Macgregor - Nothing gets closer

[macgregor]

Hi all, i just uploaded my entry. Unfortunately i cannot compete for prizes since i used some sound FX which i dont own the rights. Therefore i cant agree to all the rules. It is a pity. If i had time i would change the sound FX. But i am in the middle of a street in Prague stealing wifi conection. No way i can do it in time.
Next time...

[Brandon Rice]

WHOOHOO! Mac! Looking forward to your spot nonetheless!

[cinealma]

But i am in the middle of a street in Prague stealing wifi conection...

That's classic!


Cheers!
:beer:

[Cryogenic Filmworks]

As if I weren't already looking forward to this. :2vrolijk_08: Did you fly Jack all the way out to Prague? :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

[Solomon Chase]

Nothing gets closer?

Kinetica - Hypergalactic 10-bladed shaver? :)

[J.R. Hudson]

It's always a treat to see what Mac does.

[Kholi]

Holy crap.

How much did this cost?

[Barry_S]

It's definitely pro quality, but not done for Adfest, I think. Maybe you can talk about this project a bit.

[krestofre]

Stunning visuals, no doubt about it. It's a shame I can't vote for it.

[Brandon Rice]

Very beautiful piece Mac!

[ugafan]

that was insane.

[Matty_g]

Very beautiful indeed. Didn't look like adapter footage at all (looked like the real thing)
What kind of rigs did you have to get those kinds of shots?

[Norm Sanders]

Okay, so I cheated & skipped ahead. I've watched about 6 so far, but need to hit the hay ... but wanted to see yours before I did.

I could say wow & drool over your work, visually, but I'm sure that's gotten old for you, as you know that your work is among the best visually, if not consistantly THE best. It's not even if you know it or not, but simply that you hear it all the time because the fact of the matter is that it's true.

Editing was great, sound design, the VO, it all worked really, really well. As a consumer, I was a little thrown, but it's more likely my own ignorance to the car.

Is that a street legal car in Europe? If so, then it totally makes sense. Otherwise, I felt like we were watching a Formula 1 car, or something similar, so I didn't really know what the advertisement was about, other than the company that's sponsoring that car has something to say, but I don't know what it is. Again, this is what was going through my head as a consumer until I realized that this was probably a street legal car that I'm just not aware of.

On that note, killer car! Would love to know what kind it was so I could check it out further.

Lastly, my respect for you has just gone up several fold. For you to state in advance (unless you figured why not, keep the record perfect for DQ's) that those SFX weren't used with permission ... that was VERY above board for you. I don't think anyone would have questioned (I wouldn't have - I would have figured they were stock, and or actually acquired on location) you on that.

Anyway, kudos to you on an EXCELLENT entry ... even if I was a tad ignorant to know what it was about at first.

[deedive]

great work :)

[Geoff_R]

I'm a little confused on the story... I wanted to see where the car came from, the origin of its parts in particular... I think then I might have felt more emotionally invested in this machine.

Ok, for real though... beautiful images, I like the saturation and contrast; visually feels like pre-dawn before the sun breaks. Nice cuts, sweet SFX :evil:

[martin-sfx]

As usual visually stunning work that takes you into it. The VO was perfect as was the editing. After seeing this I wanted to find out more about the car so I guess you achieved your goal with this ad.

[Noel Evans]

Outstanding...... just outstanding.

I loved: Non professional driving under crazy conditions. Attempt at your own risk of getting your mom upset. Apart from all the other components of course.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Beautiful to look at, no doubt. Very professional looking.
The ad didn't quite hook me though.

Definitely the best looking ad I've seen thus far.

I'll watch it again shortly.

Mike

[LloydC]

Stunning... so glad to see it was shot on the A1!

Was there an adapter involved?

[FilmBoy77]

damn...this was nice. felt real. so why did they put yours up if we couldn't vote for it?

[dvpixl]

come on.... he wanted to show off... what else?

[Luzer]

Macgregor's work has never ceased to amaze me. Very slick!

