BlockBuster Video Promo

taubkin

taubkin

Veteran
So what happens when Blockbuster video marketing dept. wants a new promo video to playback in every brazilian store? They call a production company and find their prices to be too expensive. Oh, gosh, they don't have enough money? What do they do now?

For some reason, every time there is a question of not enough money, I seem to get called in. This is not very good for my plans with my new HVX, but I grant it could be worse...

The briefing for this was an actor/host saying his lines in a Blockbuster store, telling about promotions and such and animation crawling in with specifics. Two-night shoot, crew of two (me + AD/Boom op. ), total rental expenses around 100 dollars. Crazy as hell since I had to block, direct, frame, pull dolly, follow focus, light, move the lights move the dolly, setup camera adjust audio levels, whoa, the whole shabang! Two nights seem to be a really short ammount of time, when there is no one to actually help you out.

What follows are the best setups I could find in that time. Nothing perfect overall, some good, some average, and some with a really bad choice of background color, but I don't think it's too shabby at all.

The coolest part was using two caselights for the main lighting along with the lights I already have. I fell in love with those and certainly recomend to anyone willing to shed the cash. Incredibly compact and well desinged, powerful (for fluo's that is), and beautiful nature of the beam. I want those! - But the HVX is more important for now, so maybe afterwards...

Without further ado...

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Looks cool!

Got any footage, even though we wouldn't understand what the hell is going on?
 
They look cool, especially for a one man band act (been there, done that, got the coffee mug to prove it!).

Good work.
 
In the second is an added grad filter (because it was looking too dull) i still have to adjust it. In the rest it's the shape of the overead fixtures splash in the wall. Looks cool doesn't it? Lucky me to be able to spot it in site!
 
taubkin said:
For some reason, every time there is a question of not enough money, I seem to get called in. This is not very good for my plans with my new HVX, but I grant it could be worse...
Click to expand...
At least you get called hehehe...
I know many don´t like to speak about money, put maybe you can give a hint about how much you got payed...?
Sth like: I can finally buy a new G5 now or they paid me like an ENG team...
And post the final clip!
 
Seems like a strange wardrobe choice, putting him (with a rather dark complexion) in olive drab. Everything in the background has so many crazy colors, I didn't really think he stood out enough. I guess the products are what you wanted us to see anyway, but I constantly found my eye flying to the highlights in the background (sometimes not even the products themselves). Maybe just his lighting could have been kicked up? My favorite grab is the balloon shot. That one looked really well balanced and the wardrobe looked like it made sense.

Also, it looks like you used tungsten corrected flo's on his face? Looks maybe a little too warm sometimes with the cool ceiling flo's lighting the background.

Don't get me wrong, they look good and it sounds like it was pretty daunting with all your responsibilities. Take my suggestions as topics for discussion. I'd like to see how the video looks running.:thumbsup:
-Ryan
 
All good points.

The wardrobe option wasn't actually an option, I was waiting for someone to notice it.. ;)
All we had was the olive, white and a very very very light gray. I had to use the olive.

Believe me when I say I wanted to better balance the lighting (him+background), but I didn't have enough power to make it work for the wider shots, that's why there is certainly a better balance in the closed up shots. On the other hand, I couldn't close too much or we wouldn't see the store...

Crazy colors is a good choice of words. It was damn crazy, and that beige, all over the place!

The flo's were half/half, because the store used half/half overheads. His skin tones are looking a little yellowish in my screen, but in the video they look good. I bumped the saturation a little, so that's why he might look a little too orange.

The shots are looking a little better in motion, The three last shots have the camera moving wich helps a lot in showing more depth. Once I get this thing edited I'll post a short clip...
 
As someone who works in the industry the only part I find troublesome in the least is the fact that "Blockbuster did not have enough money..." I understand you were dealing with a specific marketing dept ect, but how much could the other companies have been charging in the grand scheme of things? Blockbuster is the largest video rental chain.

Now the plus side was you got the spot, but I hope you did not do it for to little. If there is one thing I have learned even if it is descent money there is such a thing as "to little". The funny thing is you may actually be passed up by larger potential clients for not charging more. People expect that if it costs more it is better, which is of course not always true. My boss learned this lesson early on and passed it along to me. He started his company initially as more of an editor and was editing almost 7 days a week. He was just burnt out, and had more work then he new what to do with at $60 an hour to edit. He really just wanted to cut back his work load so he decided to do somehting a bit extreme... he began charging $250 an hour. Guess what happened... He had even MORE work! He had to keep turning jobs down but he used that to build his company.

No one has discussed money so I hope you got paid well for this, and I am by no means trying to bash or lecture you... just food for thought. You have some good work, make sure you are compensated for it. I look forward to seeing the finished spot.
-Tizzy
 
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