xiaomi, Korean Air, and Adidas.

WeCreate是一家在2017年新成立的影视制片服务公司,双胞胎姐妹 Wang Lynn 和 Wang Lu是创始人,现由三位制片人、一位创意总监和一位摄影总监组成。虽然公司规模不大,但已经为小米、大韩航空和阿迪达斯等知名客户制作过商业广告片。

Wang Lynn & Wang Lu

Lynn and Lu adopted a working style that’s rather uncommon for Chinese production companies and it seems to be the recipe for their success. We had a chat with Lynn to understand the basics of it all.

和中国影视制作公司不太一样的工作方式是Lynn和Lu成功的秘诀。带着对这个秘诀的好奇,SHPPLUS采访了Lynn。

Lynn and Lu were born in 1987 in a small town in Sichuan Province. Lynn in particular grew up fascinated by how people communicate in different ways, so she went to study linguistics in Beijing. “I always knew that communication is not just about translation, it’s about getting to know people and understand cultural differences,” Lynn says. With this cultural awareness, she landed her first experience in the film industry, as a volunteer assistant director in a short comedy about the life of expats in Beijing, ‘This is Sanlitun.’

1987年出生的Lynn和Lu来自四川的一个小城市。Lynn从小就对人们用不同的方式进行交流特别感兴趣,于是她来到北京专攻语言学。

她说:“我一直认为交流不仅仅是翻译,更是去了解来自不同国家的人们和文化差异。”

因为对文化差异有独特的认知,所以她在影视圈的第一份工作,就是志愿做了一个喜剧短片的总监助理。这部短片是关于在北京生活的外国人,叫《这是三里屯》。

Lu & Lynn 6 years old

Lynn’s first proper job in the industry was the one that truly formed her as a producer; she worked as a coordinator for Studio Output, a London production company that used to have an office in Beijing. After that, she went into several years of freelancing, working in countries like Australia, England, and the United States—all places with mature film industries. Lynn noticed that, unlike China, companies in such countries paid as much attention to taking care of the crew as they did to taking care of the clients and there was an underlying respect for the process. It all resulted in a smooth working flow, without unrealistic changes, and with much less stress.

她在影视圈的的第一份正式工作,为她日后真正成为一名制片人打下了一个好基础。

当时的Lynn就职于一家英国影视制作公司Studio Output的北京办公室,负责协调日常工作。在那之后的数年,她做了自由职业者,先后去过澳大利亚、英格兰和美国这些影视行业成熟的国家或地区工作。

Lynn意识到,和中国不一样的是,这些国家的影视制片公司给予制作团队和客户同等的重视,并且极其尊重工作流程。这些都促使工作进行得非常顺利,没有不切实际的更改需求,压力也少了很多。

“The so-called ‘China speed’ is magical; it creates a lot of opportunities. But it usually implies that everything needs to happen in a short time and, more often than not, we end up neglecting the well being of the crew that’s operating the projects.”

“所谓’中国速度’是个奇迹,它孕育了许多机遇。但是它同时意味着一切来得都太快,所以我们往往忽视了对剧组工作人员的关心。”

SK2

Lynn is a strong communicator; Lu always knew how to take care of people. Based on their strengths and Lynn’s observations of mature practices, the two sisters drafted what would be the backbone of WeCreate: the combination of employee care and client awareness.

Lynn擅长沟通,Lu特别懂得照顾人。于是,基于两姐妹的优点和Lynn多年的行业经验,就有了WeCreate的核心:「员工关爱和为客户着想并行」。

When it comes to the Chinese advertising sector, there’s a widespread notion that the client is the God Almighty; after all, they’re the ones putting the money on the table. The process is more often than not seen as a secondary factor to the client’s requests and last-minute changes are frequent and result in negative effects on the crew.

在国内的广告圈里,有一种不成文的规定,即客户就是上帝,毕竟他们是出资方。工作流程就不如客户的需求那么重要,工作人员经常被要求作紧急修改,这给团队造成了消极的影响。

On produciton of MengNiu with Director Stuart Douglas

“The problem is not that the clients don’t respect the process, It’s that they were never trained on what is the process,” Lynn explains. “As a producer, you have to understand the entire process in a meticulous way so that you can also explain it to your client. Doing so, you’re also taking care of your crew and avoiding unnecessary stress” she adds.

Lynn道出了原因:”问题不是出在客户不尊重工作流程,而是他们的专业不在于此。“

她补充说:”作为制片人,你必须清楚工作流程的每一个细节,才能让客户也清楚工作流程。这样也能更好地照顾到员工,避免造成不必要的压力。”

On produciton of XiaoMi with Director Eli Sverdlov

Lynn always makes sure that all decision-makers involved are present for the initial briefing. This is the moment when the importance of time, budget, and process are discussed and because these factors are essentially interlaced, it’s also when you manage the client’s expectations. As Lynn explains, “In addition to understanding the steps, they need to understand what can happen, within what time frame, and requiring how much investment.”

Lynn总是确保所有决策者都要参加第一次的碰头会,因为会讨论到重要时间点、预算和工作流程,这些因素都是相互影响的。在管理客户预期时,Lynn认为:“除了要知道有多少个阶段,客户还需要知道在每个时间段会出什么,预算是多少。”

Because of her straightforward communication methods, Lynn admits that conflicts can happen and that, occasionally, she has to refuse projects because both sides are not properly aligned. However, based on her experience, the strategy pays off and often results in a less stressful operation and ultimately saves time.

