John LaBonney presents "SHOULD'A" Adfest Entry

[John LaBonney]

Should'a
A dvxuser AdFest entry by John LaBonney

Written and Directed by John LaBonney
Produced by Michelle J. LaBonney

Featuring:

Mom: Debbie Karnowski
Dad: TBD

and the Kinetica Kids:
Amanda Wilson
Jamie Wilson
Erinn Veach
Phalen Petersen
Bridget LaBonney
TBD
TBD
TBD

Equipment:
HVX-200 w/ FS-100
Rode RTG-2
Avid Xpress Pro and Adobe Creative Suite 2 Production Studio Premium

Shooting date: July 8th, 2007
Location: Las Vegas. NV

[John LaBonney]

There's the ring. In it, consider my hat tossed.

I've been involved in SpyFest as a writer, and have also written one other AdFest entry. But it's way past time for me to get rolling with a project of my own.

Big thanks to my wife Michelle. She's turning out to be a pretty good producer. So far she's acquired most of the talent that we'll need, secured the location, and is working on all the other aspects of production. There's a big "to do list" detailing the aspects of production, and she's tackling pretty much all of it.

Thanks to Shawn at Full Compass and Julian at AVS for all their help with getting the right equipment.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the entries in August!

[John LaBonney]

A smattering of Should'a location scouting photos. Taken June 23, 2007.


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1207/641759953_c284891a41_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/karbonney/641759953/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/641759853_d1107ac809_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/karbonney/641759853/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1177/641619503_6c6be4aff5_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/karbonney/641619503/)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1361/642760768_05c070ca5e_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/karbonney/642760768/) The car of Kinetica??? Perhaps!

[abalex]

John! I can't wait to see this! You're a very creative man so let's see what you got now. A good idea to hammer is the Kinetica Japan idea without getting anyone drunk, if you know what I mean ;)

our short NMG it's going to be submmitted to Sundance and Slamdance in the next few weeks!

take care
gv.

[Bezakor]

looking forward big guy!

[Karl151k]

Having already had the privledge of reading the script for this particular commercial, I have to say that this is ones I'm most anxiously awaiting. It's a terrific idea! Keep us updated on the progress John!

[John LaBonney]

Thanks guys, we're looking forward to making it. It's my first time using the HVX, so I hope I don't mess it up too much. I hope there's an "auto" button on it somewhere.

[krob43]

This looks like it's going to be great! Can't wait to see it.

[Jen Bright]

Hooray, John! I can't wait to see it!

[John LaBonney]

Most of the talent is in place. However we're having some equipment issues; hopefully everything will arrive by Friday! Most notably we're still not in possession of the HVX, although I finally have a tracking number. As long as it arrives, we'll shoot this thing as scheduled on July 8th.

[Karl151k]

Sounds like a rockin' good time. You already have the Firestore?

[John LaBonney]

You already have the Firestore?

The Firestore arrived today. The HVX was held up and didn't ship until today. I think even with the 4th of July holiday, UPS should be able to get it here by weekend (California to Nevada, should be a snap (keep your fingers crossed)).

Also I'm waiting on a tripod I bought off eBay. Push come to shove, I'll get something temporary for the shoot. Of course, the camera is a more critical piece of gear that I can't manage to do without.

[John LaBonney]

SHOOTING REPORT - JULY 8th, 2007

We were able to get several takes of the first scene of the commercial, and then moved the operation to a nearby park to shoot the remaining scenes.

Although I was able to get set at the park up pretty quickly, maintaining reasonable control over six kids was very trying.

The major problem we faced was the Las Vegas heat. At 111 degrees, I was using towels to cover the camera and firestore unit. I had a large cooler with bottled water and Gatorade at the ready. But the heat put more than the equipment at risk. About twenty minutes after arriving at the park, one of the kids threw up from heat exhaustion.

At that point, since the safety of the children was clearly in danger, I immediately made the decision to cancel the shoot for the day. Although we were seriously disappointed that we weren't able to obtain any usable footage, I'd rather throw the HVX in the trash than have a child hurt on one of my projects.

