Commercial I DP'ed for Canon

There is a lot I like in the spot. But also some things I dislike.

One of those is the use of a wide focal length so close to the man's face.


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JPNola said:
There is a lot I like in the spot. But also some things I dislike.

One of those is the use of a wide focal length so close to the man's face.


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Can you speculate why this was done?
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Producer trying to talk the director out of the shot at the end of the long day (and not wanting to dip into overtime). Me, whispering that we need the shot. Given 'Go ahead' if we can grab it 'now'. Trying to frame out every stand on the planet on the very edges of the shot... Just saying. The magic of filmmaking. Ha!
 
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JPNola said:
There is a lot I like in the spot. But also some things I dislike.

One of those is the use of a wide focal length so close to the man's face.


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Unless it's supposed to be like that, as in it's supposed to convey 'funny and goofy', which in the context of this ad, seems like it could have been on purpose.

But generally, I agree with you. There is a series of local bank ads here that is an infinite white background with bank employees or management by themselves talking to camera(viewer). Looks like they shot it RIGHT ON TOP OF THEM. So close that the camera actually interferes with the lighting on the subject. The framing is very similar to the frame grab, except the subjects are centered, you may see a little more shoulder and the camera is shooting down on them from slightly above eye level. And they are serious/straight-up ads. I'm actually amazed every time that I see one of them run that the client liked and approved the final product. Even if you don't know anything about TV or photography in general, you know that it doesn't look right/looks uncomfortable. If the subjects are real employees/management and not actors, they should be pissed at the way they were made to look. Especially the woman that is in one of them.
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
Can you speculate why this was done?
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2
1...
Producer trying to talk the director out of the shot at the end of the long day (and not wanting to dip into overtime). Me, whispering that we need the shot. Given 'Go ahead' if we can grab it 'now'. Trying to frame out every stand on the planet on the very edges of the shot... Just saying. The magic of filmmaking. Ha!
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I tighter lens from further away with the same framing would have made it easier to frame out stands...
 
Colors were good, especially fleshtones, and this was on a cheapo monitor. Haven't watched it on my good monitor yet.

And at the end of the day, a professional got paid to do a job, and not some kid with any camera that said "I can do that", and does a half-way job on it giving us all a bad name. Way too many people taking jobs for half price and doing a half-way job of it giving us all bad names.

In this case, the script was probably only part way important. That fact that they can claim "Shot on Canon" is half of their selling point. Look how good our cameras look, both still and motion cameras. Throwing in consumer uses just sweetens the deal.
 
I agree that the wide shot up close makes the guys nose protrude into the viewer because of the not being at a higher focal length (say 85mm to flatten things). And I also agree that framing out stands should have been easier at a higher focal length. However I actually think the shot works for the direction / concept as you are trying to engage the viewer to peer inside the mans head to set you up for the flashback scenes that follow. It really ties the flashback scenes to his humorous face and the multiple humerus scenarios of him taking all the photos. The slight push in is also nice for the concept. Overall I think its a great video.
 
sleekmedia said:
I agree that the wide shot up close makes the guys nose protrude into the viewer because of the not being at a higher focal length (say 85mm to flatten things). And I also agree that framing out stands should have been easier at a higher focal length. However I actually think the shot works for the direction / concept as you are trying to engage the viewer to peer inside the mans head to set you up for the flashback scenes that follow. It really ties the flashback scenes to his humorous face and the multiple humerus scenarios of him taking all the photos. The slight push in is also nice for the concept. Overall I think its a great video.
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Incidentally it's not the lens that bothers me - actually i think the lens is perfect for the humor. Something less wide would bother me tremendously. What does bother me is that there wasn't time to do anything interesting than run-of-the mill 3-point lighting.
 
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