她坦承,自己这种直接的沟通方式会引起冲突,有时候双方不能达成一致,她干脆不接手项目。然而,经验告诉她,这种策略是正确的,因为这样选出的合作更轻松,最终更省时。

On produciton of XiaoMi with Director Eli Sverdlov

The company broadens the scope of conscious production into a humanitarian direction too, offering a share of the profit made with every production to local charity organizations. Lynn reveals that their ultimate goal is not to grow into a large scale company, but rather to continue to enable an environment where people can work in a solid and grounded way.

公司为了丰富「有意识地制作」的内涵,加入了一些人道主义色彩:将公司的一部分利润捐给当地慈善机构。为此,Lynn表示,他们的最终目标不是成长为一个大型公司,而是持续地创造一个人们能努力工作、无所畏惧的环境。

“One of the reasons I stayed in the commercial film sector is because it’s where I found the most amazing people in my life. They always give their best and will do impossible things for the sake of creativity. As long as they feel valued and respected, their potential is phenomenal” says Lynn.

Lynn说:“我坚持在商业广告行业里工作的原因之一,是因为在这里我遇到了人生中我认为最了不起的人。为了创意,他们总是尽最大努力,去完成不可能完成的事情。只要他们觉得被肯定,被尊重,他们的潜力是无穷的。”

WeCreate’s approach proved fruitful in productions of different sizes, some notable ones are the following spots for Jack & Jones, Xiaomi, and Refinery 29:

WeCreate的方法证明了他们有能力为不同等级的客户服务,其中不乏一些知名客户的商业广告片案例,如杰克琼斯、小米和Refinery 29:

 

Jack & Jones — This sleek 90-second story takes place in a luxury hotel in Shanghai and it’s about the friendship between Chinese superstar Deng Lun and Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Due to their ability to understand and overcome cultural barriers, the WeCreate team was involved since the beginning, developing the storyline together with the ad company Motor Agency. They also had to build five different sets on the outskirts of Beijing in only six days. “It was a challenging project, but my entire team was excited about it,” says Lynn.

杰克琼斯——这支大片质感的90秒故事片发生在上海的一个豪华酒店里,围绕中国巨星邓伦和丹麦演员麦德斯·米科尔森(Mads Mikkelsen)之间的友谊展开。

考虑到两位名人理解和处理文化差异的客观情况,WeCreate从项目初始就参与其中,并和广告代理商Motor Agency一起开发故事情节。他们仅仅用了六天时间,在北京郊区搭建了五处场景。

Lynn说:“这个项目非常有挑战性,但是团队都跟打了鸡血似的。”

Xiaomi — The spot created for Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 3 smartphone is a mesmerizing combination of visual effects, colorful sets, modern music, and fast-paced cutting. Line produced for Balance Production, it took 2 days to shoot and it was directed by Eli Sverdlov. “He wanted to make everything seem as real as possible,” says Lynn. “We had to fit several real horses in a studio, build a moving robot from scratch, and even find a taxidermied albino peacock.”

小米——为小米Mi Mix 3智能手机制作的这支视频结合了视觉特效、彩色场景、现代音乐和快剪技巧,让人百看不厌。为平衡制作服务的这支片子花了2天时间,由Eli Sverdlov指导。Lynn说:“他(Eli)想让一切变得尽可能真实,所以我们找来了真的马匹,新造了一个机器人,甚至找来了一个像动物标本的白孔雀。”

Refinery 29 — As an episode of Refinery 29’s 60-second city series for Korean Air, the spot presents several Beijing attractions from a local perspective—which is, once more, one of the reasons why WeCreate was involved from the start. A production crew of five people shot in about 20 different locations over five days (that’s an average of four locations a day!). The piece was directed by Jack Pearce and entirely shot with an OSMO camera. They had to work from six in the morning to about midnight every day. Yet, the heavy work happened before filming, in the almost three weeks of pre-production: “We made sure to have the proper permits in hand for the public spaces and to agree on everything with the establishment owners. Filming was the fun part” says Lynn.

Refinery 29 ——作为大韩航空和Refinery 29合作的60秒城市系列片里的一集,这支视频从当地人的角度,展现了一系列北京的旅游景点——这也是为什么WeCreate又一次从一开始就参与到项目中。

一个五人的制作团队,在五天里完成了在约20个不同地点的拍摄(相当于平均一天跑四个地点!)。视频是由Jack Pearce 指导,全程用OSMO相机拍摄。

团队每天都是从早上六点工作到半夜。然而,拍摄前的准备工作也十分繁重,大概花了三周时间。Lynn说:”我们必须确保有使用公共区域的许可,并且和业主达成一致。拍摄是最有趣的部分。”

These are three examples of successful productions WeCreate made possible (and certainly a lot less stressful) based on a match of managing client’s expectations and taking good care of crew members. We can barely wait to see them in action again and learn how all this will be translated to the broader audience.

WeCreate的三个成功案例,诠释了他们如何努力实现「客户期望管理和员工关爱」之间的平衡,并让制作过程变得轻松很多。我们迫不及待地想看他们的下一部作品如何打动更多观众的心。

Lu & Lynn & Mads

 

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