Why I'm Quitting Focus Pulling After 13 Years | Ep 13 w/ Louis Lau | Director & the D.O.P.

Why I'm Quitting Focus Pulling After 13 Years | Ep 13 w/ Louis Lau | Director & the D.O.P.

1st AC and focus puller Louis Lau joins us to break down a two-minute single-take beach safety PSA for Surf Life Saving Australia — Angus Sampson delivering an unbroken monologue while a dozen actors, a Polaris buggy and a Westpac helicopter choreograph around him. The brief called for Australian summer sun. They got rain, and shot it anyway.Louis explains what a focus puller actually does (it's not what you think), why the week of prep is harder than the shoot day, and how to win an argument with a producer over a $200 line item.Then the real conversation: after thirteen years, Louis is stepping away from camera assisting to become a DP. The golden handcuffs. The humble pie. And why, as he puts it, nobody cares that you were a great focus puller.Plus What We Watch — Air New Zealand, VW's Forever Golf, and an unresolved argument about Spider-Noir.00:00 Cold open00:27 Intro05:29 The Breakdown: the 2-minute one-take13:15 Steadicam vs gimbal14:40 What a focus puller actually does24:08 Arguing with production over $20033:25 Leaving a 13-year career behind52:30 What We Watch🎙️ New episodes weekly.#thedirectorandthedop #commercialfilm #cinematography #focuspuller

Liam Hates My Colour Grade (And Said It To My Face) | Ep 12 | The Director & the D.O.P

Tokyo. London. Mexico City. New York. All of it shot in Sydney, in two days. Ethan breaks down Lenovo "Play-by-Play" — a global FIFA World Cup campaign for Shutterstock Studios — and Liam asks the questions he'd have asked if he'd been on it. Why Sydney beat LA and Melbourne. What got cut when grip ran out of room. The one shot worth protecting. Why the client asked for it to feel like a documentary. And why Liam thinks the grade needed more colour. Then we launch a brand new segment: HOT TAKES. You sent them in, we have to take a side. Bidding against an agency's in-house team. Stills vs motion. Residuals for the creative team. And whether a bland pho is even pho. 00:00 Cold open 00:21 Intro 06:12 The Breakdown: Lenovo "Play-by-Play" 09:40 Why shoot a global campaign in Sydney? 12:32 The grip compromise 18:35 Liam doesn't love the grade 28:25 The $100k question 36:48 🌶️ HOT TAKES — new segment Send us your hot takes on Instagram — the spiciest ones make the show. 🎙️ New episodes weekly. #thedirectorandthedop #commercialfilm #advertising #filmproduction

Practical Effects Chaos (You Need a SUPPORT Horse?) | Ep 11 w/ Henry Richardson

Freelance producer Henry Richardson joins Ethan and Liam to break down U Bank — a maximalist, three-spot campaign directed by Jesse James McElroy built almost entirely on practical effects: a horse walking through a beach set inside an "office," a man bursting out of a flooded kitchen sink, toast flying on a roof. Henry explains why the shoot pivoted from location to a full studio build, what a "support horse" actually is, and the sink malfunction that flooded a set mid-take. Then, Life of a Freelancer: invoicing timing, Net 90 payment terms, and the worst you've ever waited to get paid.00:00 Cold open00:18 Intro02:55 Meet Henry Richardson04:33 Breaking down U Bank11:45 The horse problem12:36 The sink blowout18:32 Should producers be client facing? 26:00 The $100k question36:49 Life of a Freelancer: invoicing & Net 90🎙️ Follow The Director and the DOP for new episodes every week.#thedirectorandthedop #commercialfilm #advertising #filmproduction

We Made It to Episode 10 | ft. James Griffiths, Universal Music

James Griffiths is GM of Creative at Bring, Universal Music's in-house creative agency. In this episode he breaks down Coke Studio — a campaign spanning Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, built around two original songs designed to connect, nine custom-built sets, and a final surprise collaboration between five artists. We get into how a campaign this complex gets briefed, why the director was left deliberately room to interpret rather than execute a locked vision, and the moment with five minutes left on day one when the entire shoot nearly came down to a guy with an electric saw cutting open a fridge. James also on what people don't see in a project like this — the eight or nine months of work before a single frame rolls, and the tension between music culture moving at rocket pace and a brand the size of Coca-Cola that simply can't move that fast. Plus, it's episode 10. We made it. In Gear Chat: the Sony Rialto 65 — 65mm cinema in a backpack. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold open 00:20 Intro — episode 10, we made it 05:41 Meet James Griffiths, GM Creative at Bring / Universal Music 06:48 Coke Studio — the project overview 08:10 Two songs designed to connect across two markets 11:22 36 million views and a fandom that knew the lyrics before launch 14:10 Nine sets, two days, two countries 16:34 Choosing an Australian production partner for a global campaign 18:36 Briefing a music video vs a 30-second ad 22:48 Has anyone bitten off more than they can chew? 24:59 Do the product shot first 35:06 Can you make a career on music videos 42:06 an extar $100k? 48:34 Liam's K-pop pitch 51:43 Gear Chat — Sony Rialto 65 56:00 Wrap-up

The Pitch Process Is Broken | ft. Erin McBean, Infinity Squared | EP 09 The Director and The D.O.P

Erin McBean is Executive Producer at Infinity Squared. In this episode she breaks down Mountain Dew's "Do the Dew" campaign — a green screen shoot built almost entirely on AI-generated backgrounds, until the client's legal team said no three days before they rolled. We get into how the production pivoted, why a smaller budget sometimes gives social content exactly what it needs, and what happens when you push back on an agency's creative approach before a single frame is shot. Erin also on the pitch process — competitive pitches on shrinking budgets, jobs that get cancelled after three production companies have put in weeks of work, and why that needs to change. Plus where production is actually heading in 2026. Erin's been at Infinity Squared for five years and has watched the industry shift faster than it ever has.  In What We're Watching: a punk band trashes a Denny's and it becomes the best brand ad of the year. And an AI campaign that convinced the entire internet — including Ethan — that Nike had just made the greatest sports ad of all time. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold open 00:22 Intro — episode 9, running out of outfits 03:05 Meet Erin McBean, EP at Infinity Squared 04:10 Mountain Dew "Do the Dew" — why this project 05:00 Car park budget, not Sydney Park 07:38 AI backgrounds — building the whole concept 09:18 Client says no to AI — three days out 13:00 The casting — Caleb gets painted green 14:15"Bite off more than you can chew and chew like crazy" 23:21 The pitch process is broken 25:06 The rejection/dating parallel 27:05 Where is production going in 2026? 31:08 What do you wish people knew about the EP role? 38:17 What We're Watching — Denny's punk band ad 40:54 The AI Nike campaign that fooled everyone 45:31 Wrap-up 📷 Instagram: @directorandthedop #commercialfilm #filmmaking #advertising #executiveproducer #director #cinematographer #podcast #thedirectorandthedop #behindthescenes