Blog — Luc-Yan Picker

After leaving Cutters to become a freelance director, I’ve had a few people who were truly supportive but few who opened up more opportunities for me than my friend Setsuna. I met Setsuna when she briefly worked as a producer at Cutters Studios. I say briefly because she didn’t stay for quite as long as those, who like me, lacked the balls to leave when they realized they wouldn’t get what they wanted there.

During her time there, she worked on a number of larger projects with the company, but most importantly to me, she produced all of my GQ projects, which means that in the short time she was there, we did more than 10 projects together. I always thought she was competent, fun to be around and very strong headed. Our relationship wasn’t always harmonious though. As director and producer we often butted heads, had shouting matches and angry message exchanges. Somehow, we always managed to never let these disagreements affect our professional relationship. By the next day, we always apologized, had a cool-headed conversation about the actual situation and then move on and work in a positive way. To this day, I consider our relationship one of the best I’ve ever had with a producer and I’m proud of the things we made together.

She also introduced me to the producer for my JNTO job

Dear reader, I must apologize for making you read this because Setsuna was not actually involved in the project I want to talk about today. She did however introduce me to the producer who did. He called her asking if she knew any director who could help out on a Sony project because the previous director (who is also a good friend) had decided to pull out of the project (I later found out he left in frustration because the project wasn’t moving nearly as smoothly as it should have been, but that’s just another sign of me ignoring red flags to my own benefit). At the moment of that phone call, I was actually sitting next to her in a color grading bay. She looked my way and replied that she indeed might know someone. About an hour later, I accepted to direct a promotion for the Sony Xperia V phone.

This was another case of me taking on a project that was way out of my comfort zone. Just the scale of the project and of the client was very intimidating. The ask was to direct a 2 minute film showcasing the new phone’s features in a way that would be appealing to a younger audience. There wasn’t much in terms of a creative brief, just a list of specs and the general desire for it to be cool and youthful. They mentioned liking my OSU project and hoped this kind of bright and colorful vibes.

They also mentioned a desire for the film to be a step up from their previous films. They seemed to feel their previous work hadn’t been quite as effective as they hoped, (given their 3% market share, I have to agree with their assessment) and wanted to raise their quality of their ads to the level of Apple or Samsung. Of course, that’s without the matching budget, or else why would they hire this humble hack of a director?

With that being said, I can’t overstate how big of an opportunity this was for me. Very challenging, but the opportunity to make something at a level beyond anything I had ever done before.

The creative process was pretty straightforward. Create a series of scenes and situation that showcased the various specs of the new phone. For each scene, I tried to integrate as many specs as I could and create very technical transitions between each scenes. I wanted to make very precise and interesting camera movements that would really pull the audience in. Truth be told, my ambition for the entire approach far outpaced my experience and knowledge.

The producer tried to introduce me to a Japanese DP he liked but after chatting with him, I decided to go in another direction. I needed someone who would actually help me make my vision come true instead of telling me it was impossible and to change my plan.

I decided to call Mikul Erikson to be director of Photography. Although we had met a few times, we had never worked together before. Mikul was the kind of director with the experience, the skills, the problem-solving abilities and the creativity that I needed to compensate for my lack of experience. Our very first call confirmed I had made the right decision. He seemed to understand exactly what I was going for and he was very solutions-oriented. He proposed different ways to achieve the shots I was going for and always had a cheaper solution when the first one was out of budget.

Getting my proposition accepted by the client wasn’t so difficult at first. They seemed to be excited by the direction and really only commented on the very specific points to make sure the representation of the product was truthful. Quite frankly, they barely got in the way at all. A small exception was they didn’t want a scene in a train, because “that would be rude in Japan” even though they insisted the film should feel like it was set outside of Japan…

It’s a silly comment, but sometimes people really just don’t think very deeply before commenting. I like what we ended up shooting so it’s ok. 2 years later, I’ve magnanimously forgiven them.

In Japan, it’s rude to bother other people. Please understand

The pre-production process wasn’t the smoothest. I was basically working with a single producer and a very young production manager. They were trying to handle everything with just the two of them and that seemed less than ideal.

Having been told multiple times that my reel felt too Japanese, or too Asian to have any international appeal, I was more than happy to aim for an international look as well. This meant our shooting location choices would be trickier than usual. And that the art department would be more vital than ever.

We struggled to find good locations since as you may imagine, locations in Japan often look well, Japanese. The scouting process ended up being very long and took multiple tries for us to find our spots.

I did take this opportunity to shoot a previz. I can’t find it anywhere but I wish I could show you, dearest reader. If nothing else, it was kind of funny. This allowed me to build a rhythm to the film so that all the scene would flow one into the other in time with the music.

Speaking of music, I worked with Erik from Black Cat White Cat and he came up with a very fun track and I was able to build the pace of the scenes around it.

The casting however went well. I have to admit, I hate auditions. I struggle when I speak to new people and auditions are a day where I have to speak to multiple new people and I quite hate it. I also dislike the general vibe of auditions. The nervous models trying to impress, the acting requests and the 7 Japanese dudes staring at them without saying a word. I really need to come up with a better way to conduct these in the future.

That being said, we found some really cool cast that were diverse enough and had just the right amount of edge to fly under the Sony executive radar.

One of them was so good that I asked her to act out some of the scene that were supposed to be for a male cast and ended up giving her that role. Her energy and vibe were just so perfect for it.

