Brainstrust Live Brief

Recently, I got the opportunity to work on a live brief collaboratively with two of my peers, Chloe Moulding and Kian Creighton-Schwarz. As a group we decided to work together as we all wanted to build our commercial portfolio on our websites to show that we have experience working with clients. Brainstrust is a charity supporting people with brain tumours. They commissioned us to update their product shots to be advertised on their online store.

They provided us with a shot list categorised into three sections; model shots; solo products; grouped products. We then split these sections between the three of us, each choosing an area we wanted to experiment with. Personally, I wanted to develop my solo product work as I tend to dress up the scene, but websites usually use cutouts or pack shots. Initially, I researched Brainstrust's current online store to see what their style was. Due to the recent pandemic, the charity was unable to collaborate with photographers and instead used stock images and photographed in the office. However, some of the images are well shot perhaps in a studio pre-pandemic and clearly advertise the charity's logo and style of the t-shirt. Ideally, I would like to have photographed the clothing on a mannequin to show off the shape of the product but instead I photographed the clothing folded and laid flat on a white backdrop which was specified on the shot list.

I found it exciting collaborating with a professional organisation, they were welcoming and supportive throughout the photoshoot. I thought the atmosphere was friendly with the social media manager popping in and out of the studio bays and chatting to us regarding our practices. Overall, I think this live brief was a good learning opportunity that helped boost my confidence for future live briefs.

Photo Credit: https://shop.brainstrust.org.uk