[Mike Cohen]

I actually laugh at most reality shows – they have become so formulaic that they are no longer entertaining. Whether you watch a competition show or a “real world” style fake documentary style show, they all create false drama to make viewers interested in what could actually be pretty boring material if viewed in either real time or linear progression.

We are currently enjoying Faceoff – a reality competition show about makeup effects artists. Last Fall we enjoyed the Food Truck Road Race. I used to be a fan of Hell’s Kitchen. They are all basically the same show. Pick a dozen contestants with conflicting personalities with at least one slacker who will cause trouble for everyone. Get an alcoholic or drug addict and at least two people with hookup potential, and you are in business.

The best example of “manipulation” on any of these shows is when they say “and the person going home this week is”…followed by 30 seconds of dramatic “who wants to be a millionaire” music and 60 minutes closeups of each contestant, then cut to commercial, then come back and rewind 40 seconds to draw it out even further. The whole 2 minutes probably took 10 seconds in reality. So in other words, the “reality” depicted in “reality shows” is the opposite of reality. It should be called “tvality.”

When I record such a program to watch on my own (ie, not over dinner with my gal) I tend to watch in fast forward. A Kitchen Nightmares episode only has a handful of actual interesting things to watch in real time:

Intro – we learn about the place and the owner’s delusions of grandeur and gambling debts

Gordon shows up, meets the quirky front end staff, finds mold food in the walk-in and barfs after sampling the menu

Fast forward about 15 minutes until the owner has a meltdown, the head chef quits and the sous chef takes over

Fast forward to the 40 minute mark – Gordon shows the staff how to make some simple fresh new menu items, including a signature dish. They go out on the street and hand out samples.

Then the next morning the staff is surprised to find the front of house renovated. Gone are the giant plates and the dusty knick knacks, replaced by stylish linens and lots of pleather. How could the staff be surprised? Do they not have television in this town?

Finally you forward to the last minute. We know the restaurant will be back on its feet for a while – hugs and kisses all around. But the proof in the pudding comes with the wrap-up – did the restaurant survive or did guys with baseball bats come looking for their money? That’s a reality show I’d like to see, “Gordon Ramsey – Repo Man.”

The tv clips you used may be fair use for a lecture in an adult ed class or college class or private club, but you have now published this on Google forever. Oh well, there is so much of this going on that it is probably not a big deal, but as others have said, best to put your best foot forward every time you take a step. Well no one said it like that.

Interesting points overall and an interesting thread. You know, I sure do say “interesting” a lot. Stay tuned for “Mike Cohen: Interesting Adventures.”

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

How about the Intensity Shuttle – looks like the next best thing if all you need is HDMI input? Anyone use that device?

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

Simon
Having read your original thread again after reading the diatribe that followed.
1. You work full time, receive a salary, and do the job set out in your job description (make ads as cheaply as possible because it is what you do in cable advertising).

2. Yet you are a creative person and you feel the need to work in a creative manner, even if that creativity is not in the scope of your directed work. Hey you have a soul, good for you.

3. The clients and the sales force who actually generate your salary do not appreciate nor acknowledge the extra creative effort.

Thus, what advice are you looking for?

If you want to do creative work that is appreciated by whomever is paying you, then you need to change careers. Grinner has the right idea – approach clients who are paying for crap and tell them you can give them something much better for a fair price. If they are insisting upon putting ads on local tv they might as well have something that does not look like a Monster Truck commercial.

Thinking of my local tv commercials – there are a few businesses in my state whose commercials everyone knows. Bob’s Discount Furniture – hokey but well made featuring the owner in various green screen compositions – he’s been doing these for 20+ years. Family Ford – the family of always cute kids does most of the talking. Cheaply made but gets the message across. Kaoud Oriental Rugs – cheaply made reminding me of the Ghostbusters commercials with Annie Potts.

All other local spots are in one eyeball out the other – forgettable and poorly made.

I’m afraid you might be in a Catch 22 – you want to be acknowledged for your good work by people who don’t care if your work is good or not. You could try convincing them that by making the spots better you are giving the clients better value. They may not pay for it, but the acknowledgement of your efforts seems to be what you are after.

Good luck – sounds like an existential problem.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

Bill (original Bill):

Is this an actual location? Sounds like it.

How high are the ceilings? Could you use chinese lanterns?
How many cameras are you shooting with?

How will you control the light from behind the camera as the time of day changes?

Given the shape of the room and the fact that you will lose some of the space with your crew and gear, I would suggest using Kino Flos as high up as you can get perhaps with eggcrate to further diffuse the light – make an arc around the camera – that should give you sitcom light without burning the place down with large tungsten softboxes.

As for backlights, you might use 1×1 Litepanels mounted from the ceiling – surely you could use a few screws into the joists..?? Other way to get small backlights is with pneumatic poles as you suggested, or Bogen mega booms on roller stands – you will need counterweights to offset the length – but extend the stands so the booms are hugging the ceiling. Sandbags galore all around.

Also when actors are facing the windows, watch that they are not squinting.

Can you post some pictures of the location?

Interesting topic.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

Smoke detectors react to ionized particles or heat – beither of which have to do with a water-based fog machine. Talk to your local fire department – they may have a fog machine for training purposes and could advise you on a solution.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

I think the consensus is – get something in writing, preferably from the client’s attorney. You may be a contractor, but you are low hanging fruit to someone who feels their copyright has been violated. The band – if their music is distributed by a music publisher – likely does not 100% control the rights to their music. And if their music was used in a movie – they have no right to the movie footage – even if used in a music video.

But this is of course opinion – run this thread past your own lawyer. Pay the $300 for some good advice – and take it.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

That’s interesting. Because saying “courtesy of YouTube” is assuming that YouTube owns the content.

So this begs the question, does YouTube (Google) automatically own any content uploaded? I believe this is definitely a NO answer. However, if someone uploads a clip of Elvis, is the clip being used by CNN vs the actual footage of Elvis which clearly is not legally available from YouTube? This is getting into semantics.

Who has better lawyers – Elvis Presley Inc or Turner Broadcasting/CNN?

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

When I am composing an especially long blog, I sometimes do it in Word or simply a text editor. That way I can save it offline, then copy and paste to the blog when I am ready.

When composing online, I have gotten into the habit of select-all, copy once in a while, knowing how web browsers like to time out, crash or likewise how easy it is to accidentally navigate away from a page.

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

Could have been the synonym for “expert” – happens a lot.
Can also happen with a typo when discussing large majestic waterfalls.
And bathtubs!

Mike Cohen

[Mike Cohen]

Rather than starting a new thread with a similar quandary, I will add my own here:

Let’s say I design DVD slipart in CMYK and the matching DVD label in RGB. I do this because the Epson stylus printer for the DVD art is CMYK (although today I discovered you can set it to RGB – so maybe it is not really CMYK – regardless of that, when we do a large job and get the artwork printed on glossy cardstock at our local print shop, CMYK is the norm) – the inkjet DVD label printer is RGB.

Well as one would expect, the same color looks completell different on the two printouts – different ink, paper, color space – no surprise. But then we usually have to print many variations of both until we get something that matches – or is as close as possible given the differences in media.

Is there a a better way?

Tanks

Mike Cohen