At a Silverstone test day, I got the chance to film my first promotional video with my digital partner, Eighty Eight. Alex and Curtis came to the track and garage we were working from with a plan to shoot both action footage and interview sections too.
I was a little nervous.
After the two morning sessions had finished, we walked out into the pit lane to film the talking sections. I had already run through what I wanted to say in my head, but I had to slow myself down. It was far too easy to go into maximum attack mode and try to say everything at once. It just turned into too much information and, if I’m honest, a load of rubbish.
Alex started asking me questions and something happened that I wasn’t expecting. Although I was standing in the middle of a busy pit lane with mechanics working, wheel guns going off and people walking past, I stopped seeing all of that. I wasn’t looking at Curtis behind the camera anymore either. All I was really doing was listening to Alex and answering his questions. Somehow the pit lane disappeared, and, in my head, it became more like sitting in an office having a conversation with one person.
That really helped me.
We started with the easy questions. Who I am, what I race and what I enjoy about Formula Ford. Then we talked about Silverstone and why I enjoy driving there. We moved onto my website, and I explained that I had written all the updates for the old site myself. It wasn’t perfect and Dad was probably a bit harsh on himself at times. It did a job and I’m grateful to everyone who helped us get it started because without it we wouldn’t have the site we have today.
Then we started talking about Eighty-Eight themselves. That felt quite different because I don’t normally talk about businesses. I know how to explain what a race car is doing because I spend every weekend giving feedback to Mark and Dave, so I tried to use the same approach. Listen to the question, think about it and answer honestly.
Finally, we got onto what we can offer sponsors. I freewheeled a bit here because Dad has done so much work behind the scenes and, at times, I haven’t always kept up with everything he’s been building. Rather than trying to remember every detail, I just talked about what I knew. I explained that every partnership is different and that I think it’s important to build something around what each company actually wants, rather than forcing everybody into the same package.
When we finally finished, I realised we’d been talking for around twenty-five minutes. Suddenly I noticed how hot I was in my race suit and my mouth instantly went dry.
Everyone said, “Well done.”
The strange thing was that I had absolutely no idea whether I had done well or not.
In racing you get instant feedback. You know your lap time; you know where you finished and you know whether you’ve achieved what you wanted. Filming isn’t like that. You stop, pack the cameras away and then you wait.
Alex and Curtis headed off for something to eat while I grabbed some pasta and switched straight back into driver mode for the afternoon sessions.
Watching the finished film afterwards was quite strange because I looked far calmer than I actually felt. In my head I was thinking about what to say next, trying not to rush and hoping I was making some sort of sense. Looking back, I don’t think any of that really showed on camera.
I’m also pleased I didn’t use any notes. Everything came from memory and from my own experiences. Maybe I forgot something and maybe there were answers I could have explained better, but at least it was genuine. It sounded like me because it was me.
The biggest thing I learned wasn’t about speaking to a camera.
It was about communication.
Whether I’m talking to Mark and Dave after a session, explaining something to a sponsor or answering questions for a film like this, the process is exactly the same. Listen carefully, think about the answer and don’t be afraid to slow yourself down.
That day taught me that standing in front of a camera isn’t something to be worried about. Once I stopped thinking about the camera and just treated it like a conversation, I actually enjoyed it.
The pressure was different to racing, but it was still pressure.
The only difference is that, in racing, you usually know the result before you’ve taken your helmet off.
With filming, you have to wait until somebody presses play.