The children were immediately shuttled back to an air-conditioned house and I remained behind to pack up the gear. I am glad to report that the child recovered quickly and is as good as new. In fact, he demanded I take him out for pizza.

At this stage it is unclear what footage that was captured, if any, will be usable. It is more likely that we will keep our original product, but re-write a new script in a hurry, with a similar theme, but this time using adult actors.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Looking forward to this one.

Good luck, John!

Mike

[John LaBonney]

Editing now - trying to learn Avid and After Effects in the process. There's no better way to learn than to get in there and do it.

[Karl151k]

That's very true John. Nothing like making mistakes yourself to ensure that you never make them again. Coincidentaly, I had to learn Final Cut Pro in about 24 hours when I was editing Robot Trouble for the first DVXfest, Sci-Fest. My PC had crashed the day before, and I HAD to finish the movie after all the work that went into it. It was the day before the deadline, so I was able to get a G5 as an early 21st B-Day present and I cut the whole movie again on that with FCP express. Good times!

[Jaime V]

Sorry to hear about one of your Kinetica Kids throwing up from the heat. I liked the sound of that in your initial post 'the Kinetica Kids' hehe...sounds like something that would have played after the Superfriends on Saturday mornings :)

Good luck with the rest of your project!

[Karl151k]

Kinetica Kids?! I had every one of those action figures and their "24P Hideout Playset".

[John LaBonney]

Kinetica Kids?! I had every one of those action figures and their "24P Hideout Playset".

Wow, if you only still had them, you could make a fortune with them on eBay. Those are collector's items now!

[John LaBonney]

Finished. Will be uploading tomorrow. Now working on a last-minute second entry. I don't know if I'll be done in time on the additional commercial though.

[Karl151k]

Sweet! I'm excited to see both this one and the last minute one. Do your best to finish it! It'll be so worth it when they're both uploaded and you can relax and live a normal life again.

[Zoidoid]

Finishing two would be very impressive! I'm having trouble with just one. I don't mean to belittle all the work that you've already done, though! Congratulations and good luck!

[John LaBonney]

Now uploading and awaiting approval.

In the end, we decided to create a new storyline that embraced our original concept and product using the little footage that we did manage to capture on that hot, hot day. I went back and got a little additional footage on my own, and I'm now proud to submit my first entry to a dvxuser fest.

All-in-all, we had our share of problems, but managed to finish. So that's good. There was a little too much to learn in a very short amount of time. I hadn't used Avid or After Effects before this, or the HVX for that matter, and they all have a pretty steep learning curve. I learned a lot and had fun working on it in post. I'm kind of finding out that I enjoy pre and post more than production, which I consider a necessary evil in the middle.

As far as the last-minute second entry goes, I don't know. I'll be cracking away at it all today, but finishing in time is a crapshoot. We'll see.

Thanks for all the support, I hope you enjoy it!

[Jutberg]

I too changed my idea at the last minute and had to pull an all nighter storyboarding and coming up with concepts. I'm bad for that... Good luck!

[Norm Sanders]

Humerous concept. Visually, some CC needed to be done (i.e. crush the blacks, play with gamma settings, etc.), as it just looked flat on the screen, unless that was your artistic intent.

As far as the product, I had ZERO idea what it was about until the end. For a 30 second spot, I'd think you would want to grab the consumer more quickly with something, rather than having them go "huh?" for the first 27-28 seconds, only to tie it up in the final 2-3.

I also looked for a thread for the LOGO entry, but couldn't find one. Could you point me towards it when you can?

All that said, good job on getting out & filming, and getting something in! It's more than I did.

[John LaBonney]

Thanks Norm, I appreciate the comments.

Color correction isn't really my specialty, although I imagine I'll get some knowledge of it as time goes on. I had plenty of trouble trying to learn Avid, After Effects, the HVX, and the Firestore in a very short period of time. I used Avid's built-in automatic color correction for all the park shots except the first one, where I wanted to make the grass look really green.

There's no official thread for the LOGO entry, I did it last minute and barely got it in. Feel free to make comments on it here if you like; I know it could have used some refinements.

