Suggestions Please! Shooting 1st T.V. Commercial...

S

super spy y

Member
My friend has produced an indie hip hop album, and has asked me to shoot the promo commercial to be aired on local ad time for MTV and VH1. This is my first time shooting something to be broadcast on TV, and I only have two days to prep. I have a DVX 100B and Final Cut Pro on a Mac Powerbook G4 as my tools. Need help/suggestions on whether to shoot 60i, 24P, or 24PA as far as having good quality for television broadcasting and for a quick editing job. Any tips on camera/editing settings, past experiences, necessary formats for TV, etc., is greatly appreciated. I am also combing through previous threads as well as Barry Green's book, and would appreciate direction to certain pages that would be useful. Thanks DVXUSER Community!
 
You're really asking too many questions and there are too many variables
all i can say is use search intensly! Ita ALL there!
as a starter, shooting 1/250 will give you the trendy MTV look
 
Indie hip hop album? What is the content of the promo going to be? None of your questions can be answered without this information. I personally would shoot in 30p to give you more options for slow-mo. The only reason to shoot in 60i IMO is if you are going for a gritty news/documentary style, or if you are going to turn the interlaced nasty footage into 60p progressive for super slow-mo footage. Also you might want to put some tape over the lcd and shoot 16x9. You shoot normal 4x3 SD mode and crop it in post and this will give you extra room to move the 16x9 footage up or down with the extra lines of resolution. The tape is only for composing the shots.

Tell us what the content is so we can help you. Where, what, when, how are you shooting???

-Kevin
 
I would suggest shooting it in 30p. That will eliminate just about any strobing that you would get with 24p and a lot of movement. it will make it easier over all. Make sure that when you output that you check all broadcast safe colors. You can do that by applying broadcast safe effect. It should be applied last after you have done any other filters. You can check the output just by turning your luma and chroma on in FCP. And if you didn't know already if you are doing final output that you stay with in broadcast sound levels.
 
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. The only details I've been given about the shoot is that it is outdoors, late afternoon, with the setting being a BBQ in someone's back yard. Everything is hand-held and on the fly. Of course, lighting will become a concern. Question: maverickstunts wrote:
maverickstunts said:
And if you didn't know already if you are doing final output that you stay with in broadcast sound levels.
Click to expand...
By "broadcast sound levels", do you mean staying within the normal levels shown on my LCD, or is there a different guage of peaking when producing something like this for television broadcast?
 
No, normally broadcast standards are -12db with commercials and so forth coming in at -9 or -10. That is why commercials always sound louder. Don't worry about recording it with your camera. The band should supply a sound track of the music at that is what you should use. If you are recording them talking, get yourself a good shotgun or lav mic and just record normally. The other thing you should have is bounce card/and or silks to try and even your light.
 
Super Spy, all I can say is photoflood lights for interiors. The blue ones, and keep the camera moving.

-Nate
 
SuperSpy:

-- Concept
-- Look
-- Pacing

These are some of the important issues you need to resolve before you set foot on the set.

Otherwise, you're doing the equivalent of wandering aimlessly in the desert. You'll be putting in a lot of miles but getting nowhere.

By asking about frame rates you're doing the equivalent of asking what color socks to wear when you need to be asking about your destination instead.
 
Thank you DVXUSERS. All the notes and suggestions are much appreciated. Will delivering a DVD that can be watched on a home DVD player be adequate for the broadcasting station? My friend is clueless about such info., and I haven't been able to find anything in the threads or other sites. If there is a website that answers such questions, I would be grateful for its address.
 
Please don't.

Please don't.

A DVD transfer is barely adequate. As someone who works in commercial production, I beg you to at the very least output it back to mini DV with bars, tone and slate. Beta SP would be better, if that is what your cable station uses to insert spots. Why don't you ask them what format they prefer?

I'm appalled by the amount of local "producers" who submit their commercials on DVD with no bars and tone or slate, and no lead in on the head or tail. Just another saga in the "dumbing down" of our industry.
 
super spy y said:
Thank you DVXUSERS. All the notes and suggestions are much appreciated. Will delivering a DVD that can be watched on a home DVD player be adequate for the broadcasting station? My friend is clueless about such info., and I haven't been able to find anything in the threads or other sites. If there is a website that answers such questions, I would be grateful for its address.
Click to expand...

Get in contact with the broadcaster and find out what their requirements are concerning delivery media. A few might accept a DVD. Some accept Betcam SP or DVCam. Some require Sony HDCam.

Also, you should ask them about their technical requirements, too. Some are a lot pickier than others.

Good luck with the project!
 
Oh yeah, and another thing: You gotta post the spot when it's done, I'm curious to see how this comes out.

Good luck!
 
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