AUGUSTE ESCOFFIER SCHOOL OF CULINARY ARTS
ROLE: SENIOR PRODUCTION STUDIO MANAGER
I lead production and service every content need from concept to execution. I developed the production department to broaden the company's capabilities and establish a high-end visual aesthetic. This also includes management of personnel.
I led a small team of 4 people to produce over 500 recipe demonstrations. I did everything from scriptwriting to directing talent and freelancers to post-production producing. To the right, you will see an example of their old content directly compared to my replacement. I guided them toward using chefs to actually walk through it to replicate a classroom experience. I also raised the perceived value of the content by incorporating a high-end, Chef’s Table style visual intro.
OLD CONTENT (BEFORE I STARTED)
NEW CONTENT I PRODUCED
When I first started, they only had a single DSLR camera. I led them to make gear purchases of over $100,000, including 3x Canon C300, a full compliment of lenses, monitors, lights, and grip equipment.
MARKETING
In addition to academic content, I also shot and directed a myriad of marketing content, ranging from content I scripted and storyboarded to event recaps to emotional interviews with prominent chefs.
COVID ERA PRODUCTION
When COVID hit, we were only months away from a critical federal accreditation process that required over 75 new videos. Because of lockdown, I needed to get creative. I quickly created 5x mobile camera kits that I would ship to chefs to shoot at home. These included everything for a 3 camera setup. I coached folks with no experience over Zoom on setup and execution remotely.
To date, I have produced over 150 videos in this setup with 6 different chefs. I also created a library of walkthrough videos guiding the chefs through setup of each category of equipment to reference after our initial training sessions. Most chefs were up and going within 3 hours of their first setup.
To the left is a sample of one of the remotely recorded videos. This chef had absolutely no prior knowledge of video production, and this is only her 3rd video she shot under my direction.
ASSET MANAGEMENT
I led the purchase, development, training, and implementation for Bynder, a digital asset management platform. This massive investment allowed all media assets to be cataloged and tagged for ease of use and included plugins for users to be fully self service— a marketing person could create a GIF within the asset management platform with brand guidelines baked in or an instructor could pull a specific reference photo for a lecture. This also allowed us to work in a more streamlined fashion externally with brand partners— granting them access to levels of our assets as well as allowing them to share their own brand assets with us.
