Mark Powers Sculptor
Film, Photography
The art of capturing an artist
Mark Powers wanted a production company video creating to convey who he is, what he does and why he does it in a few minutes on his website. This was a tough challenge that we accepted with relish.
If there was one thing that Mark impressed on us while we worked to achieve this, it’s how impossible it is to encapsulate an artist or creator in a short term. This became clear as we wound our way through his history together, from butchery, to cabinet making, to picking up a hammer and chisel and falling in love with sculpting stone.
Mark could have written ‘I’m Mark Powers and I’m a sculptor’ in the same space our video now occupies on his site, or on the wall of his exhibition. But of course, that wouldn’t have revealed the scale and depth of the huge character we discovered. It wouldn’t have shown that he took inspiration from his daughter who lives abroad, that he loves to give new life to something ancient, or that he wants to teach in the future. Getting all these things and more into a few minutes of video was our task. After being kept fascinated by Mark through several hours of conversation and storytelling, it turned out that it was going to be our big challenge too.
A major benefit of video for an artisan like Mark is that it can be a hugely dense, emotive medium when used correctly. It can convey how much of himself he puts into his work, and it can take the audience through his nuanced process and personal story.
This is why we at Frog love to get people like Mark in front of a camera. When we really tease out the story, there’s just so much depth and colour that it makes for a great composition, a bit like a portrait. The eye is drawn to the work and the mind is drawn deeper into the narrative, to wonder about the person within and their story. It’s this process of unpacking that turns passive visitors into engaged followers, fans and even customers.
Of course, if viewers were going to be able to unpack something, we needed to pack it up tightly into the short film in the first place. With Mark, we had a great, winding history and a captivating creative process filmed in a beautiful farmyard setting. Culling and cutting all of this material down to just a few minutes was a challenge indeed, not to mention ordering it all into a smooth story. Indeed, it seems that when you have an interesting, dramatic and nuanced story like Marks, condensing it becomes harder. That said, the rewards for getting it right are great. In this case, the Frog team are happy that we did a good job, as is the client.
Since finishing this project, we’ve been in discussions with Mark about coordinating with him on another project involving his fantastic stone sculptures and our audio engineering. We’re keeping the details under our hats for now but watch this space for more info in future.
While we’re talking about the future, if you want to communicate your work with as much depth and emotion as Mark did, click below to get in touch. Whether you’re a business, artist or other individual, we can help you generate engagement with production company videos.
