View Full Version : Giant people! 20sec commercial.
Terry_Tsurugi
08-13-2007, 02:01 PM
I just finished a commercial for a local music school. It will hit the local cinema's in a couple of months and it's my first try at high definition.
We tried to make it stand out amongst the other local commercials, so our focus was more on making 20 intense seconds so people would notice the name of the school and their site.
We shot it in 1080 25p (PAL), used Raylight to make AVI's, edited in Vegas7 and did all the effects and compositing in AE7. It ended up costing about 550$.
I don't know yet what to think of it... It ended up pretty much like my original idea, but too much technical "stuff" got in the way of making it as fluid and effective as I wanted. So I hope you can tell me what you think of it!
TMI Spot, 20sec. 9mb (http://valiantfilm.net/tmi_spot.mp4)
And here's a look behind the scenes:
http://valiantfilm.net/studio.gif
In my friends garage, cheap green cloth, home depot work lights and some fluorescent bulbs. Nice.
Jack Daniel Stanley
08-13-2007, 02:14 PM
It seems very fluid to me. Nice key and nice tracking and camera moves.
I like the lo fi grunge aesthetic of the spot - makes the effects seem more organic and in contrast to everyday life. It's slick, but it doesn't look slick, i.e. plastic and contrived - make sense? Looks chaotic and like some slightly scared camera man was just capturing all this intense action.
I think you definitely succeeded in making an intense short ad. I can see a young musician taking note of this and checking out the website.
Drew Ott
08-13-2007, 02:16 PM
It seems very fluid to me. Nice key and nice tracking and camera moves.
I like the lo fi grunge aesthetic of the spot - makes the effects seem more organic and in contrast to everyday life. It's slick, but it doesn't look slick, i.e. plastic and contrived - make sense? Looks chaotic and like some slightly scared camera man was just capturing all this intense action.
I think you definitely succeeded in making an intense short ad. I can see a young musician taking note of this and checking out the website.
I agree. I thought it was pretty effective.
JasonFox
08-13-2007, 02:21 PM
Nice job. Especially for $550 (not counting the thousands you already have in gear, of course) -- that's value!
Makes we want to fiddle with compositing.
brian.wells
08-13-2007, 02:27 PM
Good stuff. Now you just need the web site.
Terry_Tsurugi
08-13-2007, 02:28 PM
Wow, thanks guys, glad you liked it! The grunge and handheld shots helps a lot I think. Without camera movement it tends to get cheesy and "fake".
Matty_g
08-13-2007, 02:35 PM
loved it.
brian.wells
08-13-2007, 02:38 PM
Wow, thanks guys, glad you liked it! The grunge and handheld shots helps a lot I think. Without camera movement it tends to get cheesy and "fake".
Yeah, a great example of cheesy giants is Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. Now, a music video of the band as giants amongst skyscrapers would be really cool.
Terry_Tsurugi
08-13-2007, 02:41 PM
Now, a music video of the band as giants amongst skyscrapers would be really cool.
That was my original idea actually. It stayed in my idea-book a long time and then this commercial came along.
Kholi
08-13-2007, 10:44 PM
That was tight. Good job.
monte
08-14-2007, 11:11 AM
Yeah, a great example of cheesy giants is Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. Now, a music video of the band as giants amongst skyscrapers would be really cool.
Something like David Finchers iconic black and white video for the rolling stones, love is strong?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRDUihlj_Lc
Patryk_Rebisz
08-14-2007, 11:30 AM
you might want to blur the edges of the composite jut a bit so they are not as sharp.
Terry_Tsurugi
08-14-2007, 12:37 PM
Something like David Finchers iconic black and white video for the rolling stones, love is strong?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRDUihlj_Lc
Shit, I feel so insanely stupid right now. Damn. I hadn't seen that video before! Man, this sucks haha.
Jack Daniel Stanley
08-14-2007, 05:19 PM
:)
there are almost no new ideas.
Don't worry - people who know that video will just think you were quoting on purpose. And yours still has a different vibe than the Stones one. And it's for an ad not a music video.
Still cool. Still a good job.
:beer:
Justin Kuhn
08-14-2007, 05:26 PM
Mad props man, mad props. Might have to steal that later, I mean, uh, do my take on the concept.
Terry_Tsurugi
08-15-2007, 08:55 AM
:)
there are almost no new ideas.
Don't worry - people who know that video will just think you were quoting on purpose. And yours still has a different vibe than the Stones one. And it's for an ad not a music video.
Still cool. Still a good job.
:beer:
Thanks man, you're probably right. I'll just have to google my ideas a bit better next time hehe.
Patryk_Rebisz: I was wondering about that... It was hard to make the sharp green screen shots blend in with the hand held low-light stuff.
majormorgan
08-15-2007, 10:18 AM
Dude, a very nice ad. Great compositing and it felt very fluid and real. Nice style and compostions.
The only thing I could chime in different is the shot of the giant in the alleyway as two skaters fly past camera bottom right - the giant needs a shadow. Without it it looks like he isn't really there especially as the skaters themselves cast shadows.
Apart from that the whole thing is wicked and ultra-tight ! Very, very nice work !!!
