Last year, an everyday conversation between Andreas Smetana and Natalie Isaacs, founder of 1 Million Women, became the catalyst for a major project for Smetana to create global change. He created and directed an anthem for the organisation, to coincide with the climate conference in Paris. It was viewed more than 1,500,000 times and opened up a new world of awareness for 1 Million Women.
The project became the catalyst, itself, for a new production company called Flint.
Flint is a production company of storytellers who are equally fluent in stills and moving images. Photographic storytellers who tell equally appealing stories in film.
Tim Berriman, executive producer at Flint, explained, “There has been a rapid growth in the industry for combining stills and film elements of ad campaigns together into one package. The work we are now briefed on for just a single project can extend to stills, TVC, web content, digital billboards, pre-rolls, cinema graphs and memes. Photographers who can also direct are in the sweet spot.
“We felt there was a real need for a production company in the marketplace that’s able to give proper TVC production support to photographers who are doing more and more directing. We knew that the time was right to create a group of highly skilled photographic directors able to shoot across all media in one production.”
The Stable: What makes Flint stand out?
Tim Berriman: Photographic directors work and see things differently and that gives them an edge. Photography is a more solitary state and there is a sense that all is possible. They make all things possible. So our team has the skills and experience to approach projects in a fresh way that’s also more nimble.
While the classic production companies are taking on photographers to produce work for all media, that work still is done by two people, a director and a photographer. Flint is turning these roles into one and giving the work a unified eye.
TS: And Flint has a philanthropic side?
TB: 1 Million Women grew from a larger documentary project called in the open. This began as a passion project and turned into something so much bigger. It brought together a team of creators, who are producing jobs every week but also want to push themselves in new directions.
We also all realised that we’re all growing up and our tastes are changing. While moving our careers forward stays at the forefront, we also want to be involved in products which have meaning and hopefully make a difference for others.
Andreas and Gina [Satterthwaite, in charge of strategic development at Flint] have been working on in the open for over a year, and it has become more and more clear that using the skills we have for interesting projects outside the commercial work we win keeps us sharp and simply feels good.
We are also developing ideas with David Maurice Smith that connect philanthropic individuals and organisations, who want to create something with their donations that can make a difference, rather than just give money to unseen charities.
Here’s a taste of Flint:
“Andreas introduced the Qantas 380 to the world with three films and a new library of images, achieved in a 15 day shoot.”
“The Special Group approached us with a fantastic challenge – prep, shoot, edit and finish a 90 second spot for Price Waterhouse in just over week. Toby, Alex and the production team were up to the challenge, shooting over four days, in multiple locations, with multiple talent and producing a beautiful and inspiring piece of filmmaking.”
