Fake Commercial

[darwinandpaine]

I've been trying to talk one of my clients into spending some more money with me since getting my HVX. So, he offered me a challenge --- "pick a commercial that's currently running, and recreate it with your new camera." He wanted to see if the imagery would be "network quality." Here's what I'll be showing him (btw --- this is all straight out of the camera -- no cc, no audio sweetening, nothing!).

http://15minuteslatermovie.com/OurCommercial.html

[Jared Caldwell]

Great quality! Did you use onboard camera sound? I found the camera a bit too shaky in some spots, but overall, a great "fake commercial". Your client should be happy!

[darwinandpaine]

Thanks. I'm not crazy about the "shaky" camera either. I was just trying to emulate the look of the real thing. The mp4 is only 12fps, so the original looks much smoother. And, yes, on-board sound with an AT4073a.

[Isaac_Brody]

Looks pretty good. Was wondering why the framerate looked so stuttery. Pink in the sink...nice. :)

[Justin_Kirch]

Hey man, looks good. I would try to tweak the sound though (sorta late for that) so it doesn't resonate through the room. Other than that it looked good. Nice job.

[darwinandpaine]

Thanks Justin. I'm going to be doing a few more cuts with other takes, and alternate audio. Also, I didn't play with the audio at all yet --- no compression, eq, soundsoap, nothing. I thought you guys (and gals) might like to hear it straight from the camera, since there haven't been a lot of posts with sound (other than some great music). Also, on these takes, I used everything from the "lower level" audio channel, because I wanted to hear the worst-case-scenario. The other channel was set higher and has much less room reflection.

[coolguy007]

did you do the animations yourself? where did you get them from if not?

[darwinandpaine]

did you do the animations yourself? where did you get them from if not?

Yes, I did everything --- just a little keyframing in FCP.

[Jared Caldwell]

Thanks!

I appreciate the fact that you just gave us the nitty gritty. I have been really worried about how I am going to put my (upcoming) feature together, and this clip kinda helped ease my worry. Thanks a lot for sharing!

[darwinandpaine]

Thanks!

I appreciate the fact that you just gave us the nitty gritty. I have been really worried about how I am going to put my (upcoming) feature together, and this clip kinda helped ease my worry. Thanks a lot for sharing!

Thanks. I just thought it was cool that right out of the camera, this thing looks and sounds so good. I think this camera will rock for features. I'm shooting two this year myself, so this is all just good practice.

I've been amazed that the DVCProHD seems just as responsive in FCP as DV. Render times don't seem that much longer, and the P2 workflow is heaven.

One thing that freaked me out when I was working on this --- this was the first thing I did that had any audio with it, and the two extra tracks of audio kept needing to render (don't know why). At first, I thought there was something wrong with my sequence settings (I didn't realize it was just the audio that needed rendering). So, watch out for that.

[rhandomskate]

i personally think it would be a lot better with a nice white backdrop and some good lighting directed on her... toothpaste commercials and product commercials tend to be brighter and more appealing to get the person to buy the product... darker colors tend to make people feel a little more uncomfortable/tense.... also idk i think the audio sounds too reverberated/echoed... try messing with the bass settings a little more.. idk just my opinion..

[darwinandpaine]

i personally think it would be a lot better with a nice white backdrop and some good lighting directed on her... toothpaste commercials and product commercials tend to be brighter and more appealing to get the person to buy the product... darker colors tend to make people feel a little more uncomfortable/tense....

I agree completely. The actual commercial is much darker and the freeze frames don't go to white --- they actually go a little darker and the woman is blurred. I was just trying to re-create a similar look. As for the lighting, she had 2800 watts on her. I just wanted it to look very natural and soft. The "brightness" could also be a difference in how all of our computer monitors are calibrated.



also idk i think the audio sounds too reverberated/echoed... try messing with the bass settings a little more.. idk just my opinion..

I addressed this above, but don't mind repeating myself. Nothing has been done to the audio yet, and this audio was from the lower of the two channels. I just wanted to give you guys something raw to look at.

[Kholi]

Any Color Correction going on at all in this?

Or is that straight from the camera?

As well, the sound wasn't bad for raw sound. In fact, I'd say it was pretty good for raw sound.

[darwinandpaine]

No Color Correction, no audio sweetening --- nothing. Straight from the camera with the lesser of the two audio channels. This was kinda my point --- to see (and show) what you get right out of the camera.

[Kholi]

Tightness.

Have you tried color correcting? And if so, what issues have you noticed so far when pushing the captured material?

[darwinandpaine]

Tightness.

Have you tried color correcting? And if so, what issues have you noticed so far when pushing the captured material?

Unless I'm going for an extreme look, i always try to get the look I'm going for in-camera. I hated the way DV looked when you ran it through color correction, so I've tried to learn the camera(s) and the settings well enough so I don't have to cc.

[darwinandpaine]

For anyone interested, here's another set of takes. Still no cc, but this time, I did play with the audio.

http://15minuteslatermovie.com/ourcommercial2.html

[Jarred Land]

nice work man.. very good idea.

[darwinandpaine]

nice work man.. very good idea.

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. I can die a happy man now that I've got you're blessing! If i can just get some kudos from Barry and Evin, I can die ecstatic. (Am I the biggest suck-up, or what?)

[Brandon Rice]

Looks good. I'd add a background track of music to it. It would add a lot IMO.

[darwinandpaine]

Looks good. I'd add a background track of music to it. It would add a lot IMO.

Briceman,
I totally agree. Again, I was just trying to re-create the original. Thanks for the input.

[twocik23]

Nice job!

[Bungess]

Cool stuff man.
You're trying to convice your client to go with the HVX to show him it's network/ broadcast quality.
My question is this... Do I need to go HD to make a commercial look good enough to show on TV? I've got a DVX and got hired to shoot a commercial, do I need to rent an HVX? That's the main question, and if you have time, please take a look at these little questions.

if I can use my DVX, I want to shoot progressive, but do I have to worry about the Cable stations wanting 29.97 footage so it'll play correctly in their system? Can I shoot 29p and not worry about problems on their end?

I've got a DVX and have shot tons of everything, but never a commercial that will play on TV. Please, any do's or don't would help a ton.

[darwinandpaine]

Me and my partner have done a bunch of commercials with the DVX. But I wouldn't say that any of them really approached "network" quality (which, to me, means they look like they were shot on 35mm or at least S16). The HVX has some added "HD" features that (IMO) get you there --- more detail, better color space, variable frame rates, etc...

As for your 24p question, the DVX doesn't shoot a true progressive 24p. It shoots 24pa which is 24 over 60. If you want to make it true 24p, you have to strip out the extra frames. In other words, what looks like 24p on the DVX is actually 29.97 with a 3:2:2:3 pulldown (or some variant thereof). That means you'll be fine going to broadcast.