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OT – Who’s cutting HD Commercials?
So we’re watching the football games on Thanksgiving day in High Def and it struck me how many commercials were in standard def showing in a center cut format. I can only recall the IBM commercials being in full HD which really made them stand out. Even the Apple iPod Video commercials were SD which really surprised me.
So with major broadcasts going High Def for Prime Time and sports, is anyone out there cutting commercials in High Def yet?
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“The Rough Cut,” an original short film premiering December 7th in full High Definition in Atlanta.
rs**@**************ve.com to reserve seats.
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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31 Replies
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I’m cutting them in SD… the client is shooting HD so they’ll have “legs”… I’ll bet a lot of this is going on. If you make them HD, you’d have to take into consideration the fact that most TV sets are 4:3, and the downconversion the station would do for SD broadcast most likely will just crop the outsides to fill the screen… right? Or do you suppose they’d letterbox them? (in my case the client wouldn’t like that).
Jerry
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I was asking myself the same thing. Ever since I got my 50 inch plasma it is amazing how ugly the SD commercials look. Especially the local ones that look like they were shot and editing in dv25. I think it makes the project and the company look cheap. By comparison it’s almost like looking at something shot on VHS.
Gary -
[Jerry Hofmann] “Or do you suppose they’d letterbox them?”
All the movie trailers and a few of the other SD spots were letterboxed, but I’m betting they were letterboxed intentionally for the “look.”
If your client is shooting in HD, why not edit the spot in HD to begin with an then they can have both an HD master and an SD master protected the way they want. Either through Letterbox or your own Center cut.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“The Rough Cut,” an original short film premiering December 7th in full High Definition in Atlanta.
rsvp@biscardicreative.com to reserve seats.
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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What you are witnessing is no surprise – the “old school” or “old guard” gets most of the agency work, and they have been using the same process with the same gear for years (transfer the film to D1, D5 or Dig Beta), then “off line” on an AVID (because they have been cutting on the AVID since it came out), and go to an “on line house” that has a Discreet Flame or Quantel box to finish.
Sure, there are “old school” guys that finish on AVID Symphony, but this has been the process for years. And THIS PROCESS took years to accept, because long after the AVID was out (and was able to finish uncompressed video) – these very same “old guard” people “HAD TO” finish in a LINEAR on line suite with a big GVG switcher, and 4 channel ADO or K-Scope, because the AVID was not good enough – FOR YEARS after it could do 1:1.So the new toys come out, but the “old folks”, who control much of the business (the big money commercial market) continue to cut the way they have been doing it for years. Then one day, a “maverick young editor” (think Walter) leaves the established commercial editorial house, opens his own shop, and says to his agency contacts – “hey, lets do this in HD”, to which everyone then says “what a great idea” – even though it’s been around for a long time. This insane analogy is exactly why many Ad Agencies STILL REQUEST 3/4″ tapes to screen commercials today.
No matter what comes out, it takes YEARS for anything new to be accepted. FCP is the perfect example of this.
Bob Zelin
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I cut a voting spot last year for the elections… Shot in HD, edited in HD, and mastered to HD. But I am pretty sure it aired in SD (digibeta).
This was full uncompressed HDCAM 1080i. Seems like a waste, but at least it looked good. It was cut on FCP with an AJA card.I guess this is why I haven’t purchased a high def monitor for the house. A LOT of networks are still not broadcasting in HD. I’ll continue to wait and by then the price on a good HD monitor will be as cheap as SD monitors.
Ron
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[Bob Zelin] “This insane analogy is exactly why many Ad Agencies STILL REQUEST 3/4″ tapes to screen commercials today.”
Well, then kudos to IBM’s agency for producing the spots in HD. As I said in my original post, they really stood out.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“The Rough Cut,” an original short film premiering December 7th in full High Definition in Atlanta.
rsvp@biscardicreative.com to reserve seats.
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[Gary Taylor] “Especially the local ones that look like they were shot and editing in dv25”
Well, there ain’t much we can do about that. When Jim Bob can go down to Fry’s electronics and pick up a DV camera and Final Cut Express right off the shelf, he’s now a video “professional” and will gladly produce spots for the local Cable advertising group for a whopping $300 or less.
Whenever I get a call for a local spot I’m usually greeted with stunned silence or momentary fainting spells when I tell them the estimate. “But I only want ONE commercial!”
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“The Rough Cut,” an original short film premiering December 7th in full High Definition in Atlanta.
rsvp@biscardicreative.com to reserve seats.
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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[Ron] “A LOT of networks are still not broadcasting in HD. I’ll continue to wait and by then the price on a good HD monitor will be as cheap as SD monitors.”
All the majors are now broadcasting prime time and sports in HD. Obviously Discovery continues to lead the way on cable, but even the local Braves Vision (or whatever they call it) here in Atlanta is full HD. We’re picking up a new plasma shortly as the Panasonic 50″ professional has dropped from $6k to $3k.
We’re cutting Good Eats in HD as the Food Network will move to HD some time in the near future so I would expect 2006 to be a year for HD penetration into more cable networks.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com“The Rough Cut,” an original short film premiering December 7th in full High Definition in Atlanta.
rsvp@biscardicreative.com to reserve seats.
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow editing “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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I know that Bill Jarrett recently rebuilt Food Network for very hi end HD work and transmission in NY, and that CNN is doing A LOT of Sony SR5500 work in Atlanta. So it’s happening, and stations are gearing up for this (as Discovery HD is) – but it’s up to the agencies to demand hi end HD work for commercials. Of course, down here in Florida, I see Viacom approving that HDV qualifies for “SHOT IN HD”.
Bob Zelin
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lol, that is too funny…
In your experience have the local networks including the cable companies had playback capability for HD. If so how are they accepting the content, DVCProHD, HDCAM tapes or any other formats?
Thanks,
Gary
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