Timeline: Monday night, January 28th. I'm sitting in the parking lot of Norwalk's Crystal Theatre with my three assistants waiting for the band to show up. We're freezing our asses off.
Wait, what's going on? Oh yeah, let me back up: We've officially begun production of the new Boardlord's music video to coincide with the release of their new CD.
Well, the band eventually showed up and we got things started. Getting to film on an actual stage was fantastic. (The Crystal Theatre is one of those old-timey theatres used for plays and such and such) Plenty of room to set up lights and grip. Normally when I shoot, we don't have a lot of room for cameras, lights, c-stands. This was a pleasant change.
As expected, time was not on our side. Before I knew it, it was after midnight. But we got a lot of great footage on our first night of shooting. The Boardlords are a unique bunch with some original ideas, and I think it comes though in the footage.
I can't divulge too much about the video until it is released, but check back for more updates. Thanks to Kris, Rob, Paul and our faithful dolly grip, Doug Freehold for all their help. You guys have some good Karma headed your way. (Uhh...in other words, this is a non-paying gig)
I've begun a rough edit of the footage, and I'm very happy so far. The Canon XH-A1 is nothing short of phenomenal. I shot last night's footage in 24F. I'm still trying to work out an ideal workflow in Final Cut Studio 2. Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes posts, and keep your eyes open for the Boardlord's video debut!
Photos by PDA
What happens when you shoot a video and your client goes MIA? You finish the project anyways! What we have here is the first cut of a video for local rappers Stizzy Frizz and Pete Hickey. (Well, it's a portion we shot three songs total) We filmed this last year (I can't even remember what month) but I just resurrected the footage this weekend and began a re-edit.
The rough edit was done in Final Cut Pro. I bumped up the film look with Magic Bullet. Then I exported the footage to After Effects. I'm trying to give the film that old distressed look. I added in some flash frames & motion grapics and this is what I've got so far.
So Pete & Stizzy, if you're out there....here's your video!
Well after yesterday's semi-serious post, I figured it was time for some comedy. (And believe me, that's about as serious as I get)
Back around 1990 or 91 those Jerky Boys tapes were all the rage. So my friend Greg and I tried our hand at making some phony phone calls. During summer vacation, we would scour the Danbury News Times for want ads. We would harass people trying to sell their worthless junk with stupid questions and comments. This was of course before the days of caller ID, which put an end to our nonsense pretty quick.
We produced a tape with about 45 minutes worth of calls that summer. The problem was, some crackheads broke into my college apartment and stole the boom box containing that tape. If there is any justice in the world, I hope those thieves met their demise in a Poughkeepsie drive-by shooting.
Anyways, of all the calls we made, I only have a tape with two examples. (But I'm looking for more) Now I must admit, these are certainly not the funniest calls we made. Greg made way better calls back in the day. Who am I kidding? His call is har-larious! So anyways, here they are in all their YouTube glory. I've added some "visuals" to make them more interesting. Enjoy!
(Click on the two links below)
Greg's Call
Scott's Call
First off, Happy 2008. I guess nothing much has happened in the past few days, cuz I'm just getting around to posting now. How about this writer's strike, huh? No new programming = nothing to talk about. But that's a topic for another post.
So yeah, what's "Five Shots and an Art Card", you ask? It's slang used in certain circles* for formulaic local advertising. Five shots of a business (Building exterior and interior product shots) plus a graphic** at the end with the business' logo, address and phone #. You can't forget to liberally apply these buzz phrases throughout the script:
1. Friendly staff
2. Conveniently located
3. For over 50 years....
4. Great selection
5. From (this) to (that)
6. For all your (blank) needs
Do you want me to go on? I've got plenty more drivel where that came from. It's the stuff I refer to as "The Deadly Don'ts" of advertising. But sadly, many businesses eat it up. In fact, stepping "outside the box" (yes, I hate that term too) is verboten. "We want to show the outside of our building." Of course you do. Who wouldn't want to see the lovely strip mall your business resides in? Not that there's anything wrong with strip malls***. But that shot isn't going to help the consumer remember your business. As a producer who is often called upon to write scripts, it's easy to fall into this pattern of laziness. "The client wants a simple commercial. Hmmm, I guess that's what I'll deliver." My thoughts on that are a few paragraphs below.
I guess a lot of my inspiration comes from 70's advertising. You know, gorillas throwing around suitcases and penny pinchers driving VW bugs to funerals. Which kinda makes me screwed in 2008, cuz it's all about CGI, flash and style over substance. I feel that narrative and comedic ads have more of an impact on the viewer than a traditional straightforward ad. Even if it's the hackiest effort put forth. If it's got entertainment value or laughs, people will remember it.
Several years ago, I was part of a "moment of brilliance", if I may describe it as such. The production company I worked for set out a mandate: No more "Five Shot and an Art Card"-type spots. We were going to try and really push the envelope of creativity. For a while, we were cranking out some really good work. And on an extremely low budget I might add. Adding a narrative element made commercials memorable. Unfortunately, this mandate did not last forever for reasons I will not go into here. But viewers did take notice.
The solution to the current, potentially dismal situation is not easy. And of course, it's not cheap. (But the payoff could be worth it.) First off, memorable spots require a good agency. I'm a production guy and an editor. I can't write good scripts, nor do I pretend to know how to do so.**** That's where the agency comes in. Step two: you need talented actors (or people who can come as close to actors as allowable) Step 3: This IS where I come in: Good production and post production. Combine these elements and now you're talking.
So that's the end of today's ramblings. One of these days I should gather up my notes and write a "Local Advertising" handbook. Then, I'll take all the sweet moolah and move to the Caribbean. So long, suckers!
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* Certain circles: People I work with.
** Art card: An archaic advertising term in which a logo or artwork was placed on an easel and shot with a video camera. Later replaced with the flatbed scanner. Later replaced with, "Can you email me the JPEG?"
*** There may be something wrong with strip malls
**** Well, maybe I can write some good scripts, but they'd get flagged down by the FCC.
Timeline: Monday night, January 28th. I'm sitting in the parking lot of Norwalk's Crystal Theatre with my three assistants waiting for the band to show up. We're freezing our asses off.
As expected, time was not on our side. Before I knew it, it was after midnight. But we got a lot of great footage on our first night of shooting. The Boardlords are a unique bunch with some original ideas, and I think it comes though in the footage.
