first commercial

A

AdamTheGreat

Active member
hey friends, my dad owns a temp agency and wants me to do a local commercial for him. this will be my first and i need some help. he wants a 30 second commercial and he is thinking maybe also a 2 minute comedy thing about the company. for pre production he mainly wants me to find out where i can get the videos shown to get them customers, mainly people just graduating college. right now we are planning to put the videos on youtube, then ads on craigslist and facebook. does anyone else know companies doing internet commercials and where i could put these videos to get hits, and mainly for a local business??? also would it be best to do a 2 minute video and a 30 second commercial, or would i be better off doing a few short commercials? (and if i put the 2 minute video on the internet and nowhere else, would it be okay to have real music we dont own the rights to?)


also what would i have to do to get the 30 second commercial posted on some local channels or public access channels? who would i talk to and how much would it be or anything else i need to know?

and for technical stuff, i am planning on getting this mic
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/204722-REG/Azden_SGM_2X_SGM_2X_Omni_Supercardioid_Mic.html
do you think this would be good to use? i also want something good for filming shorts after the commercial.
and how do you recomend a wheelchair for a dolly? would it roll smoothly on soft carpet you see in offices?

thanks for you help
 
i wouldnt even bother with youtube. nobody actually wants to watch one. youtube is for things people want to watch, not advertising. i suppose you could post the link on craigslist etc but I just dont hold alot of stock in a company that tries to skimp out on real advertising and would avoid working for one like the plague. So a good place might be local tv stations for a 30s spot. As for the 2 minute comedy thing I wouldnt bother using it for advertising. If he's set on a longer form thing have him do it as a company morale thing - funny things from corporate are always good. we did a shoot a while back with all of the execs at a poker table bidding employees in the game and all sort of things. It was great and really made fun of the execs - went over great at a company wide meeting. OR, put all your time into several 30s spots so there is some variety. I hate seeing the same commercial over and over again, but dont mind if its just a different version.

As for the music - no! Its never never never ok to use music that you dont own the rights to. I dont know why people think it is ok but yes the copyright law still applies even on the internet. Would you get caught? Doubt it. Will you be stealing? Yes. Get a stock track if you need music or find some indie band that is willing to give it away for exposure. Look up free music on here and some good tips will come up. Not good to be benefiting from someone else's hard earned notoriety. Thats like stealing their years of work away - did I mention it was stealing?

Public acces - umm you would talk to the public access channel... they could charge anywhere from nothing to alot. Just depends. Also remember that your target audience will be watching MTV while they air. Dont waste your time/money showing them to people that arent your target.

I'm not horribly familiar with the Azden but have only heard they are crappy mics. For close to that price you could snatch up a Rode NTG-1 if you really want a shotgun. I suggest reading the stickies in the audio forums. There are a few so take your time and read them a few times. I still read them over and over again and always seem to learn something new. If you are doing more indoor work you might want to consider the oktava. and nothing is better for good audio than placing the mic close to the talent. Like a foot or two away close. A boom pole is always a nice thing to have.

the wheel chair dolly will probably work - look at building your own too. They're relatively cheap to build and would be more versatile than the wheel chair.

Sorry if this comes off harsh - just lots of resources here, go do some searching and browsing and you'll learn lots.
 
thanks for a helpful reply, i think i may go with the rode ntg-1 now, it sounds like a good cheap mic.

anyone else have any ideas where you can put a commercial online, similar to craiglist and facebook?
 
You might also want to check with your local newspaper's online edition. Out here the L.A. Daily News is running commercials for local businesses and they are getting a lot of action. We have had a couple requests for new commercials for them.
 
Just call the tv stations you want to broadcast on...or the local cable provider. They all have sales departments.

Most major colleges have tv and radio stations.

Also, most colleges have placement departments, bulletin boards, et al for you to put collateral with your url.
 
Many movie theaters are now offering space to run local commercials before the previews and the feature.

Worth a look and your final product makes the big screen!
 
I'd say contact all of your local Universities/TAFEs directly, and not just for graduates, temp work is good for current students as well. The universities have all sorts of support systems to help students find work and temp stuff seems to work for a lot of the people I go to uni with.
 
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