Lauren Hodge
Lauren keeps Pocket Creatives running, and you’ll most commonly find her mixing new project planning with the weekly scheduling, overseeing over 140 projects per year.
Quite simply, your project just doesn’t happen without Lauren’s organisational input, transitioning each project from pre-production to end delivery.
Some of my favourite video projects:
Choosing favourite projects is always hard, because they each carry a different story. However, I do know that my favourite video projects at Pocket Creatives are the most challenging and creative ones that make you go “well, how do we achieve that?” or “wow, what a result”!
A great example of this is a video we created in the middle of lockdown (at home!) which was a challenge for obvious reasons, we call it “Coffee At Home”
This video was created out of pure boredom, I’m somebody who is used to using their creativity on a daily basis so it was very hard to be restricted by the four walls around me which is why I decided to get up and create! Due to this, there was no brief, no client, no budget, just pure fun and a whole lot of mess.
The learnings is what makes this a favourite of mine, it taught me to not be restricted by what’s around me and actually use it to my advantage – I’m very pleased with the result and it will forever be a great story!
HairO will always be an all time favourite as it holds such great value to me personally! This project allowed us to have full creative control with a brief of “just create something cool” so we did 🙂
The whole process was fun, from the planning right down to calculating the slow motion in the edit. It was one of the first projects that took me out of comfort zone and taught me that being brave does pay off and I see that in the result every time I view it, and I hope the audience does too!
If I may squeeze one more Pocket Creatives favourite in there, we created a promo for Leighton Denny Expert Nails and whilst I had very little involvement in the project, it’s one that I was really impressed with and still enjoy watching to this day!
Quickfire Questions:
What do you do in your role?
What a question! The spectrum of my role at Pocket Creatives is quite large, keeping myself on the edge of my seat wondering what’s next in store for me.
In a nutshell I process, organise, schedule and deliver information. As Production Director it’s my responsibility to ensure all stages of production run as smoothly as possible, right from green light through to sign-off. This is the chunkiest part of my job as it means I have to look after every video project at all stages. Albeit a huge responsibility, I thoroughly enjoy witnessing a project come to life from a simple idea to a polished piece of work that our clients are happy and proud of.
Each day in my role is different, which is one of the many reasons why I love it. On one given day I could be directing a monster of a video project for a high-end brand, the next day I could be tackling the task of balancing our resources with the photography side of our business.
The role doesn’t just stop there – I’m also an owner of Pocket Creatives which means having many important meetings with my business partners where we discuss finances, HR, and all things seriousness. On the flip side, we get to make plans for the future and reminisce on the amazing progress we’ve made from a small team of 3 to a fab team of 7 which is an incredible thing to be able to do.
What do you actually do?
I would write a list, but I already write far too many! ?
Besides the normal stuff that falls under my job role, I find myself dipping my toes into all sorts of things.
I act as a plant-carer, ensuring the office plants stay alive, I often host road trips to get the team to shoots far away, I look after the alcohol stock in our fancy blue Pocket fridge, I even (when Kelly hasn’t beaten me to it) act as office DJ.
The thing about being a Pocket owner is that you have to be up for doing anything and everything, we’re just as part of the team as anyone else and if that means occasionally being an assistant to the photography team or keeping the studio clean then that’s what I’m happy to do!
Oh, and I keep Haider in line. That’s 90% of the job.
What do your team think you do?
The Pocket Creatives team think I’m a walking calendar with all dates and to do’s implemented into my brain, to be fair, I kind of am but shh, don’t tell them that!
Most embarrassing story?
Most people would need to think about this one… not me! A few years back Pocket Creatives were photographing some beautiful jewellery with a client and I may have dropped a diamond earring in front of them whilst setting up a shot. I quickly gasped “It’s okay, still intact” and although it was perfectly fine, our client nearly had a heart attack! I’m not sure what the fuss was all about, it was only worth 15 thousand dollars!
What’s your favourite thing about your job?
Can I only pick one?!
My favourite thing about my job here at Pocket Creatives is the partnerships and growing alongside the brands that we work with. We create content that helps them tell their story and it’s such a great feeling when we get to the end of a project and you can see impact that our creations have made.
A specific favourite part of my role is directing on set – I really enjoy the stress, as weird as that may sound! We may be on a shoot, a few hours behind schedule, sudden brief change, product drama, whatever the dilemma is it’s a great feeling to use the stress of it to come on top and produce results that you’re happy with despite the chaos thrown at you.
I also love my team; we’ve been incredibly lucky to build the team that we have and I’m grateful for the relationships that we have all built together. We put our heart and soul into our jobs and we all share the same passions and goals, which means we’ve got a great connection. We call ourselves a little family, cheesy I know ?
What keeps you motivated?
Besides the never-ending amount of work that needs to be done on a daily basis, my biggest motivation is that I love my job. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t change it for the world, and not a lot of people can say that.
It’s hard not to be motivated when you’re happy in your job and you’re making a difference to your clients and their business, it’s incredibly rewarding.
Most annoying habit?
Slurping tea, but not the usual slurp, it’s a Lauren-kinda-slurp.
What are you happiest doing when you’re not working?
Spending quality time with my favourite tortoise, yep, I have a pet tortoise.