[FilmBoy77]

come on.... he wanted to show off... what else?

:laugh:

[Dmitry Kichenko]

Visually quite stunning. Almost hard to believe this was shot by someone you can talk to on a message board :). However, as a commercial, it fails since there is no clear link to the product. In fact, we don't even know what the product is, nor we get a chance to really imprint the logo in our heads as it flashes by so fast. It didn't feel made for the festival specifically, to be honest.

[Edgen]

Wonderfully shot Macgregor. It's a shame it's not competing.

I agree with norm... i'm not sure if it was a street legal car or a laugh in the face to those who are unfortunate to drive a formula1 car. Makes me want to jump in one right now. :)

Excellent showpiece.

/j

[Ryan E. Walters]

Nicely done indeed. I would be interested in hearing more of the BTS stuff- like how you acquired the car, track, what you did for setups, etc.

Great work. :)

[Herman Witkam]

Great ad, Mac! I think it's very well shot & edited. Sound design was good too.


Is that a street legal car in Europe?

Norm, Everything is legal in Europe :D

[MojoTrancer]

Solid work as always, Mac. Now quit messing around and honing your craft and crap and give us a feature film already! :)

[Dmitry Kichenko]

No, shut up. He's great at ads. Make more ads. Just make the product a little more evident and prominent and you're all set.

[J.R. Hudson]

Great ad, Mac! I think it's very well shot & edited. Sound design was good too.



Norm, Everything is legal in Europe :D

Except for the Nazi Party

[MojoTrancer]

No, shut up. He's great at ads. Make more ads. Just make the product a little more evident and prominent and you're all set.

Feature!!!

[macgregor]

THanks for all your cumpliments.
FOr those who say that the message is not clear, well i could say 2 things:
Ads in Europe tend to be a bit more subtle than american.
BUt most important, if the comercial ended with: "FERRARI ENZO, Nothing gets closer", will it make sense then?

I think it is just the fact that no one around here knows about the Kinetica car brand. ;D

Again, imagine the ad with Ferrari or Pagani logo in the end and i think it makes sense.

BTW, the car really exists and is road legal. 720bhp, 1300 Kgs. €700k

[macgregor]

Stunning... so glad to see it was shot on the A1!

Was there an adapter involved?

As it is said in the credits, i used the SGproV2. Beautiful.

[macgregor]

Some more production details for your entertainment:

THe shooting was done in a 2,5 hour empty window on the race track.
We used a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5 tuned with 340hp as a camera car.
I threw up at the end of the day.

All editing and CC performed in Vegas 7.0. Vegas is so good, it just lacks 16bit Color correction to be perfect.

The SGproV2, plus lenses plus Canon A1 weighted almost 10 pounds. Quite heavy. Very sharp imagend real 35mm DOF.

[Dmitry Kichenko]

Oh, it's the Kinetica cars. I suppose it wasn't as clear because we never actually saw "Kinetica" on the back or the front grill of the car, nor did we hear the voice mention it. Hence why it felt like the logo was just edited in later on, and the car had nothing to do with brand name.

[Norm Sanders]

K, but it's nt an ENZO (at least not recent models I've seen), so what is it? :huh:

[Dmitry Kichenko]

It looks like an Ford Indigo concept.

[Brandon Rice]

BTW: Just watched it again... and... the inserts of the shifting are when the car isn't moving, huh? You just shook the cam to make it feel like it was moving...nice.

The car is a Tramontana, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramontana_(sports_car)

[Brandon Rice]

Oh yeah..

http://www.rsportscars.com/foto/2006geneva/tramontana.jpg

[macgregor]

Uhmm, i just arrived from Prague and i watched the ad again. I think it needs to be improved, now I am not really happy with it. We must see the entire car in the end at least for some seconds. Otherwise it is only saky and high speed shots.
I´ll try to re-edit next week...

