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How would you estimate this?
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[Ben Avechuco] “Yes – The Kiro Pillow spot is my spot. if you look at the YouTube previews, you’ll probably see a link to the :30 version.”
May I be blunt? The acting is horrible and unbelievable. Typical over-acting. It really detracts from the message – because the thing LOOKS like it could work really well. The voice over is all wrong as well – it should be soothing, relaxing – perhaps a female voice would have worked better.
Some technical wonders, yes, but the message got lost.
I would have liked to have seen the packaging in case I see it in an airport store. 16 shots of people in seats got old. i.e. It’s a truncated message when there’s more to it. e.g. You could have shown one of the actors AFTER the flight looking refreshed and at the top of his game. Just some thoughts…
What would I pay as a client? Nothing, until you fixed it. I don’t know how others will react, but I’ve had clients who would kick me out of their office if I showed up with a product full of problems like that.
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randall,
May I be blunt? Who asked you for your critical opinion?
This is an infomercial… not a frickin’ Academy Award contender! Jeez. Give the guy some credit for a great spec spot!
Why don’t you post your latest project so we can all take a shot at it?
Mark
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[Mark Raudonis] “May I be blunt? Who asked you for your critical opinion?”
He did – by asking what it was worth. Would you pay $25,000 for it? He asked for your critical opinion as well. So what would YOU pay? $100,000.00? What? Be blunt – I wanna understand your standards. Let’s go, man, put your money where your mouth is…
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[Mark Raudonis] “This is an infomercial… not a frickin’ Academy Award contender!”
Yes it is an infomercial, and the purpose of an infomercial is to SELL the product. Randall is completely right, yes there are some really great technical effects like the keying, but clients do not care what technical aspects what into what they are paying for, ALL they care about is if it is a overall good product and whether or not it will do what it is supposed to do.
In this case it is supposed to sell the product. Does it do that? In my opinion NO! I mean absolutely no offense by saying that.
The reason I believe that it does not sell the product is because the actors intend to be serious but come off CHEEZY. Most people immediately discredit a product when the advertisement comes across cheesy then they are trying to come across as serious. Being cheesy on purpose can work at times, but you must be aware that you are doing it.
Personally for me it was fine right up until the time the “fake” actors “tried” to act. I would hire some “quality” actors and have them do some “believable” user comments. I would also place those actors in a place like an airport and have them say how it affected the flight they just got off, that could also help it be more believable.
Bottom line is the actors MUST come off believable that they really to use the product in real life.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!
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[Mark Raudonis] “Give the guy some credit for a great spec spot!”
Well, there were certainly some great keyed shots. We all agree on that – very clever. But as Zane remarked, ‘Who cares?’ Beyond that, why do you think it was so great?
Bottom-line – it didn’t sell me, it advertised at me. None of the ad agencies I’ve worked with would have accepted it or payed for it.
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Let’s not get too esoteric here: It is, after all, just a travel pillow. A technology that’s hundreds of years old. And one that historically makes you look goofy using it, no matter what. This one particularly does because it makes you look like you were in a whiplash accident. But maybe it *IS* an improvement. That’s what he has to sell.
That thing is never going to be a fashion accessory. I’m not sure how you’re going to make an item like that much more “sexy”. You actually become a parody of yourself if you push that slickness too far on such a prosaic item. So you don’t.
You fight goofy-looking with “practical”, or “saves money”, and “but it works”. For example, the Flo-Bee vacuum hair cutting device. Our family wore out two in twelve years and is on our third one, they’ve all more than paid for themselves, and the thing looks stupid but actually WORKS. We don’t take the flowbee out on public walks, or show it to houseguests. We just use it at home and nobody can tell we’re saving huge amounts of money on kid’s trims alone. Back to the issue…
So you concentrate, not on fashion appeal, but on function and benefit. And testimonials are an obvious, direct way to do that. You could go another way and concentrate on end-result benefit, for example comparing two people on the same trip: one used the pillow, the other didn’t, and the non-user is either tired, sore, or both. However, this takes longer to tell well on screen.
