My First Commercial

It seemed so strange watching the other group’s TV commercial in my Video Camera and Lighting Techniques class. It was so similar to my group’s video except there was a completely different person in front of the camera going through the motions of entering the main entrance of MPTC, walking over to the wall of academic planers, and going through the Student Services doors.

The reason why the two commercials were so much alike is that the two groups we were split into for class were following the same storyboard. The purpose of this project was to learn how to read and follow a storyboard. We had to set up the equipment, figure out the lighting, and adjust the settings on the camera to get our shots according to what was written and sketched out on paper.

Even with following the same storyboard, there were still some variations between the two 30 second ads. The sketches give you an idea of what the shot will look like, and the directions will give you a pretty good idea what you should be doing, but it seems there’s always a little bit of room for interpretation. The lesson I learned from this is that if you are following somebody else’s storyboard and script, like one your client has created, you may need to get clarification from them to make sure you are getting the shot they want and portraying the story they wish to tell.

I think everybody did really well on this project, and I’m impressed how professional both videos looked, especially considering some of us are first-timers in video making. Check out my group’s commercial for Student Services at MPTC, created by John Lippold, Cody Repovsch, Barret Johnson, and myself!

From Storyboarding to Recording

Our class stood around a long table covered in sheets of paper. We were reviewing storyboards. These were the several storyboards we created based on the same script, a commercial for Student Services. Some of the shots my classmates sketched out were similar, but some were very different. In the end, we combined shots from several of the storyboards to make one storyboard we agreed upon. This would be the storyboard we would use to shoot our commercial.

Before heading out for filming, we discussed reasons for using and following a storyboard, release forms for actors and locations, and other things that are important to know before filming anything.

In a group, we filmed outside and indoor shots based on the storyboard. The most difficult part of shooting that day was the lighting. You don’t have a lot of control over lighting conditions outside. It’s important to know how to change the settings on the camera to get the best possible shot. Even so, you sometimes have to wait for the sun to be at a certain point in the sky. I now understand why camera crews, actors, and directors have long shooting days.

Now that the shooting is complete, my group and I will piece the shots together and add a voiceover and a logo at the end. It’ll be my first time using Adobe Premiere Pro. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished project on the projector screen in class soon!

You Have Exactly 30 Seconds

Have you ever seen a commercial you really liked? Have you ever stopped to think why you liked it?  Was it funny? Did it move you? Was it so visually stunning you forgot you were watching a 30 second ad?

As part of our class discussion in my Video Camera and Lighting Techniques class, we shared links to our favorite commercials and discussed why we liked them. We replayed the commercials and analyzed the shots. We tried to figure out why things were shot a certain way to emphasize the story that was being told.

This discussion led to our next topic and our first assignment: creating a storyboard. Our task is to create a storyboard based on a TV commercial script. The storyboard is going to have several panels, which will include a rough sketch of what the shot will look like, camera directions, and dialogue. I think the biggest challenge creating a commercial is that you have exactly 30 seconds, no more, no less, to tell your story.

What’s cool about this assignment is that we’ll actually get to film it as well. I’m very interested to see how my classmates have interpreted the script, and what camera directions they decide to follow. I imagine we’ll all have different ideas even though we’re working off the same script, and we’ll learn from everyone’s creativity.