[Brandon Rice]

It's still pretty hot dude! :thumbsup:

[Norm Sanders]

Cool ending shot would have been to have do a controlled power slide right up to the camera (from about 300 MPH), so close that entire frame is filled with the tire/door/fender, etc. ... and the fraction it fills the frame & stops we dolly back & crane up to reveal the car in all its glory, the track still smoldering in the far background as we hear the final VO.

And cut.

:grin:

[Brandon Rice]

ah yeah! HOT NORM! HOT!

[macgregor]

Cool ending shot would have been to have do a controlled power slide right up to the camera (from about 300 MPH), so close that entire frame is filled with the tire/door/fender, etc. ... and the fraction it fills the frame & stops we dolly back & crane up to reveal the car in all its glory, the track still smoldering in the far background as we hear the final VO.

And cut.

:grin:

... plus some explosions in the background and cheerleaders jumping in bikinis! ;D

[flammsy]

awesome...just awesome. i'm blown away. :thumbsup:
usually i don't like grain at all... but in this case. perfect!

[TimurCivan]

Thats how its done.

[Slimothy]

Great stuff Mac. The best of the fest.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Well it looks incredible.

[Christopher Barry]

Macgregor, regarding a few different shots, I notice there is perhaps some circular banding? Easiest to identify on the final crane shot, left of screen at 24 seconds.

Is that a post issue/choice, adapter/shutter speed issue or a particular issue for one of your lenses?

Just curious, not criticism. Stunning footage! :thumbsup:

[dougspice]

I'd say the execution here is about a 10 out of 10 (except for how fast the logo flashes past at the end). However I have to agree that the concept is not quite as polished. I think you're quite right that it would be a huge improvement to see a full frame of the car at the end, and have a nice second or two of pause to be able to consider the thing in all its glory before throwing the logo up at the top.

LOVE the quality of the voiceover, by the way. Fantastic voice, timing, everything.

[Jeremy Ordan]

Great ad, incredible visuals and a non-stop tour de force.

I really enjoyed it and it could serve as a lesson in sound design and editing.

[Drew Ott]

Visually stunning.

Awesome work. I really want an SG Pro to accompany my A1.

[macgregor]

Macgregor, regarding a few different shots, I notice there is perhaps some circular banding? Easiest to identify on the final crane shot, left of screen at 24 seconds.

Is that a post issue/choice, adapter/shutter speed issue or a particular issue for one of your lenses?

Just curious, not criticism. Stunning footage! :thumbsup:

That´s magic bullet vignetting...

[Herman Witkam]

Except for the Nazi Party

Good call ;-)

[Texture]

Mac man, you sooo funny!!! Hehe, love the disclaimer at the end.

And yea, of course, what everybody else said above. Kicks ass!

Just be careful of the speed bump in front of my house in case you decide to drive on by someday! :)

[Jason Ramsey]

Great cinematography. Great visuals, yadda yadda...

It'd be great if you ever actually did one that I could vote on :)

You don't need me to massage your ego anymore... Yes... I love watching your stuff. It's always a lot of fun visually.

Jason

[Christopher Barry]

That´s magic bullet vignetting...

Got it. Agree, shame Vegas does not 16bit process your grade. Thanks for responding.

[Matty_g]

What lenses were used in this spot?

[macgregor]

What lenses were used in this spot?

Nikon 17-35mm f2.8
nikon 50 mm f1.8
nikon 180mm f2.8
nikon 300mm f.4
standard canon a1 lense

[Tom Marshall]

Nice job, Mac. Stunning visuals. If you ever need an actor, let me know. :)

[TimurCivan]

Based on his other job..... i'd take a PA role...... ;)

[Gord.T]

Holy frig dude. I thought I hit the wrong icon.
GET OUTTA HERE. :) You mean to tell me you did this for Adfest?
You cant be that dedicated.

/Oh wait. Now I recognize the name as being the jack/mac Eighteen Sec thing.
Ahhhh. Well again, I'm floored buy your stuff. Congrats.

