Zoidoid's Adfest Entry

DannyDarko said:
Also, just because I'm a curious sort, how were you allowed to post BTS footage and stills of your product before the entry came out? Everybody else tended to post rather cryptic images of what their product might be, but you clearly show the device on the main update thread.
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Thank you for the compliments! As far as the BTS shots go, I don't think that they even gave the slightest hint about what the product actually was. I was careful to change all the text on the footage so that it revealed nothing. From the shots I showed, Kinetica could be any generic electronic device. I doubt anyone would have guessed "portal-opening remote control." Plus, I think the real product here was the portal itself. If there were complaints, I would gladly have taken the stills/footage down.

Blaine said:
I thought you did a good job on this. Definitely one of the better ones. And I agree that the use of the balloon sold it.
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Thank you, Blaine! I tried to make sure that there was some sort of a payoff for watching. Seeing as though this was my second attempt at filming something, I knew that a lot of people (*coughs* Dougspice! *coughs*) would beat the crap out of me in production value and quality of images. So I wanted to make something conceptually engaging.

TowerFan said:
Can't say I have any serious crits other than the roto of the thumb over the pad. I did some roto on ours as well and it's not easy. Very minor, but I just think the seperation is a bit sharp.

Excellent work Zoidoid. You got one of my votes. Thanks for sharing.
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Yours was one of my favorites too! I tend to lean towards cool ideas above all else. But then again, I would, wouldn't I? Also, you're not the first to comment on the sharpness of the roto -- definitely a mistake I won't make again.

tommyinla said:
Great job on this. In the beginning, I was thinking... OK, what the hell's with the balloon?? Which is a GOOD thing because the viewer will pay attention to the rest of the ad to figure out what's going on. And the shot of the guy grinning at the end was a great touch. :)
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Danke! Glad to hear that was your reaction, because I really wanted the whole thing to be set up in a sort of question/answer fashion. Even in little ways like "Ah. A shot of shoes -- Who do they belong to? Now he's removing something from his coat -- What is it?" Etc.

Loved your bit in Cinealma's short, by the way! I thought it was definitely some of the funnier stuff in Adfest :)
 
I was looking for more serious commericils. Teleporting loses me.
Looked nice, liked the bridge in the background. Decent VFX.
Not something I can visualize as being a commercial.
 
Zoidoid said:
As far as the BTS shots go, I don't think that they even gave the slightest hint about what the product actually was. I was careful to change all the text on the footage so that it revealed nothing. From the shots I showed, Kinetica could be any generic electronic device. I doubt anyone would have guessed "portal-opening remote control." Plus, I think the real product here was the portal itself. If there were complaints, I would gladly have taken the stills/footage down.
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I looked back and read the rules:
Films may only be promoted on DVXuser.com before screening and no actual footage from films may be screened prior to the DVXuser screening...

It seems like an unfair advantage to have been the only one who got to show footage from their commercial. Maybe I'm the only person who thinks so though, in which case, I guess it worked out just fine.
 
I apologize for crowding this thread up with more discussion about the rules (especially so late in the fest), but I don't want to cause any unwarranted concern. I was operating under the following statment:

"Filmmakers may not reveal what the logo/brand represents in their commercial before the spots are screened. This applies to frame grabs, BTS stills or footage, and posted messages. Filmmakers may post any of the above as long as it doesn't violate this rule."

So I did. I posted behind-the-scenes footage that didn't violate the specified rule. The sequence I posted was a work-in-progress showcasing an intended effect. Before the film was finished, that entire sequence was re-done from scratch. It turned out to be similar, but if you'll look closely, the job is different. Not to mention that I specifically changed the graphics to make sure nothing was given away. I assume this is fair under the stated rules for promotion. If you'd like to further discuss this, perhaps you'd be willing to do so in private or with Larry and Barry? I'd rather this thread not become a technical dispute -- but instead keep it to feedback about the film. Cheers!
 
Two points here from AdFest Central :). First off--I think Zoidoid followed the rules as they were intended. Second, the main point of not revealing the product was to give us all the pleasure of seeing the angles and products for the first time when all the films screened. So the intent of the rule was more for the overall enjoyment of the reveals rather to prevent any competitive advantage. I also don't see anything that Zoidoid posted as giving him any unfair advantage. I realize that everyone may not interpret the rules exactly the same, but I think the fest is pretty fair.
 
This was a magnificent commerical. I really liked this one. The balloon really pushed me over the edge. I thought the voice over was great too.

Very cool!
 
I think the VO was PERFECT as it had that future sounding effect (if that makes any sense at all). Very calming & refined.