It was a great learning experience, and I'm looking forward to screening the entries right now---I just got home from work.

[Karl151k]

I liked the kids in this ad. They looked like such monsters! =) And the main actor (you) looked so miserable. I bet there was no acting there whatsoever. I'd say that considering this was your first time with the HVX, Firestore, Avid and AE, you did great. Nice touch with the "Bubble Gum flavor".

Your second spot was nice and fun. The audio was a little tinny, but considering the short amount of time you had, that was understandable. Also, I don't see how you could get all this AE work done in such a short amount of time with the relatively limited experience you had at the time. Like I said, it was fun to watch. I really enjoyed both, but if I had to pick one that was a favorite I'd probably choose Should'a because it really made me afraid to have children. ;)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I enjoyed should'a. The end result was great.

I would have put the Dad in various environments going through hell with the kids though. Spilling milk on the table, breaking a window, cranking music when Dad's trying to relax... that sort of thing.

I think the payoff would have been a little better.

As it stands, I still really liked it. I laughed at the end, that's what counts. :)

[Jutberg]

I found the spot fairly humorous, and as someone already said some cc was needed, it looked rather bland or something.. But that could have been artistic intent so with that being said it conveyed the point quite well. I only have one complaint, is that it is very very similiar to a commercial I've seen before.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tyKdiuKOFjY

theres the link, you very well may have never seen it, but other than that good spot, I really like the titles you used at the end

[John LaBonney]

I enjoyed should'a. The end result was great.

I would have put the Dad in various environments going through hell with the kids though. Spilling milk on the table, breaking a window, cranking music when Dad's trying to relax... that sort of thing.

I think the payoff would have been a little better.

Mike:

I agree with you. The original concept was much more involved, and we had several shots planned:, dad opening the car door and a big ball of noisy kids falling out onto the ground, dad walking to the park with the screaming kids climbing all over him, etc. On the day of shooting we had such difficulty with the heat and had to cut it short, so I was lucky to be able to use the little footage we did get. I had literally less than two minutes of raw footage to use, so we changed the concept a little to quiet park/crazy kids park.



http://youtube.com/watch?v=tyKdiuKOFjY

theres the link, you very well may have never seen it, but other than that good spot, I really like the titles you used at the end

Thanks. No, I hadn't seen that one, but it's got the same concept as mine. I was trying to come up with a tounge-in-cheek, non-sexual theme for the product.

[cinealma]

Ah, yes, the sweeties commercial. This is a good concept in either case. I have five kids, so I can TOTALLY relate to the scene at the park, although that's usually the scene in my house whereas at the park, they're relatively "quiet" kids.

I liked the shots, although I feel you held the opening shot of the park/playground a little too long. And maybe something a little extreme happening at the end... I don't know.

Good effort! Thanks for sharing!

[Jeremy Ordan]

For me the look was a little too flat and I got bored in the beginning. Ultimately it had a decent payoff but the pacing wasn't there for me.

[John LaBonney]

I liked the shots, although I feel you held the opening shot of the park/playground a little too long. And maybe something a little extreme happening at the end... I don't know.



For me the look was a little too flat and I got bored in the beginning. Ultimately it had a decent payoff but the pacing wasn't there for me.

Thanks for the comments, and believe me, I'm painfully aware of the shortcomings in this commercial. I just didn't have enough experience with the many pieces of equipment and software. Considering how much footage I was able to collect on the shooting day, I was lucky to salvage anything at all.

We had fun (not during production) and learned quite a bit, so it was definitely a worthwhile experience. Many thanks to dvxuser and the members here for the opportunity to enter in the festival. Look out for our next fest entry!

[Ki-Ki]

Haha, great, i knew someone had to do condoms at some point. Got a good set up to the product.

[John LaBonney]

Haha, great, i knew someone had to do condoms at some point. Got a good set up to the product.

I was surprised that I was the only one. I figured there would be a bunch of condom, personal lubricant, etc. commercials, so I tried to do it in a different, non-sexual way, although I think I broke with that strategy a little when I put the bubble gum flavor bit in at the end. Thanks for watching it!