F3: Chanel 'Timeless' spec commercial

H

Harry Lime

Well-known member
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Beyond the tech aspects and lenses and color space... as to the spot itself: Loved it. Very, very nicely done.
 
Thank you. A good story was very important for this one. It coulnd't just look pretty.

Still a lot of life left in that F3...
 
It makes me happy that I am still shooting with my F3 ... but I could NEVER do anything approaching the quality of this piece, it is amazing and classy, and perfect.
 
Very much elegant.

Curious to know what the next course of action is regarding the spec. I'm somewhat in the same "boat" as you, creating spec spots (made one recently for Gillette). Want to know what kind of steps other directors take. This one is an interesting approach because you aren't taking the :30 sec spot template, but a full blown campaign!
 
Grug said:
Lovely stuff Feli, even the edit has a nice 'period' vibe to it. Well done.
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Thank you. You are one of the few people to comment on the 'period' editing. I tried to cut and frame it like an old 30's / 40's movie. Closeups (which also hides the cheap sets) and lock offs. Something of a 'simplistic' approach to the grammar of editing that by todays standards appears little clumsy. Also longer takes like in the birthday scene. Makes it look a little like a home movie but also gives the actors time to, well act. I couldn't afford to shoot in a real park, so we built the cafe set in my friends backyard. It ended up being laid out like an old 1930 stage set that you could only shoot from about 3 angles and looks a little stilted. That's real obvious in the establishing shot. But I think it worked in our favor, because it just added to the period feel.

Aymeric lit that scene with old fashioned 4x4 reflectors and velum frames for diffusion. We had a sun position apps for the iPhone that proved to be a lifesaver. There were a few large trees off screen and we were able to time the shoot to hit the moments when he sun was in the clear. The 13.5 stop range on the F3 really came in to its own in these scenes holding detail all the way from the whites in to the shadows beneath the trees and foilage. That went a long way in helping the footage to not look digital
 
ssvet said:
Very much elegant.

Curious to know what the next course of action is regarding the spec. I'm somewhat in the same "boat" as you, creating spec spots (made one recently for Gillette). Want to know what kind of steps other directors take. This one is an interesting approach because you aren't taking the :30 sec spot template, but a full blown campaign!
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Most directors that I know made 30 sec spec spots, a PSA or music videos. And then showed it to or knew the right person.
Some people like Joseph Kosinski made a few very ambitious 60's.
Others come in through post production / visual effects. They worked in the commercials division of a post house, became a VFX or Flame artist and eventually moved in to directing.

I have no idea if a long format spot like this is the right answer. That area is growing because of the internet, so we'll have to see. I'm just banging on doors and emailing everyone I know to see if someone lets me in.
 
It looks great. I think the F3 in 444 looks to have more tonal range or something than the FS7. I have not tried RAW with the FS7 yet but so far F3 444 seems to look nicer most times. I don't know what it is. Glad I didn't sell the old and obsolete (LOL) F3.
 
Sttratos said:
It looks great. I think the F3 in 444 looks to have more tonal range or something than the FS7. I have not tried RAW with the FS7 yet but so far F3 444 seems to look nicer most times. I don't know what it is. Glad I didn't sell the old and obsolete (LOL) F3.
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I'll say this much, HD is a lot more actor friendly than 4k...
 
Nicely done, very pretty look as well and a good story line. Wondering why you opted to not do any nat audio or added any foley effects, not criticizing just wondering on the thought process.
 
biffmitchmalibu said:
Nicely done, very pretty look as well and a good story line. Wondering why you opted to not do any nat audio or added any foley effects, not criticizing just wondering on the thought process.
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I wanted a Technicolor silent movie.
:-)

Thank you.

No doalog or foley also seemed to work better with such a short piece and focused the attention of the audience. Foley under straight music can also be a little odd.
 
Harry Lime said:
I wanted a Technicolor silent movie.
:-)

Thank you.

No doalog or foley also seemed to work better with such a short piece and focused the attention of the audience. Foley under straight music can also be a little odd.
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Great job on this! We've started doing exclusively silent features and also had to figure out the foley/ no foley thing. For us, no foley works best, we also try to have the actors "talking" as little as possible. Our next project is a 1 1/2 hour dialogue free love story, "Providence" that opens almost exactly like this, with close ups of a woman getting ready, except she is getting ready for her wedding.
 
Sttratos said:
It looks great. I think the F3 in 444 looks to have more tonal range or something than the FS7. I have not tried RAW with the FS7 yet but so far F3 444 seems to look nicer most times. I don't know what it is. Glad I didn't sell the old and obsolete (LOL) F3.
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i think is well done from an artistic perspective and yeah, 444 is technically better than 422. However, this reminds me more of what I was getting with S-Log 2 on my FS700 + 7Q, almost too clean, and a bit more sterile.

This is very subjective of course, but for myself at least, Sony really improved the look with the FS7 / F5 and just made it less "Sony" looking IMO and more organic. Some might like the old and some the new, but there is a change in the look for sure.

But once again, very nice work.
 
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Harry, I think it was a wonderful piece in very way and was just wondering about your experiences with 4K being less "actor friendly" than 2K and what solutions you've found.
 
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