The client wanted something a little more than just a basic TV ad with running footage and a closing lot-shot, so we brought in a small but bigger-than-usual crew, a mini-jib, and outfitted our talent with a wireless mic instead of just a boom. We went through several rounds of casting without finding a spokesperson the client and I could agree on, when in came Lizzet Lopez. She not only nailed the read, but also told me how much I needed her, since the script needed a little more nuance for the Spanish language audience, and she would take care of it for me. HIRED! She is incredible and extremely professional and played a big part in a successful location project.
BEHIND THE SCENES
For the outdoor shots, we set the camera inside the box of this big utility truck that held all the equipment, then slowly rolled forward while Lizzet walked down the line of cars. DP Roger Boller had done this before so I wasn't too worried somebody would fall out, but it was an entertaining scene seeing 4 of us hanging off the back a this truck. Inside the showroom, we had to really get creative with the jib to be able to get the whole thing in the room while trying to get the showroom in the shot, but I'm very happy with what we ended up getting. For the showroom scene and the closing shot, I grabbed every employee I could find and put them in. Everyone had a good time being part of the show. For the close, the client had seen a gag where the keys are tossed up and stick to the screen, and wanted the same effect. I worked on it with Lizzet to get just the right motion, then through the magic of Adobe Photoshop and After Effects, re-created the effect.
I wanted to do something simple and different that would attract the attention of the casual viewer. If someone happened to look away, every scene was designed to be so different from what they expected, the would have to look and see what it was. This was a spec for Las Vegas Mitsu, but we had done the exact same spot in Anaheim. It's a 30/30 with the moving mouths followed by a simple-format factory footage style ad.
BEHIND THE SCENES
It's probably pretty apparent that I'm no animator! But this was really meant to be a concept and not necessarily a finished ad. It was fun to create using mostly Adobe After Effects. It's also important to note that the idea for the moving mouths hit me as I was putting up the graphics to match the V/O. Instead of factory footage and animated graphics, why not ad something new to the mix that would be out of the ordinary?
This was a spec project conceived and financed by Ken Dab-Row with the hopes of landing the auto mall as a client for his ad agency, Dab-Row Broadcast Advertising. The concept was to pair the values and integrity of an old-west character with a big city like Philly. Ken Dab-Row came up with the concept and character of Buffalo Ken Cody, then wrote and starred in the ads. Gary Sparks and I scouted the location and came up with several scenes from which to build a series of ads. This is a sampling of some of a couple of them.
BEHIND THE SCENES
We scouted Calico Ghost Town (a couple of hours outside of LA) for the shoot. We selected several locations around the park and blocked out our day, choosing mid-week since we were told it would be the slowest time. On production day as we were unloading, three buses of Japanese tourists pulled into the lot. Needless to say, everywhere we set up, we had a large group of people clicking pictures. I think they had the impression it was all part of the park experience. On the production crew, we came up short a sound man, so I ran the sound board. Let me tell you, it’s not easy directing a location shoot while trying to do sound at the same time, but I think I pulled it off. Although I will admit to one funny human misstep: On the second ad (where Ken’s sitting on a bench with the paper) I actually forgot I was running sound, even though I’m sitting there with headphones on in front of the sound board. So when the DP yelled “speed”, and I heard nothing after, I said “sound?” … “SOUND!?” … then realized, it was me I was yelling for. We all had a good laugh over that one. Back in the studio, I created the lower-third sign graphic using Adobe Photoshop. I took a picture of Ken’s hat against green cloth and took that into After Effects where I made it fly in and land on the sign. That was a fun effect!
This is an example of one of the most affordable types of broadcast production, using factory footage mixed with graphics created in-house. This ad features product and price along with the benefits of the manufacturer warranty.
BEHIND THE SCENES
To dress this ad up a bit. I added a little punch to the price and dealer location, and used Photoshop and Adobe After Effects to animate the warranty information in the warranty scene.
For this project, the client wanted something “in your face”, so I framed the ad with an action graphic I created, with the dealer name blended in. The client provided a lot of footage so I had plenty to choose from of the lot was provided by the client.
BEHIND THE SCENES
I had a lot of fun with the graphics on this one, including the exploding letters in the "Super Low Sale Price" scene, and the "10 Day Trial Exchange" scene. For the closing scene, we took a static shot of the big freeway sign and I animated in the graphics using Adobe Photoshop and After Effects.
The concept was to create one ad, but have the ability to change in and out phone numbers. Then build a nation-wide network of debt settlement companies who could utilize the ad in their market and insert their own local phone number. Another example of a budget ad using animated backgrounds and static images.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The disclaimer was a real pain in terms of killing any creativity and essentially making this a :23 second ad. But the rules are the rules! And here's a not so fun fact - the math is true!!!
The company had an aggressive expansion plan and wanted to host several job fairs to find staff for new stores. This video was designed to show at those job fairs and introduce prospective employees to the company and the benefits of becoming part of the team. It is hosted by the company's owner, Michael Cope. This project had a number of different locations with a decent budget, with the "A" being shot at the main store, and the "B" being collected over several weeks throughout southern California. Jeff Killian was the DP and also handled sound. This is an excerpt from the finished production.
BEHIND THE SCENES
There were a lot of fun stories from this project, which took many different locations and fun effects to finish. One of my favorites is when I went with a friend to the Port of Long Beach to get a shot of some cargo ships coming in for "B" roll. We had no sooner parked and I pulled out my camera than a security car pulled in and "invited" us to leave. Apparently you need to get special permission for that sort of thing. Chalk it up to a post-911 world, which I understood completely. Another fun story came from a track shot (not seen here) where the camera is moving back and Michael is walking toward it. Jeff of course was facing forward and pulling the camera and none of us saw the pole behind him. You guessed it, he backed right into the pole and the scene looked like we'd just had an earthquake. Everybody had a good laugh over that one!
