Day In the Life - A Nest Intern On Set
My name is Thao, and I am a 22-year-old media student from RGU undertaking a 12-week placement at Nest Marketing. For as long as I remember, I have been a creative soul flourishing whenever there is an opportunity to create and design any work. Unsure of which path to choose, studying media seemed like a no-brainer because it allowed me to learn about the different creative industries, work with various software, and grow creatively.
It's been great working with the Nest team so far. After the first three weeks of getting to know the team and working on my first tasks, I was invited to attend a Graduate Apprenticeship Film shoot for both Graham + Sibbald and Edinburgh Napier University, promoting the apprenticeship course through testimonials of three current students and staff members. Before the shoot commenced, the team established the goals, developed the film's concept, and got all the necessary gear ready for this exciting shoot. The brief for the Graduate Apprenticeship Film was to create a fresh, contemporary hero film and individual testimonial films to inspire future graduate apprentices. The overall visual for the films was to use a professional set-up with some fun B-roll shots and animation to make these shots stand out. As for myself, I was asked to come up with the content for social media and get familiar with the shooting schedule, which was stretched across two working days.
From my university experience, I knew that filming required a lot of pre-production preparation, including storyboarding, location scouting, scheduling, creating risk assessments, creating shot lists, and hiring filming equipment. Despite the careful preparation and time spent getting ready, filming can often be chaotic and stressful due to unexpected obstacles and last-minute changes. I was excited to participate in this shoot and see how the team at Nest set up for filming, but who would have thought I would need to fill sandbags with 10kg of rice to secure the filming equipment as the first thing at the first set at Graham + Sibbald office!
In addition, I helped the team set the equipment up and capture behind the scenes time-lapses and footage for Nest social media. We managed to capture some brilliant candid moments too, just take a look below!
While the visual structure of the interview was outlined in the storyboard, the B-roll footage was taken right on set, which allowed us to be more flexible and keep the footage looking more natural. The team also came up with the fantastic idea to incorporate a G+S branded car into the film. Overall, the first day of filming went well; it was great to meet all the lovely people on the shoot, learn more about their journey towards their career path and gain experience by working with clients.
The second day of filming took place on the Merchiston Campus of Edinburgh Napier University, where all the graduate apprentices study. This time, setting the film set up and filming the interviews went well and we cracked out the rice bags again! My tasks for the day remained the same, with the unexpected addition of debuting in the film. Playing a university friend to one of the graduate apprentices was a nerve-wracking and, at the same time, really fun experience. When I found out I would be featured in the film, I was a little apprehensive, but luckily I felt more confident once we got through a few takes!
Once the filming was finished, I created a reel from all the footage I captured on the shoot, and I had the chance to see how the final films came together, presented in a modern and fresh way. The films went through many careful days of editing before being sent over to the clients for feedback. The clients loved our work, and we could not have been prouder of ourselves. I found it impressive how efficiently the films were edited and polished to perfection. I can recall how long it took me to edit my own short documentary as part of my coursework… my laptop almost did not make it through!
To summarise my experience, I enjoyed being at the shoot, especially filling the sandbags with rice! I am glad I got the opportunity to attend the shoot and meet all the hard-working students and supportive staff members. A big thank you to the team at G+S and Edinburgh Napier University for being so helpful and accommodating by providing delicious lunch, desserts, and drinks. I am looking forward to my remaining time with Nest and I cannot wait to experience other exciting projects!