RED+5DMKii+RC Camera Truck = Jada Toys Commercial

T

TATmedia

Member
I recently had the opportunity to work on a commercial shoot with Circle R Media (formerly Radio Shack) for "Jada Toys Battle Machines". I was lucky enough to have a friend who does some Rc Stunt driving. I was asked to help build a "Camera Car" to use in rc/toy shoots. Our car was revolutionary to the production company. We customized a Traxxas Emaxx to the Tilt!!! New suspension, fluids, chassis, etc. The truck was designed to mount a DSLR and has a monitor on the back to get focus. The 1st AC fitted a Remote Focus to the truck and we were on our way. The "Rat Cam" (as I named it) was able to get action shots right up close to the action without having to move the huge RED around the floor. It was funny that the D.P. was looking at us as if we were fools playing with a child's toy, until we saw the commercial, most of it was our footage!!!! Every shot where the car is shot from the side view, and other moving shots were done by us, on the "Rat Cam". The Director just said "Let the Rat Cam Guys give it a go" and we did our thing. I got to drive the toy cars, as well as drive the "Rat" so I helped make a $1 Million Commercial with a $300 Rc Car and a $2500 Camera. I'll get better pics of the "Rat Cam" later.
2010-06-30205737-1.jpg


[/URL]
 
Last edited:
$1million, really...? Footage looks good though, I'm always a fan of simple solutions to problems like this, good stuff
 
That is a really cool rig. I would love to make something like this for my t2i. How did you get video to whoever was pulling focus? did you use something like the taradek cube? Was the footage sped up or slowed down in post?

I bet it was super important to have a very smooth floor and smooth tires

Great little toy you have there my friend.
 
treynolds said:
That is a really cool rig. I would love to make something like this for my t2i. How did you get video to whoever was pulling focus? did you use something like the taradek cube? Was the footage sped up or slowed down in post?

I bet it was super important to have a very smooth floor and smooth tires

Great little toy you have there my friend.
Click to expand...
It was sort of freaky how the shots come out right. We took turns just setting focus and driving around the set. We had the remote focus, but we mainly did things freestyle. I don't know what was done to the vid in post, I just know that we shot every in motion shot from the side, and most of the following/pulling scenes. The red did everything else, and we thought that they wouldn't really use our shots, but they used them mainly. The shots from the RED looked amazing.
 
The rig is awesome. I've got some R/C work coming up - we should talk. Definitely gets some pretty awesome footage that would take a lot longer, if not impossible, to get with a Red and a skater dolly.

Working in the toy industry myself, however, I can guarantee that this is not a million dollar production. Not even close. A slight maybe if that includes the agency's creative fee (if there even was a separate agency) and the media buy? Though the media for a toy like this is rarely that high.

Either way, cool rig.
 
Yeah, thats the price that I was told, but I did see the budget sheet(the director left it at the shop by accident), and it was tremendous. There were about 45 crew members, lots of actors who were there, and a ton of gear. It looked more like they were shooting a movie or something. They had a full sized grip truck, generator truck, and lots of crap going on. I was kinda shocked at things really work for a 30 sec commercial. It was funny, because the DP had just rented a brand new $6k skater dolly for his RED, and they only used 1 shot from it. The Japanese guys from Jada Toys were there watching very, very closely. and yeah, let me know if you need any rc assistance, I know all there is about rc pretty much. I fly rc Stunt Helicopters (42 Volt, 6hp beasts). I even built my own remote focus puller with rc parts.
 
Last edited:
Commercials like these have definitely not changed since the 80s. Haha. The style is like a raving mad kid angrily chewing into raw meat. It's great. Shots are great. Never underestimate your work. I have a friend who wants to try to rig something like this up. I'll have to show him this commercial.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top