Infommercial editing

[Shane Ross]

[Chris Poisson] “This is a half-hour show, I’m assuming all the “breaks” will be filled with price/item commercials for the product.”

Don’t assume. Ask the client. From the infomercials I saw, there were no breaks, because it is in essence one large commercial. But you need to ask the client.

[Chris Poisson] “Which begs the first question, what is the exact timing of a half hour show?”

Again…ask the client. They need to ask the companies airing them for exact show specs.

[Chris Poisson] “Drop frame or non-drop frame?”

Broadcast TV is ALWAYS Drop Frame.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Steve Cohen]

Chris;

The bulk of what my company does in 30 min infomercials.

In our case they are 28:30 Drop Frame with no “commercials”.

There are usual 3 CTA or “Call To Action” this is the real sell part of the show the rest is talking about it or demos, the 3 CTA’s are about 3 min in lenght, but it depends on how they are written.

I agree with Shawn full heartedly, don’t assume anything, ask the client.

They should have given you a script that may have the CTA’s written into it.
Ask about disclaimers.

Typically there is one and the beginning and end of the infomercial that says something to the effect of “The following/precedding is/was a paid adevertisment for “The Product” brought to you by “The Company”.

Also there is 1 small disclaimer before each CTA that will say “The program you are wartching is a paid advertisment”.

Keep in mind that if you are doing any weight loss or health stuff, you will need “Actually results may vary, or something that says that the statements have not been evalutated by the FDA.

Definetly keep in mind any legal aspects and ask you client if you have any doubts.

Good luck.

Steve Cohen
Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[Winston A. cely]

I’ve been working doing almost exclusively this type of work for the last 3 almost 4 years. First and foremost, ask the client any questions you have. Trust me, getting your questions answered by the client early on will save you much headaches in the long run. Having said that, I’ll give you some notes on my experience.

For a 30 min long form show, you’re run time is actually 28:30. This is because the station that broadcasts has to have time to put their own disclaimers at the beginning and end of the show.

There are no breaks when you do infomercials. You edit the entire 28:30 from start to end, including the “This has been a paid presentation for the “whatever product” brought to you by “that company,” disclaimers (usually 10 sec long) – This is different from what the station disclaimer is. – There are “breaks” or “commercials within the commercial.” These are called CTA’s, or Call to Actions in long form shows. Usually you’ll have one editor do everything from the body of the show (the part where there’s usually a host) and the CTA sections. But, every now and then, you’ll have one editor do the body (maybe because they have more experience telling a “traditional” story) and you’ll have a second editor do the CTA (maybe because they have more experience doing infomercials and hard sell ads).

In general, infomercials are very graphic/title extensive. You need to be prepared to at the very least use Title 3D in FCP, if not Motion, and then what would probably be better is AE. Although, I’ve never used AE. What I tend to see work is a combination of Title 3D (for simple titles) and Motion (for more intense or animated titles). 3D animation is usually handled off site by a firm that might specialize in 3D animation.

As for those titles, you’ll have a variety of titles. Marketing titles are titles that specifically refer to attributes the product has, and are being spoken by on screen talent or the VO talent. Specialized titles are ones that are more animated, where you really want to grab the attention of the viewer. Other titles will be prices, name keys, etc. A hint for titles; Always make your titles match as closely as possible to what’s being said, and make them come in slightly ahead of the VO (10 frames maybe 15 frames). This makes it easier for the viewer to follow what’s going on, without loosing focus on your talent is saying or the message that’s being given.

If at all possible, get your client to lock your video as much as possible before you begin the title process. Otherwise, you’ll be adding render time and that can greatly increase over the course of editing. The way we try to do it (unfortunately there are exceptions to every rule) is the “offline” process is strictly content driven. Getting all the content you can, into the show, and getting it to time. The second part is called the “online” process because we’re only tweaking video (maybe adding better transitions or cuts) and more importantly the titles and graphics. Usually, the type of video we’ve used (DVCAM) can be ingested at native resolution, and therefore there’s no need for a more traditional offline/online process where you recapture footage after the show’s been edited.

Drop frame or non-drop frame is irrelevant, so long as you keep it consistent from beginning to end, including export of video and OMFs to the audio engineer doing the sweetening. Work with what’s best for the footage and your preference.

These are just a few of the fundimentals. There’s a bunch more and it’s totally worth everyone’s time invloved to have a talk about what specifiically they want from you. Don’t wait to ask and have the conversation after you’ve already started. You’ll be happy you did!

Good luck with the project!

[Steve Cohen]

Winston brought up som good points.

The title or graphics can be done anywhere you are confortable. I use Live Type, I worked with an editor who did everything in Photoshop, because that’s what he was comfortable with.

As far as Drop Frame or Non Drop, Keep it consistant, but I would suggest Drop Frame, becuase that is what you are going to have to deliever to the station. Also if you cut a 28:30 in non drop frame it is not 28:30 it is actually about 1 and 1/2 minutes longer (This # may be off I don’t really remember the excat number right now), but my point is that if you edit in Non drop to 28:30 the show WILL NOT BE 28:30.

Again;

Good luck.

Steve Cohen
Editor
O2 Media Inc.

[David Roth weiss]

Chris,

I hope you’re getting paid by the hour or the day, not by the job. As some of the others have already mentioned, infomercials are incredibly graphics intensive, more so than anything else of that length you will ever work on. As such, they can take forever.

Make certain to label your graphics very well, date stamp the changes, and retain all of the original composites that you create, because you should definitely expect the client to make numerous changes. Invariably, the fine print, legal copy, price points, and addresses will all change, so make certain you set everything up in such a way that your can easliy make those changes without juggling everything else around.

All infomerecials go through a testing phase that usually requires fairly massive retooling, so, keep that in mind as well, because you will end up with lots and lots of versions of things that can make your life a real headache if you aren’t very careful in your approach managing files.

DRW

[Chris Poisson]

Hey guys,

Thanks you all VERY much, exactly what I needed, going in with much more confidence.

David, yes, I know about the graphics, that was the number one reason I got this job, the tips you gave are great!

Thanks again!

[David Bogie]

Style. Look and feel. Who designs this stuff? You aor them> Do they understand video or are they hopeless Photoshop twits?
Output format? What’s your deliverable, do you need to take your QT to another shop for digiBeta masters?
How many copies and who handles the duplication?
What are the safety/backup procedures and who acquires/pays for the additional storage? How long are you going to be required to keep it or do you hand it off to the client?
Make sure your insurance covers loss of the intellectual property that cannot be replaced such as the camera tapes.
Are your shooting in a studio? Who pays for that stuff?

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Chris Poisson]

Bogie,

I’m working at their place, and they have everything. Digibeta, SP etc., etc. They are very nice, creative people, relying on my design input but know what they are after. A very nice little situation. This is after day one, so far so good…