WOW! Cable commercial (1:30) - 100B, Lowel DV 55, Oktava

Rubix³

Rubix³

Well-known member
Here's a commercial a friend and I shot for a WOW! Cable TV/internet/phone competition. It was her and I alone both in front of and behind the camera.

It was shot in three hours and edited in one. I used the Lowel DV creator kit 55 for the lighting (accidentally forgot my gels too). B. Press gamma for that not-so-film 24p look. No color correction. The sound was an Oktava mounted on the camera. Tripod shots were on a Bogen 503 and handhelds were done with a spiderbrace.

The kitchen lighting was a little rushed. I had a tota 750w behind the counter blasting light on the ceiling, and a omni/umbrella for the soft. The family room shot was a pretty basic 3 point setup (omni/umbrella for the key reflected, pro on top).

Let me know if it makes you laugh.
"My Eccentric Husband" (wmv, 1:30)

The top 10 were announced today, we weren't one of them. Here's what we were up against.

Take it easy.:beer:
 
Hey I like the lighting especially of the girl but some of the camera work was pretty crazy and some of the shots looked out of focus, but that aside i liked it the dude was really good and i liked the shot of the man falling off the roof that was awesome.
 
A few critiques:

1. Watch your framing. I saw a lot of unnessecary headroom and shots that weren't framed right. Study other narrative-type commercials for inspiration. Do an internet search on "rule of thirds" .

2. As mentioned, focus issues. I wasn't crazy about the wild zooms either.

3. Eliminate the dissolves and wacky wipes.

4. Exterior shot had a blueish tint. Should have balanced for daylight.

5. I didn't quite understand why he (you?) jumped out the window.

Good job though, I'll have to check out the top ten finalist and see who you were up against.
 
Thanks for the critiques and comments.

You're right, a few of the handheld parts were out of focus. That's my fault for not taking the time to help when I wasn't behind camera. It was just the two of us, but there were moments when I knew I should've taken the time to re-frame/focus the shot before handing the camera over. The last shot of the two of us came out the worst, I'm completely upstaging & leaving dead room.

I put the transitions in there to make it more "bubbly." I hardly ever use those types of transitions (or any at all) so I may have gone a little crazy trying to get a commercial feel.

I noticed the daylight too, and you're right. We shot that part in a hurry and just had to work with what we had. My fault as well.

The part where I jumped out the window was a flashback per the line that follows "Don't worry, - - - there are no satellite dishes involved." In the final version, I chopped that line so the satellite part came directly after the falling off the roof. Only half of my test audience understood that part, so I did chop it in the end. Thanks again for the comments.
 
Rubix³ said:
The part where I jumped out the window was a flashback per the line that follows "Don't worry, - - - there are no satellite dishes involved." In the final version, I chopped that line so the satellite part came directly after the falling off the roof. Only half of my test audience understood that part, so I did chop it in the end. Thanks again for the comments.
Click to expand...

Aha! I get it. It would have been funny if you could have gotten a full shot of someone on the roof trying to install the dish, losing their balance, and falling. Just thinking out loud.

I watched some of the finalists. Nothing too great. One guy had a lot of motion graphics & 3D map of the US, but his audio & lighting weren't so hot.
The singing family was just creepy.
 
Deepfocus88 said:
Aha! I get it. It would have been funny if you could have gotten a full shot of someone on the roof trying to install the dish, losing their balance, and falling. Just thinking out loud.

I watched some of the finalists. Nothing too great. One guy had a lot of motion graphics & 3D map of the US, but his audio & lighting weren't so hot.
The singing family was just creepy.
Click to expand...
I hear ya on the roof part, and we thought of it too but we knew we wouldn't have time. We had to keep the flashes quick. I think it would've been funny too, kinda like Derek in "Bad Taste." A silent roll, roll, roll, followed by a scream during the free fall.

The singing family was extremely creepy. Once we submitted, we knew the serious competition was going to be the families and kids. It didn't bother me that we didn't make it - I understand this type of judging and "audience assumption" - but my partner was furious.
 
Thanks pal, I appreciate the comment.
I can't wait to use my new lighting kit on a larger project. It seems like a wonderful kit for $1,300. I don't have much of a crew (or friends that can make that kind of time - wife/kids) so I'm taking a crash course on pretty much everything. Lighting a scene is really a blast and has turned out to be one of the funnest, most rewarding and most flexible parts of filmmaking. I'm still reading and practicing all the "rules" so I can effectively break them & get unique results. Lighting is just a blast.
 
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