// Is this a votable entry?
Sorry, just read first page, I guess audio rights puts it out of judging.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Holy frig dude. I thought I hit the wrong icon.
GET OUTTA HERE. :) You mean to tell me you did this for Adfest?
You cant be that dedicated...

Obsessions: Mac is obsessed with filmming naked/beautiful women (see Timur's post above) and sportscars. :)

He shoots spec commercials for sportscars all the time, like for fun, so
A) this is something he can do without taking the lens cap off the camera (i.e., in his sleep, this is like difficulty level 1.7 for him)
B) he was probably shooting something like this this month anyway. (see obsessions above)

Basically the dood could film a pile of dookie and it would look like a diamond. Bastard.

[KOVAROVA]

mac mac mac.. could you please do something that really sucks for once?

[Aaron Marshall]

Macgregor,

I love the fast paced editing. My favorite shot was the second shot of the commercial. The one where it starts looking at the rear of the car and whatever vehicle you were in goes off the track (pitstop area?). That looked incredible.

I love it.

[mikkowilson]

Holy crap that was amazing! :shocked: :shocked:

- Mikko

[FiddlerMD]

awesome - i was just about to vote is as #1 but then it's for "exhibition purposes only" .. dammit
amazing footage - would be awesome to see some behind the scenes shots

[abalex]

My friend Mac!

great work man, loved it!

Too bad you're not competing...

cheers
gv.

[TimurCivan]

Mac do you have a website?

[gumonstro]

you sold me the car. i'll have it.

[MojoTrancer]

Mac do you have a website?

Yes. A Macgregor website would be cool. Maybe a blog. I'm sure there's a lot of us who'd like to keep up with what he's doing next.

[macgregor]

I have no website. I couldn´t get any designer that could help me to build it yet.

[Wayne Kinney]

I know it was tough to make a 30 second version, so great job!

Nice to see the results from the SGpro, in your hands :)

[RebeccaD]

This one was fantastic! Nice job and keep setting the bar!

[Ol23456789]

macgregor, 18 seconds and similo are the most beautiful movies i've seen shot with digital cameras. hope i'm not missing something too obvious here, but where is the link for "nothing gets closer"?

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

this was an entry for adfest
in the adfest forum look for the viewing thread and it will have a link to where all the films are

EDIT: here -> http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=105441

[Ol23456789]

WOW! that was freakin' brilliant.
thanks for the link jack.

[Rowlander]

Thanks for boosting my confidence in the XH-A1 even further!
I have the camera and really like it so far. But I was floored when I saw what you did with it.

The adapter seems pretty good for the price. Any more details worth mentioning on your experience working with it?

What mode did you shoot in (f or i) and what shutter speed did you use?


Someone said, the ad looks "close to professional". To hell with that! That thing could run on TV and I´d be stunned! :Drogar-Happy(DBG):

[Gordon JL]

I think this is by far the best entry (though it wasn't really meant as an entry), so if I was to judge your work, it'd be based on the standard of what I expect from a professional level ad, not necessarilly what I'd expect from an amateur or independent filmmaker. If my criticisms seem harsh, it's only because you're show immense talent in your previous works.

Personally, I prefer MacGregor's other projects before this (SIMILO, 18 seconds). This is the worst he's submitted -- far from bad, just not just his best. It's still very professional and contains some stunning visuals, but on a professional level, the visuals are substandard -- you expect these type of visuals. I suggest changeing it up a little so that your future projects don't look like any other car commercial.

The narrator was kind of cheesey, and I would have personally changed the tagline.

For an ad, especially a car commercial, you really need to grab someone by the balls to catch their attention -- being unique and different is one way of separating yourself and making an ad effective. I don't think this particular ad was extremely "original"; very professional, but not creative when compared to other commercials I've seen on TV.

To me, this is more of an exercise of MacGregor's technical skills, not necessarilly his artistic skills. It was professional, flashy, nice visuals, but just not great when compared to other professional ads on TV.

[aokokoro]

wow... sugoi...