The client was present for it and basically approved my recommendation on that day. Yay!

We also needed a good amount of extras and for this, I went fishing in my circle of friends. This was nice because it meant eventually having a lot of people I love on set with me on most days and it really helps keep the vibe positive.

The shoot was originally scheduled to last 4 days, with multiple scenes and locations. This was very ambitious and ended up backfiring. The days were scheduled to be extremely long and it quickly became obvious we wouldn’t be able to stay on schedule. On day one, I came to realize that production was a little lacking. Our first scene was meant to be a basketball scene with a rig attaching the phone to the camera. Both the grip department and the art department assumed the other would bring the adhesive to attach the phone and so neither brought it. With the shoot starting very early, there were no shops opened to go buy it yet and so we ended up having to wait for that to be taken care of. It was really hard for me to look around the set and see both cast and crew just sitting idly for a few hours. There were also a few moments where it seemed like we were just not moving that smoothly. One of the reasons for that was that our 1st AD was unavailable on the first day so he had a replacement who wasn’t quite up to speed with the project.

So the first day didn’t go very smoothly. We got what we needed eventually but the client already seemed very nervous about the process. The second day was an easier day and this time our 1st AD was there. It was a much shorter day and even though we went over our schedule, we still had time for the DP, the 1st AD and myself to sit down and go through the whole project, scene by scene, shot by shot. We really made sure we were all on the same page and found ways to make things smoother for the rest of the shoot.

And they were! The next day was the most heavily loaded day with multiple scenes, locations, lighting set ups, transitions, and rigs. It was very intense and we quickly started running behind. This isn’t necessarily a huge deal but some of the cast had hard outs. Luckily, our first AD was very good at negotiating with people and navigating politics on set. Turns out people are very flexible when you don’t talk to them through their agents and give them some cash. Who could have known?

I had an annoying moment when the client asked for one of the extras to cover the tattoos on her arm. We had no wardrobe options for her so she ended up wearing my hoodie. Young and hip with some very conservative limits I guess. We ended up using a take before the hoodie incident and the client didn’t even notice. It’s the little victories, really.

Cover up those disgusting tattoos, you harlot!

I learned there was a creative director on the project that day. He never spoke to me and didn’t help with the concept so I was a bit perplexed. Sweet job if you can get it I guess.

Things came to a head however as the further behind we fell, the more we needed to relight night for day and thus falling behind even more. Eventually, we realized that we wouldn’t be done until 1 or 2 in the morning and the next day’s call time was at 7. This meant that with the wrap and driving, the crew would be lucky to get an hour of sleep. This really upset Mikul and he voiced it strongly. This was obviously dangerous and he didn’t care that crews in Japan do this kind of stuff all the time. Eventually though it was the client that called it. We ended up finishing the day, getting a later call time and adding a shoot day at a later date.

Who would have thought we needed time to set these things up?

This made the next day a lot easier, still no coffee on set but some things are just too much to expect. Mikul ended up being ill probably from the heat, exhaustion and the terrible food. He powered through but it’s a good thing it was a short day.

We ended up shooting the last scene on the beach almost a week later. It also went late but it was a very positive shooting day and we ended the production on a positive note.

The post-production process was sort of smooth. The producer wanted to production manager to get a chance to edit. I didn’t mind because I would have killed to have that opportunity early in my career so why need give him a shot?

This ended up meaning quite a bit of handholding and sitting in a room with him until we got it right but we got there eventually. He was however very good at motion graphics and did some very good title work. The clients had very little to say and basically stayed out of the way.

What went well:

Well, ultimately it was the best film I ever directed up until that time. I think it came out looking polished and fun and I’m quite proud of it.

I’m also really happy with the cast we put together. They were a really fun group and fun to be around. I actually kept in touch with a few of them and I hope to be able to work with them again.

Reggie, our 1st AD really ended up saving the production. Having someone like him on set really helped make everything smoother. Everyone knew what they needed to do and when. He also brought an infectious positive vibe that really made the process more enjoyable. He even convinced a biker to let our model sit on his motorcycle for a shot. Absolute rock star.

What went wrong:

Besides the schedule situation and overtime situation, things went mostly well except for one thing. By this point I was already building a pretty good group of people I trust and like to work with but I just don’t have a stylist I like yet. I called the same guy who who was there for my JFC project with Sarasa and this time it didn’t go well. He just didn’t seem like he wanted to be there. He basically ignored all my instructions and just stuck to whatever he always does. I usually only have one rule: No beige outfits, and somehow half the outfits he brought were beige. It was very disappointing and he basically told me he ignored my brief because he thought he knew better. The quest for a good trusted stylist continues.

What I learned:

I learned a lot from Mikul. On the first date of the shoot, he took me aside and gave me a bit of a talking to. I wasn’t really feeling the shoot and the delay was really stressing me out. He warned me that this was bringing the crew down and I should just be clear about what I wanted and say that it was good when it was, not just say it was fine, or OK.

I really like how he showed appreciation to everyone on set, was kind, clear and professional, on top of also being really good at his job. He even went for coffee runs for the crew when it became clear the production team wasn’t going to do it.

He also reminded me that he and the crew were there to make my vision come to life and that it wasn’t selfish to voice my ideas and opinions if it’s to make the film better. In my previous work, every time I had a different idea on set, I’d have a producer tell me no. I just wasn’t used to that scale of work and he really helped me step up.