[Simon Roughan]

Thanks Bill, you’ve also given me some things to think about. For example, advertising malpractice is a new term for me. You also have a lot of good points. This is why I made this post. Time after time, I’m put into the position of having to do the work of an agency, as well as a producer. I have a BA in communication studies, but naturally I have trouble to cover all the bases. At an agency, they can have a team of people sitting together for hours on end, working through the types of points you bring up, whereas I’m expected to just pull great ideas out of my beautifully sculptured posterior.

I have had a brief already from the client, and they have given me a direction they want to go in. They really just want a brand recognition spot. In my opinion, and I have the customer so advised, that for such a service/product, a 30 second TV/cinema spot is not enough to cover the information you would need to sell the subscriptions, without being dry and boring. The spot would be sucessfull if you just sparked enough interest to get web hits, where the nitty-gritty information can be read and absorbed at leisure.
A real person does the selling. In most cicumstances, a short TV ad can do nothing more than make someone aware that the product/service exists. Thats my opinion about TV advertising, anyway. Have you honestly ever in your life taken note of a telephone number from a TV ad, and made a call?
Thanks again for taking the time to reply,
Cheers
Simon

You know I’m born to lose, and gambling is for fools, but that’s the way I like it, baby. I don’t want to live forever!

[Simon Roughan]

Wow, thanks for the fast reply Mark. You’re quick off the line!
Everything you’ve explained is true. I’ve already been over a lot of this with the customer. Concerning the waiting room business, that is already sewn up by this company. They want to concentrate on private homes. I also had concerns about the fact that the medium (hard copy magazines) is a dying one, but I don’t imagine it’s a sound strategy to tell a client that his business is on the way out 😉
Their advantage over normal subscriptions is the price. Its much cheaper through them.
The main strategy behind the spots, is just to get the name out there, in a memorable way. I tried and tried to incorporate some way of bringing across how cost effective the service was, while keeping in line with the rest of the brief they gave me. But they don’t want a sales pitch as such. I mean, what the hell does dancing babies on roller skates have to do with mineral water? Although I hate that spot, I can still recite the product name, so it’s successful.
BTW, for the green screen production, I work at a TV station, and have a big studio with a saturated lighting rig at my disposal. I thought about just buying good quality stock footage for the backgrounds.
Thanks for the support and the criticism, and I will read the “Save the Script!” episodes over the weekend.
Cheers
Simon

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Yeah, I think the OSS (over shoulder shot) picture composition is a pretty standard term. I have books on scriptwriting, and directing, and they all refer to this as an “OSS” shot.

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Gentlemen, thanks for the feedback.

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Hi Sebastian,
I’ve read your last couple of threads with interest.
I’ve been flicking through this forum for 10 years or more, but today is the first time I can remember someone referring to another as a Nazi. Id never thought about Godwins Law in relation to “Business and Marketing” on the Cow. Congratulations.

Re: Your original question…
I would definitely stick with beautiful HD wedding videos. This seems to be a market you’re doing good in.
Crawling around in the dirt in Afghanistan is an entirely different story.
Restrepo wasn’t a great docu because of the style of camera work. Restrepo was a great docu because of the story, and the emotions it cultivated. Without that, it was shite. I’ve seen better camera work on my 13 year olds homemade skate videos.

So.
13 year old shooting handheld skate videos with a Flip-Cam (But HD)… $5 per hour

Amateur with prosumer camera with no support, crawling through dirt filming people he knows getting killed, having his arse shot at by Taliban extremists who would like nothing more than to bag a westerner… $36,425.50 per hour. Come to think of it, make that $136,425.50

I hope this helps. Good Luck in business.

Simon

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Perfect. Just what I wanted, thanks
Simon

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Thanks for the answer Dave. I know, its no skin off my nose.
I’m just someone who likes to know why.

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Roland, du bist die besten.
Danke für die Mühe.

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Thanks again Roland, I will follow your advice.
But to all the other experts that are more knowledgeable than me about this theme, and have more time than Roland does at the moment please explain the “why”? As in WHY should I render in anamorphic.
Cheers
Simon

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

[Simon Roughan]

Hi Roland, thanks for the reply.
What about just using the resize in the render options? Does this give the same results as nesting?
Cheers
Simon

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.