Spec Spots

D

discover

Member
Hey thanks for reading this... much appreciated.

I want to shoot some spec spots for my reel, and had a few questions:

- How important is a matte box? Can i get away with using black wrap?

-When exactly is a matte box, mini-adapter absolutly necessary?

-24p for the film look, sure, but is there anything more I can do (aside lighting) while shooting to give it that big-budget Madison Ave 35mm feel...

-are the battery ads that pop up on this site any good? have experience with them?
 
man.... a few months ago, i had the same questions. i say just spend a few hours, if not days, reading through these forums. you'll learn a LOT more by doing that, as opposed to asking questions as they come up in your head...

GOOD LUCK! :)
 
Not sure what you mean by 'fake.'

If you're asking are the specs for broadcast? No. But it will be a campaign for a real product. I'm shooting a few to build my reel.

Why do you ask?
 
Spec spots are great for a reel when starting out. A friend of mine had a reel of really great looking spots, for American Express, Coke, and other national campaign type spots that were as good or better than the ones getting aired. Much more impressive than local car dealership or furniture store spots that people end up doing when they start out. When people ask for my reel, many times I'll just show them Essence of The Force, which is just a big, long spec spot. Adcritic.com used to post spec spots, which were fun to watch.
 
not to "date" myself .. but back in my day speculation spots were usually done for a product that one would send off to ad agency or the company ( say COKE) to try to either sell them your idea or get them to buy it ( maybe they would air it or remake it with some slight modifications) .. could be a generic type spot ( many products would fit ) so bottom line was produce a spot and attempt to sell it ..

FAKE spot - is you make a spot that has COKE type product and you just put it on your reel. you do not show coke or their ad agency .. only produced for your reel ... you do NOT attempt to sell/market the idea

why do i ask ? just wondering if persons today are having any success on spec spot( selling em ) or are they just for their reel and do they really work ?
i've seen more directors get hired by commercial production companies because of short films they made vs. spec spots... spec/fake spots always work for DP's.
IMO spec/fake spots have to be knock outs ( for director) - ok to good is NOT good enough. now this is IMO after from years in Hi end commercials..
 
Thanks everybody for the heads up. You nailed it, I'm realitvely new... looking to build my reel, right now have a short I did, planning on a few more- <5 min pieces, short sweeties. PA'd for years, camera grip art, etc. now looking to make it on my own step by step. I'm not planning on submiting these specs to the ad agency or manufac'tr. Just want an array, of which I can handle at this point, to show versatility

Great forum. Thanks again.
 
Who is the audience for your reel? What is the job you are going after?

If you are trying to get full-production jobs, I suggest you do some free work for local NPO's. This also can get you some good contacts.
 
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