You can argue that the testimonials are not as sincere or effective as you might want. In a spot like this, I think you want as many different examples as possible so everybody in the target market sees a person they might identify with. You try to show as many possible situations and users as you can, to get consumers to picture themselves using it.
The one other testimonial you HAVE to have in there somewhere is a scientific or medical expert saying yes, this really works. The quality of that particular testimonial endorsement is specially important. The more prestigious list of endorsements you can amass, the better. Typically you would see a a sports-related celebrity used for this.
I wouldn’t ride the guy too hard on what he’s done. It’s technically very well executed for what it is, particularly the fake airline seat compositing. They can’t all be Chanel no. 5 spots with swimming pool montages.
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[Mark Suszko] “I wouldn’t ride the guy too hard on what he’s done. It’s technically very well executed for what it is, particularly the fake airline seat compositing.”
I agree, it was super in that regard. But he asked what he should charge. Someone suggested $25,000. On that score, since I think it missed the greater mark of actually convincing people, I think it needs to be fixed before sold. It came off as a huckster and planted shills – I guess that still works on some people but, for the majority, it’s a complete turn-off.
What would you pay him? That’s his question.
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I agree I like the production Values but the actors were a bit cheesy I wanted to see some graphic to sell me on the pillows ability to comfort me.
either fix it or charge around $10,000 and don’t tell anyone you made it thats what our production company does. as long as the customer is happy.Nice job on the compositing
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I haven’t taken the time to run my magic spreadsheet, but I’m fairly certain that my charge for this would be much closer to the $10k mark than the $25k one.
I’m also assuming a huge cost savings by using non-union actors (not-so-professional). Of course, it’s way easier to criticize work than to actually do the work, so I really don’t mean to be harsh.
I understand that there is a purpose for this style of production and it’s not all about art. Nice compositing, by the way. A bad key would have not only been distracting, it would have endangered credibility of the production.
Unfortunately, something else made it seem a little less than authentic. The spot lost me at 28 seconds when the woman let a slight smile slip when her head dropped. Credibility is absolutely vital for this type of ad, so you need actors who are truly sincere and believe in the product – or actors who at least could convince you that they really use it.
Those don’t.
Well, there is the shot right after the one I mentioned – at about 31 seconds) where the woman is smiling in comfort. She seemed to really enjoy the comfort of the pillow.
Enough about the b-roll… I’d be less judgmental about the on-camera testimonials if I was convinced that I was seeing real users of the product, since some (real) people just act different on camera because they are nervous.
All this said, I have to admit that I’ve done my fair share of corporate videos where we have to use employees on hand as “actors”, due to budget and deadlines. We all probably KNOW better than to do this, but sometimes that budget and the deadline actually is more important (especially to the client) than whether I’m convinced that the two businessmen shaking hands in the shot are really entrepreneurs that are happy to be doing business with each other.
Sometimes I try to educate the clients on points such as this. Sometimes I don’t. We all pick our battles, I guess.
The important thing is to step back and ask “After it’s all said and done, will this video achieve what it is intended to achieve?” Even ask “Will this decision lead help produce a product that will achieve the goal of the client?” That question can guide most if not all of your decisions while producing the spot – even the so called artistic decisions.
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[Timothy J. Allen] “Credibility is absolutely vital for this type of ad, so you need actors who are truly sincere and believe in the product”
Actors are actors – they are paid to look and act sincere. The better ones don’t need much direction – the average actor does. The non-actor needs a lot of direction. Where does that direction come from?
When an shooter-guy or an editor-guy (and, Ben, you’re a good one) tries to make a commercial, they had better be a good director as well. They are usually not.
Directorship is not really about managing actors, it’s about making a story-board come alive. Successful productions are about one guy putting his vision together in sight and sound. He’s the one guy video studios need if they are to make commercials and make their mark. When you find him, hire him and pay him well. He’ll grow your business, not the software you throw at it.
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