As for the balloon, someone asked, but I didn't see the answer ... was that a referse shot (i.e. the ballon is pulled out of frame? I didn't think so, as it didn't look like the string was tight, but I wasn't really looking for that. What I did notice (only when frame advancing) was that the actor slightly shifts his eyes to his left (our right) for a brief moment, like he's seeing someone's command/signal to close his fingers on the string. If that's the case, I'd imagine that shot had to be taken several times, lol, for potential misses, etc.

I think everything in this was simply amazing. I love it. I also think there's a really killer story line that could be pulled from this for a feature film! Would LOVE to be able to write a feature script from this, or have one written & then make it!

Lastly, what camera/set-up did you use to film it? I noticed the final was delivered in 29.97 interlaced, so I'm guessing not a 24P camera?
 
You guys have been very generous in your compliments. Greatly appreciated -- it's very encouraging!


Aaron Marshall said:
This was a magnificent commerical. I really liked this one. The balloon really pushed me over the edge. I thought the voice over was great too.

Very cool!
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Thanks, it's fun to hear compliments about the voice-over because it was the last thing that went into the commercial (close to the deadline) and I distinctly remember thinking that it was disasterously bad!

Christopher Barry said:
You have one of my votes. I would like to see the Kinetica logo a little longer.
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I agree with you! I wanted it to last longer myself. Unfortunately, the dolly shot through the portal ended up lasting much longer than I originally thought it would. After I tightened things up a bit, I was still about a second over and decided to take it out of the logo.

Norm Sanders said:
As for the balloon, someone asked, but I didn't see the answer ... was that a referse shot (i.e. the ballon is pulled out of frame? I didn't think so, as it didn't look like the string was tight, but I wasn't really looking for that. What I did notice (only when frame advancing) was that the actor slightly shifts his eyes to his left (our right) for a brief moment, like he's seeing someone's command/signal to close his fingers on the string. If that's the case, I'd imagine that shot had to be taken several times, lol, for potential misses, etc.
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Actually yeah! It was shot in reverse. The problem here is that the day was EXTREMELY windy. In the first shot with the balloon, you can see that it's being blown all over the place. So this shot ended up being a little bit of a nightmare that required a lot of tweaking in post to make it acceptable. Basically, we just straightened a clothes hanger, wrapped the ribbon around it, and dropped it off the side of the building. The problems where (1) it dropped WAY too fast (2) it hit his hand on the way down and (3) it looked too "stiff" and rigid after being caught. But I was able to massage some of these problems in After Effects.

I think everything in this was simply amazing. I love it. I also think there's a really killer story line that could be pulled from this for a feature film! Would LOVE to be able to write a feature script from this, or have one written & then make it!
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It's lovely to hear that! Thanks very much. Actually, the whole "portal" idea had been kicking around my head for a while as a short film -- well before I had ever picked up a camera. However, being massively inexperienced (this is my second attempt at putting together a piece of film), I didn't want to try something too ambitious from the start.


Lastly, what camera/set-up did you use to film it? I noticed the final was delivered in 29.97 interlaced, so I'm guessing not a 24P camera?
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Yeah, this is another lack-of-experience thing again. I wasn't really sure the best way of creating a 24p film when working between Premier and After Effects. So rather than screw with the frame rates at the last minute (having done no research) and mucking things up, I just went with the default. It was shot on a Sony HDR-HC1. The whole "interlaced" issue is a bit elusive. I mean, each individual frame looks de-interlaced to me (I'm thinking this was somehow done by accident when I processed each shot in AE). But when I finally exported it and then compressed it with MeGui, it got encoded as interlaced. I really need to look into this whole workflow issue before working on anything else.
 
Without understanding the NLE you cut on (I cut with Sony's Vegas), that portal issue could easily have been shortened (the dolly shot), by simply adding a velocity envelope and/or speeding up the footage some. I'm guessing you could have sped it up as much as 15-20% without too much noticeable difference, and or REALLY cranked it up for a second or so, then SLAMMING to slower motion. That way, you're exageratting the effect, but stylizing it so it still looks cool & saves some time as well (i.e. a second).
 
Norm -- Yeah, you know, you might be right about that! I had briefly considered speeding it up, but then I quickly thought "I can't really do that because the guy on the other side of the portal would be walking too quickly and it would look silly." But then you mentioned doing it in a sort of stylized fashion and that may have worked if handled properly. One of the disadvantages of working alone is the lack of input and discussion. I need to learn to experiment more and not just stick to the "original idea."
 
Hindsight; it's always 20/20. You'll forever learn what you could have done differently, wished you had, and then apply it to the next project.

That's one of the coolest things about all of this ... continually improving.
 
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