Lesson Learned #7 (Part 1)-Notes On Schtick

Develop A Repertoire

/SHtik/

INFORMAL

noun: schtick a gimmick, comic routine, style of performance, etc. associated with a particular person.

I am here to sing the praises of schtick. Despite all negative connotations, having a schtick is primary for establishing yourself in this industry. It can be technical; a certain light, lens, film etc. It can be an aesthetic; ironic and wacky, sleek and pared down… just about anything. Whatever your schtick, it needs to be something specific enough and open-ended enough for an art director or editor to understand and envision filling their empty page.

Having a schtick is different from having a style, although they’re related. Style, developing over time, is the manner in which you enlist your various schticks. This difference is important because figuring out what your style is can be daunting in the beginning while a schtick is more straightforward. There’s good schtick and bad schtick. I’d argue that Irving Penn’s cigarette butts, for example, were a schtick, albeit articulated with masterful technique and because of that, display a provocative, subversive highbrow/lowbrow humor. Now THAT’S good schtick.

Whether or not your schtick is merely a gimmick depends on the strength of your point of view, who’s ‘running the show’ as it were. If your work is merely schtick, then you’re in for a short career. Your schtick can’t be a one-off thing, you’ll need to show your idea ‘has legs’ and can work in different situations in order for a client to imagine their product running through your schtick’s algorithm.

Also, practically speaking, a schtick is a necessary tool. There’s no way to keep up with a busy shoot schedule if you have to come up with something completely new every time. We all need a ‘bag of tricks’ to call upon.

And now, for your entertainment… I will divulge a few of my earlier schticks to help illustrate what I’m talking about.

My first real schtick involved using mirrors. This was pre-digital, pre-Photoshop and it really was untenable, too difficult to control for most commercial purposes. However, it gained the attention of a few art directors which was enough to get me started and I used the technique for a couple of ‘artier’ magazines.

Another early schtick involved using colored shadows. Again, this was before digital and was shot on translucent frosted plexi with a gelled head underneath hitting the shadowed area.

There was the bold colored background schtick. (This was years before the ColorAid tsunami that started about 10 years ago. Talk about a schtick!!)

My stacking schtick. Turns out I have a knack for stacking things. (Who knew?) I’ve received a lot of calls for this type of work over the years. It has come in handy for those Christmas Gift Issues that roll around late summer.

Flat gray, no shadow. I’ve done plenty of jewelry like this and it works well, the stones stand out nicely. It’s a little tricky technically so not ideal for certain jobs.

And finally, the glowing backlight with soft fill schtick. I went through a phase where I did so much of this work, 10 hours a day for weeks at a time, I actually started to become ‘snowblind’ (I was using only hotlights at the time) and took to wearing sunglasses in the studio. It was definitely time to look for a new schtick.

TO BE CONTINUED….