Don’t Miss The Perfect Butter Dish

A typical day for me is prettystandard. I start with aprotein-rich breakfast andthen potter around thehouse. Lunch is mainly steamedveggies with protein, usually daalor grilled chicken. However, as aproduction designer, my work isproject-based, and once I signonto one, there is nothing typicalabout those days.

Let’s take a typical shootingday for a hypothetical one-daytelevision commercial. The day isa culmination of many days’ work – exactly how many depends onthe complexity of the project.

Prior to arriving at the location,I have several meetings with thecreative team from the client,the ad agency and the director’sside. During these meetings wedecide every aspect of the shoot.Storyboards are discussed indetail: the look and feel of theset, the target audience, thelocation and the budget. Colourschemes are also considered; TVcommercials often require that aspecific colour be emphasised.Every shot is planned – from howmany plates should be on a tableto the lighting fixtures.

The planning is followedby days when the work isexecuted. There is usually someconstruction to be done – evenwhen shooting on location – andcarpenters are hired. Propshave to be purchased or rented – and they have to be perfect. Iremember spending an entire daylooking for the perfect butter dish,and believe me, they are not easyto find. Perhaps the most gruellingpart is the costume design – ifthat comes under my purview.Purchasing the outfits, or makingthem from scratch and selectingthe correct accessories is fun ifit involves a day out with friends,but it turns into a herculean taskwhen planning for large casts orwhere the requirements are veryspecific. Of course, Karachi’s heatand traffic do not help. Trust me,planning and strategising for warscould not be more complicated.

But I digress. I was talkingabout a typical day of shooting.This is when all the meticulousplanning goes south, becauselike all good plans, they donot survive the first encounter.As a production designer, myteam and I are the first onesat the location. Chances are Ihave already been there theday before to ensure work isprogressing apace, but I still haveto arrive early on the day itself inorder to catch the more obviousblunders. Because they will bethere. The white wall is perhapstoo bright; or, to get the correctdepth on screen, the set has tobe moved another 10 feet andrequires another three walls. Youname it; it has happened. Beingthere early allows me to makethese adjustments. I take painsto ensure the set looks fantastic,and if a long shot does not makeit into the final cut, it alwaysbreaks my heart.

Once things are (mostly) inplace, I take a short break whilethe lighting crew does its magicand the camera crew starts settingup for the first shot. Although Isay I take a break, this is usuallywhen I am torturing the makeupteam, insisting on more naturaland realistic styling. I hate overlymade-up models with hair sostiff from the hairspray it couldhold up a building. Once done,I return to ensure that the frameis adequately designed. Are theprops in the correct place or doesa particular plant need to move sixinches to the right? Is the lamp Ispent three hours sourcing lookinggood or is it creating too much ofa glare and needs to be removed?What is in the foreground? Doesit match the overall feel or is theresomething incongruous that needsto be adjusted? The foreground isvery important, as that is wherethe details are most visible –please remember my butter dish!

The day progresses in a similarmanner. Looking through thecamera’s electronic viewfinderand ensuring that everything iswhere it should be and that thespaces are neither too empty nortoo full. Over the years, I have builta large collection of props, and myhouse looks like a museum or ahoarder’s nightmare, dependingon the day. But all these items thatI have meticulously collected arebrought to the set in order to fill inthose empty spaces that we couldnot account or plan for.

As the shoot progresses, everyframe has to be looked at withan aesthetic eye and continuityhas to be maintained. Someone,or rather a lot of ‘someones,’ willnotice if a lamp in the far-rightbackground suddenly disappears.It is my job to make sure thatdoesn’t happen. It is also my job toensure that the biryani stains fromthe lead person’s lunch accidentare also covered up or washed –depending on the severity. Then,at the end of a gruelling day, I amalso responsible for overseeingthe packing up, confirming thatall props have been retrievedand are ready for transport backto my home (picture a hoarder’snightmare here).

I am writing about my ‘typical’day on a one-day TV commercialshoot, as it encapsulates theexperience. However, this is notthe totality of my work, and Ihave been part of the productionteam for documentaries, artfilms, commercial films and mostrecently I ventured into the excitingworld of fashion. Each has theirunique set of challenges andrequirements. But I have to saythat fashion has been a whole newworld for me; it is a space wheremy creativity is allowed free rein.What you see in a 30-secondcommercial is an idealised andhighly curated depiction of whatwe imagine reality could, shouldor will be. But next time you watcha TV commercial, take a secondto appreciate the hard work thatgoes into creating those visualsby the rarely acknowledged artistswho dedicate their lives to bringing a little more beautyinto the world!

For the last two years I havebeen practising intermittentfasting, so my day usually endsearly, unless a project takeslonger than usual. If I have time,I meet up with friends. As I livealone, I visit my family as oftenas possible, as they are veryimportant to me and a centraltenet of my life. Whenever I getthe chance, I travel, as I feel thisinforms my work, allowing me tosee different things and absorbdifferent cultures. My favouritetravel destinations include SanFrancisco and London, andI really want to visit Bali andScotland in the future.

Tayyab Siddiqui has been working inadvertising since 1998 and as afreelance production designer since2004. siddiquitayyab@gmail.com