“Come again?” Usher asked tentatively.

“Hear me out,” I said. “Let’s have the parallel scenes of a talmid and a rebbi going through their day, but in the last scene we reveal that the student we’re watching is really a younger version of the rebbi, he’s just remembering his days on the other side of the desk. This way we can end with the present day rebbi thanking his own rebbi for helping him become the rebbi he is today.”

“That’s genius!” Usher exclaimed. “This way the rebbi’s thank you is also in line with the campaign message.”

Usher suggested that the setting be the first day of Gemara, to add a little emotion to the scenes. With this concept ready to go, we moved on to the other two: a siddur play scene, with a mother remembering when she received her first siddur, and then her daughter receiving hers from the same principal, and a quick series of everyday scenes where a teacher goes the extra mile for a student.

We quickly set things in motion, arranging locations and actors in Lakewood for the boys’ scenes. Senior Production Manager Moshe Niehaus was tasked with running the girls’ shoots in Clifton.

Executive VFX Manager Mordy Fisgus meticulously reviews each shot, making sure it meets our high standards

Pen to Play

The next step was to figure out how to convey these stories across visually. For the first promo, it would take some creative thinking to make it clear that (a) the student scenes were set some 30 years ago, and (b) the rebbi is that same student, all grown up. One idea I had early on was to have the student and rebbi using the same Gemara. This accomplishes two things: the aged look of the Gemara used today helps set the timing, and matching Gemaras are a subtle way of showing it’s the same person, using his childhood Gemara.

Everything fell into place when our rebbi actor confirmed that not only could his son play his younger self, which would help present them as the same person, but also that he still had the original Gemara he had used as a student. To make things even clearer, we filmed the student underlining a specific word in the Gemara when learning with his rebbi, and then we made sure to show that page with that pencil mark when the rebbi uses it.

In a confluence of passion and artistry, Morah Miriam Fishberg crafted exquisite decorations for the siddur party, complete with personalized covers

Cinematic Shots

As Executive VFX Director Mordy Fisgus would be taking point in postproduction editing, I asked him to come along on the shoot and assist with input and direction. Mordy, who started off his video career as a one-man show, always has a lot of valuable filming ideas on set. One important cinematic detail we had to figure out was filming the “past” student. Our initial plan was to color-correct the shot to a sepia tone in the editing stages, giving it that old-fashioned look to show it’s a memory.

During the live setup in the classroom, Mordy suggested we dim the lights and shine a single spotlight on the boy, making it even more memory-like, allowing for that dramatic moment at the climax of the promo when the student fades out in the rebbi’s mind and is replaced by the rebbi’s real present-day class.

Having a second director also came in handy when, as we were on set, I received a call from my bank informing me that someone had attempted to deposit a fraudulent check, so they were freezing my business bank account. I spent the next two hours clearing up the mess on and off while Mordy ran things.

Outside Input

We pride ourselves in being a full-service video production company, but part of doing something right is knowing when to ask for help. Have a question about the advantages of various shooting angles and lighting? Sit-down interviews versus acting pieces? We have the in-house experience and knowledge. What a six-year-old girl wears to a siddur play? Not so much.

Moshe Niehaus reached out to Mrs. Miriam Finkelstein-Fishberg, a veteran first-grade morah in YBH of Passaic, who supplied us with both the information and props for our mock siddur play. She also acted in the shoot, so she was on set the whole time, coaching and advising us on how to run an authentic event. It may sound excessive, but as I said, it’s all about the details.

We’d hoped to use the rebbi’s car for our nostalgic scene, but he pulled up in a brand new pickup truck. Luckily, a ’90s van in the lot saved the day

Car Trouble

I always say it’s the “small” details that make productions powerful. You want viewers to be completely immersed in the story, and if something doesn’t feel authentic, it will distract and remove them from the “zone.”

For our first promo, we needed two vehicles, one for the present day rebbi and the other for his younger self, who would be in a dated-looking car that could pass for about 35 years old. We did some legwork to locate the iconic station wagon that would certainly take viewers back, but our leads kept falling through. In the end, we figured we would just use the rebbi’s car.

Imagine our surprise when our rebbi pulled up to the shoot in a shiny new Ford pickup truck! Apparently he had been in an accident the previous day, and this was what the rental company had in their lot.

Fortunately, I spotted a banged-up van in the parking lot; it definitely looked old enough to pass for late ’90s. We asked around and located the owner, a maintenance worker at the school, and got permission to use it. Crisis averted.

Callback

We’ll often shoot a few versions of a scene to give our editors the most creative freedom in postproduction. It’s like a chess game; the best players always plan several moves ahead.

In the siddur play promo, the script called for the same principal to hand a siddur to both a mother (35 years in the past) and her daughter. The two shots of the principal were crucial to the script, but we weren’t sure about the best way to show she’d aged.

Moshe Niehaus prepared multiple options. First, he shot the scene with the more mature principal, and then again with a younger woman, hoping they could pass as the same woman. He then had a professional makeup artist come in and make the older principal look younger, and he shot the same scene again. Lastly, he had the cinematographers take what’s called “static shots,” where the camera is “locked down” and not moving, making it easier to work with in the editing stages. This way we could use various programs to age the younger woman or make the older woman look younger.

In the end, we opted for the second route, the scenes with the same woman with different makeup and sheitel; the editing department felt it looked most authentic.

Some people pride themselves on having a plan B. In video production, we like to have a Plan C and D as well!

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 976)