Act React is one of Brisbane’s most out-of-the-box theatrical groups, fusing scripted and improvisational theatre; they’re best known for their The Movie The Play series. In 2021 they launched a new show for the Anywhere Theatre Festival – The Importance of Being Wasted, a riff on the Oscar Wilde classic. An abridged version of the play, it asks the question: What if several of the actors were “drunk”, and the others had to madly compensate to keep the performance on track and under control?
Initial consultation
An initial consultation is one of the most important steps in the process. Once we’ve discussed the tone of the show, the desired audience, and the required end-product, we can discuss ideas, pair those with logistics, and work out the best way to achieve the desired outcome.
During our chat, we decided a three-hour session would be optimal; that gave us enough time to spend with each of the six performers for their solo shots, and lots of time to experiment with different configurations for the hero shot.
We selected Spine Street Studios – lots of space for an ensemble, soft and consistent overhead lighting, and a white cyc and background. A makeup artist was arranged to ensure consistency and photo-ready makeup (for the girls and the guys). Act React provided the talent, costumes, props, and a suitable chair.
The target vibe was fun, bright, happy, and a little messy.
Required images
- One hero ensemble shot, primarily for poster use; the image should be suitable for a poster with a white background and copy text. Top priority.
- Secondary ensemble shots, primarily for social media use, and for variety when images are used in a carousel on a ticketing website
- Secondary performer shots, in character, and in varying states of inebriation; primarily used for social media buzz (profile pictures for the cast, sizzle images ahead of the show opening)
- A handful of actor headshots, in the style of existing Act React headshots, for the Act React website
.jpg)
The shoot
For the solo shots, we photographed with consistent lighting, maintaining a similar composition for each shot, working through a variety of sober and inebriated poses.
Off-camera lighting for a shot like this is really important. Spine Street Studios’ Studio 4 has a giant softbox for soft even lighting across a group, and we paired this with some additional key lighting to give some dimension.
The production’s director was on-hand through the entire process, observing images on a monitor as we shot. This helped to fine-tune each shot to hit the right tone, and ensure we could move from one subject to the next with the right shots under our belt.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Switching to the ensemble shot required minor lighting changes to ensure the consistent lighting across the group. We spent some time tuning the composition to get it just right – an arrangement that was visually pleasing, one that fits neatly in a square (making it perfect as the central element of a poster, and also suiting Instagram).
We experimented a little bit with wardrobe options to ensure the viewer would gravitate to faces, building rapport with each of the characters. No one character dominates, and none of the characters are hidden.
.jpg)
Post Production
Post-production for these images was relatively simple – some minor retouching, and ensuring the background went to pure white while maintaining the shape in the shadows.
A handful of face swaps were required for the ensemble images.
Delivery
The file delivery consisted of:
- Online proof gallery for image selection
- Web- and high-resolution images:
- Multiple hero shot images
- 2-3 solo images per performer
.jpg)
