Market research - interview with Mark Flowers from the BBC's "Human Planet"

A while ago I wrote to Mark Flowers, who directs, produces and films for BBC documenteries such as Human Planet. As I myself am interested in that industry, and also hope to improve my photography skills, I asked him several questions regarding this. The following are relevant to my photoshoot and will help me to prepare:

1. What is the secret to the 'perfect' photograph?
I guess I look for an image which tells a story, it makes the viewer question what is going on, what is happening, it arrests you; I think this should come first and then beauty and composition later, but that is because I am more interested in storytelling than pretty pictures. A good photo/moving image in my mind should do both, personally I prioritise the former.

2. What preperations are needed before going to 'shoot?'
1) Having a clear brief - knowing what you are going to film/photgraph, thinking through the story/image you hope to capture
2) Knowing how predictable the subject/event will be
3) Preferably a recce has been done, so we have knowledge of what to expect, we have met the human characters involved, and done common sense analysis of animal behaviour etc - I do what I call is an investment payoff rating - I make an assessment of how likely we are to be successful and invest accordingly in terms of time, money and equipment
4) Thorough risk assessment is done and written up, this is cirulated to everyone involved
5) If at all tricky we use the BBC editotrial guidelines and internal departments like Editorial Policy or the High Risk team to help us prepare
6) Sometimes specialist training is needed
7) We analayse which equipment is most appropriate
8) We try to hire in the best and most appropriate talent suited for the particular job
9) I write a bullet point "plan" for the shoot, I then often draw a storyboard, I show this to my bosses/clients before we shoot
10) I often host briefing meetings so that everyone involved knows clearly what we hoping to achieve, we discuss how to tackle the problems
11) I cross my fingers and hope it will all go to plan.

Although I won't be photographing anything with a high risk assessment, it is still something to bear in mind for future photoshoots. The advice he gave me about recce shots and thorough planning was extremely useful, so I will make sure to plan thoroughly beforehand.