Local Cable Commercial (Thought I should post something)

gonzo_entertainment

gonzo_entertainment

Veteran
My only HDSLR film (earlier films shot on HVX200) is still in it's festival run, so can't put it on the internet yet, so here is a cable commercial I shot for a local bar.
The owner is an old friend, so I shot this with a budget of $150 in one day. No budget for my editor, my DP, or my post graphics guy, so this was all me, the 5D and a 3 light Arri kit. Plenty of issues, but overall pretty happy with it.

 
Honest feedback:

You did one thing consistently right: casting.
 
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Shots were clean, which is good.

One thing that bothers me about most local-market spots is that the audio mix is always a weak spot. The music track used behind the bar shots was pretty high-energy, yet the music itself wasn't high-energy in its placement in the mix (and the VO was a little weak in that sense as well). It's clear that you've used FX to enhance the sound, which is a step ahead of the game in local markets, but the overall mix just didn't come together. Of course, the solution in an ideal world is a true workup in audio post. In a low-budget situation like this, that may not be possible, but keeping an eye (ear, rather) on the mix to make sure that the music isn't almost lost in the background is a starting point.

What kind of environment are you trying to evoke about the bar? Is it a hoppin' place where folks can go for a fun evening? Or is it a mellow place where folks can come and kick back with a beer and chill with friends and strangers? Again with the music for the bar shots, it seemed to say the former, but the lock-down shots of the bar (lack of camera movement) and slow editing pace seem to say the latter. That's an identity crisis that confused me.
 
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The audio is actually all post. There's no live audio in it at all. The sounds of the bar, the foley on the beer pour, the song the band is playing, etc... all done in post. My audio guy was the one other person who put in work on this, should have mentioned him. He has no experience with commercials, so may have just been been choices made from inexperience as far as the relative levels goes. Though I'm reasonable satisfied with it. For a freebie, the number of hours he (and I) were willing to put in on it was limited.

I would have liked to have a dolly or slider, but I don't own one and no budget to rent.
I'd say in general it represents my "style" though. I'm certainly not opposed to camera movement, make quite a bit of use of dolly/slider in my films, but for the most part I'm a well framed static shot kind of guy. With more time for more coverage I probably would have picked up the editing pace a little with more coverage, but wasn't an option.

I tried to get in the "commercial" mindset, but that only goes so far. The way I shoot, and what I like are what they are.

Thanks for watching guys.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
The audio is actually all post. There's no live audio in it at all. The sounds of the bar, the foley on the beer pour, the song the band is playing, etc... all done in post. My audio guy was the one other person who put in work on this, should have mentioned him. He has no experience with commercials, so may have just been been choices made from inexperience as far as the relative levels goes. Though I'm reasonable satisfied with it. For a freebie, the number of hours he (and I) were willing to put in on it was limited.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was talking about post-production audio in terms of sweetening and mix, not the actual sounds used (which were mostly well done... again it was really the mix that was weak). This is a process that uses mix automation, compression, EQ, and limiting to weave all the sounds together into something solid. Instead, the sound here is a whole bunch of different parts that stick out individually.

By the way, "Foley" is always captialized.

gonzo_entertainment said:
I would have liked to have a dolly or slider, but I don't own one and no budget to rent.
I'd say in general it represents my "style" though. I'm certainly not opposed to camera movement, make quite a bit of use of dolly/slider in my films, but for the most part I'm a well framed static shot kind of guy. With more time for more coverage I probably would have picked up the editing pace a little with more coverage, but wasn't an option.
Click to expand...

Pans and tilts work, too. Even hand-held (shoulder rig) can be the right kind of camera movement. There's only so much energy that can be conveyed through static shots.
 
True enough, NOT an operator, so when I'm pressed into service running the camera I tend to keep it locked down rather than do a poorly executed pan/tilt/follow.

i'd agree he (audio) probably didn't put enough into it. As we neared the end of the road on this thing I think a little bit of "screw it, this is already 10X what he paid for" started to creep in, even if you try not to let it.
 
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