MajorMorgan
bluetuned
08-15-2007, 10:31 AM
shi*, I feel so insanely stupid right now. Damn. I hadn't seen that video before! Man, this sucks haha.
I wouldn't feel bad. I've been storyboarding a very similar concept for a video with some friends for awhile. It's not as if giant people are a new idea. You still did it very, very well.
Terry_Tsurugi
08-15-2007, 01:31 PM
Thanks everybody, really cool you liked it!
And, MajorMorgan, the shadows was a real pain. I realized that they made an enormous effect on the realism, but it was so hard to animate the shadows that I ended up "hiding" them.
Spartacus
08-15-2007, 02:18 PM
Your ripped of David Fincher, thatīs bad ass man!:thumbsup:
Hehe good work mate!
Was the B/W a deliberate choice or did you use it to help hide the keying process?
(Just wondering cause Iīm planing on doing a music vid in B/W just because of this: matching colors from the different plates is a hard part and with doing it in B/W I probably could stay in budget better...)
Why didnīt anyone ask about the the DIY flos? They are DIY, or?
Terry_Tsurugi
08-15-2007, 03:18 PM
The B/W was a part of the original idea, but it was also a way, like you said, to make it easier in post. I think you can pull of colors too if you make stylize it in some way. Just plain daylight would be hard with color temperatures and all, but if you set it in sunset or something like that it wold be easier to "hide" the differences.
And the flos are sort-of-DIY hehe, they are just fluorescent lights from this home depot kind of store attached to legs from a work light. The small one is a fluorescent bulb (100 effective watts) taped on legs with aluminum foil around... cheap, but nice and soft. Especially easy when shooting BW.
Here's a slightly better picture of the lights...
http://valiantfilm.net/studio2.jpg
Spartacus
08-15-2007, 04:07 PM
Nice!
Electronic balast? Color temperature?
Did you spraypaint them or do they come black?
Terry_Tsurugi
08-15-2007, 04:19 PM
They are white actually, they only look black on the photos... The color temperature, I don't know, since we shot for BW I didn't care actually hehe. And this electronic balast stuff you guys talk about, I don't even know what you mean haha, can you explain?
Spartacus
08-16-2007, 02:20 AM
The EB raises the frequency of the flo so high, that you donīt have the 50/60KHz flicker anymore...
Itīs more pleasant to the eyes and cameras also like it hehe
I believe the output of a lamp also encreases, they start up emidiately and they are more durable...
majormorgan
08-16-2007, 06:11 AM
Hiya Terry as I said before it was really great work !
Did you try a vertical flip of the giant which you could tint to be black? You could also then scale it down vertically and fast blur it to help sell it in. It might not work, it depends on the angle. We've done shots before where we've had produced a reflection or shadows before and this technique worked quite well even if it was a 3/4 angle.
Great, great work though ! Can we see some other stuff?
Thanks,
MajorM
Terry_Tsurugi
08-16-2007, 07:00 AM
The EB raises the frequency of the flo so high, that you donīt have the 50/60KHz flicker anymore...
Itīs more pleasant to the eyes and cameras also like it hehe
I believe the output of a lamp also encreases, they start up emidiately and they are more durable...
Aha, I see. I've never experienced any flickering when using these fluorescent lights. But if I use shutter speeds over 1/120 the colors changes back and forth, is this what i could get rid of by using EB? Thanks by the way!
Hiya Terry as I said before it was really great work !
Did you try a vertical flip of the giant which you could tint to be black? You could also then scale it down vertically and fast blur it to help sell it in. It might not work, it depends on the angle. We've done shots before where we've had produced a reflection or shadows before and this technique worked quite well even if it was a 3/4 angle.
Great, great work though ! Can we see some other stuff?
Thanks,
MajorM
I thought about doing that but I simply didn't have time... And the finished spot is delivered now, so I'll just have to keep that in mind until next time.
With other stuff you mean like from this production or other films I've made? If you mean other films I have this WIP directors/dp/editors reel I made for a school application a couple of months ago!
My Reel, 1min 19mb (http://valiantfilm.net/JKReel.mov)
It's mostly made out of shots from a short film I finished earlier this year, and a music video I made a year ago. I will be adding stuff soon, so please say what I should replace and what I should keep in!
majormorgan
08-16-2007, 12:27 PM
That's what I'm talking about. ~There's some great stuff in that reel ! All yours? Brilliant !
Yeah the comments were more for next time, I know deadlines are hard and you have to crash on and get stuff done. Again it was a really great piece !
Can't wait to see more !
Thanks,
The Major
SignalPix
08-16-2007, 09:23 PM
Impressive. Clever idea that grabs your attention creatively. Spot on execution. I like the boarders running away from the giant rocker, and then the girl who's like: "It's on." Alot of talent on DVXuser!
Spartacus
08-26-2007, 03:35 AM
Aha, I see. I've never experienced any flickering when using these fluorescent lights. But if I use shutter speeds over 1/120 the colors changes back and forth, is this what i could get rid of by using EB? Thanks by the way!
if you mean the intensity/brightness changes, than yes, this should be the flicker caused by normal ballasts...