My First TV Commercial Production

[Cooknn]

During the day I am the marketing director for a local paint company in South Florida. Actually migrated to marketing from IT Anyways today was my first experience on a shoot for a new :30 second TV commercial. The stars must have been aligned when I found the agency I'm using, because I got a steal.

We had a full day shoot today with actors and actress + dog. They actually shot on film! *Everyone* was part of the Mac culture. PowerBooks on the set and talk of G5's, Final Cut, etc. I had an associate with me and he asked why everyone had on black shirts - It wasn't conscious but I even had one on Can't explain it! So, the entire process is going to be done on a Mac. It will be in Hi-Def as well - although I have no idea how I'll get my local stations to air an HD commercial spot I'm doing Sunday night ESPN NFL game of the week in the fall so maybe I can get Comcast to figure out how to get my new spot to air in HD. Somehow I doubt it.

Started at 6:00am and ended at 5:00pm. Sometimes it seemed like it was a bit disorganized, but then everything came together. The dog was *not* cooperative! Anyways, the agency is talking about getting with an Apple rep locally to see if they can do something special for the unveiling. Heh. All this for a :30 second spot - that I paid <cough> $25K for. Well, my company paid it Wish me luck! These guys and gals seemed to know what they were doing - I have high hopes

 

[dmw007]

It sounds like an awesome opportunity to be making your own commercial. Glad to hear that you are using Macs. Best of luck in this endeavor!

 

[iGary]

Sounds like fun - seriously.

I'm always intrigued when I see anything being shot, being a photographer.

And it's always good having fun on someone else's dime.

 

[zelmo]

Very cool,Cooknn. Funny how you start down one career path and suddenly find yourself doing something quite different.
When do we get to see a rough cut?

 

[Cooknn]

Very cool,Cooknn. Funny how you start down one career path and suddenly find yourself doing something quite different.
When do we get to see a rough cut?

I'm hoping to have something by the end of August. It's definitely gonna be 'toungue in cheek' I'll link to it for you guys as soon as it's ready

Sounds like fun - seriously.

I'm always intrigued when I see anything being shot, being a photographer.

The guy that was actually shooting - his nick was chainsaw - had one of these for stills that I'll be able to use in print - I've never seen such a thing!

 

[puckhead193]

what was the commercial for? (if you can tell us) You'll have to tell us when its on so we can keep an eye open for it.

Off topic - i notice in your sig. that you have a nikon coolpix 8800...how do you like it? i'm thinking of getting one.

 

[Cooknn]

what was the commercial for? (if you can tell us) You'll have to tell us when its on so we can keep an eye open for it.

Off topic - i notice in your sig. that you have a nikon coolpix 8800...how do you like it? i'm thinking of getting one.

The commercial will be all about a cute blonde painting while dancing and singing our jingle - really bad. It's kind of a reggae tune that everyone in SW Florida already knows - we've been around since 1959. The actual jingle is playing in the background at a reduced volume. The dog in another room get's all bent out of shape when he hears her, and the neighbor on his ancient riding lawnmower can even hear her outside. He's like what is that awful sound?!. Transition to the husband in the kitchen as he rolls his eyes and says "I'm glad it's Flex Bon, it's gonna cover in only one coat!". Cut to animation where my gator mascot (being done in Maya) drops in with my top of the line paint can and he speaks "Hey Mon, Flex Bon!". Hehe. My company is called Flex Bon Paints. Please don't dis' the website! I built it several years ago and pretty much just update it now. It could surely use a serious makeover...

Anyways that's the jist of the spot. Regarding the Coolpix 8800 - I love it. 8 Mpix and solid. Lot's of manual settings so you can have control over what the camera does instead of just shooting on auto...

 

[dmw007]

The commercial will be all about a cute blonde painting while dancing and singing our jingle - really bad. It's kind of a reggae tune that everyone in SW Florida already knows - we've been around since 1959. The actual jingle is playing in the background at a reduced volume. The dog in another room get's all bent out of shape when he hears her, and the neighbor on his ancient riding lawnmower can even hear her outside. He's like what is that awful sound?!. Transition to the husband in the kitchen as he rolls his eyes and says "I'm glad it's Flex Bon, it's gonna cover in only one coat!". Cut to animation where my gator mascot (being done in Maya) drops in with my top of the line paint can and he speaks "Hey Mon, Flex Bon!". Hehe. My company is called Flex Bon Paints. Please don't dis' the website! I built it several years ago and pretty much just update it now. It could surely use a serious makeover...

Anyways that's the jist of the spot. Regarding the Coolpix 8800 - I love it. 8 Mpix and solid. Lot's of manual settings so you can have control over what the camera does instead of just shooting on auto...

Your commercial sounds pretty cool. Hope it works very well for you and your company.

 

[Cooknn]

Your commercial sounds pretty cool. Hope it works very well for you and your company.

Thanks, I appreciate it

puckhead193 - I forgot to mention, it will only be aired in SW Florida as we are not a national company. The networks have a pretty good reach over the air though, and with Comcast I can pick and choose the shows or stations I want to advertise on which makes it a lot easier to hit my demo.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Started at 6:00am and ended at 5:00pm. Sometimes it seemed like it was a bit disorganized, but then everything came together.

Controlled chaos my friend, controlled chaos. Now, just imagine that with hundreds of people shooting 10-12 hours a day, 6 days a week for weeks or months and you have yerself a movie set.


Lethal

 

[Cooknn]

It's Done!

It's finally done, just in time to air locally this Saturday during the MLB Playoffs on FOX A little history - we've been pummeling the viewing (and listening) audience with our Jingle for about the last ten years. We are in Southwest Florida and our paint is formulated for the semi-tropical climate so we played up the island sound. This is what is always playing in the background for all of our TV and radio stuff: Flex Bon Jingle (1.18MB).

What we did with the new TV spot was to basically massacre that song with a cute female while she was painting - and having fun doing it. She's singing along but because she has her iPod on she can't hear herself For a look at my first commercial spot you can click here: Flex Bon "One Coat" (8.73MB). We used a local agency called Wise & Time. They were great to work with. Hoping to do a full length animated spot in the future

 

[Flying Llama]

It's finally done, just in time to air locally this Saturday during the MLB Playoffs on FOX A little history - we've been pummeling the viewing (and listening) audience with our Jingle for about the last ten years. We are in Southwest Florida and our paint is formulated for the semi-tropical climate so we played up the island sound. This is what is always playing in the background for all of our TV and radio stuff: Flex Bon Jingle (1.18MB).

What we did with the new TV spot was to basically massacre that song with a cute female while she was painting - and having fun doing it. She's singing along but because she has her iPod on she can't hear herself For a look at my first commercial spot you can click here: Flex Bon "One Coat" (8.73MB). We used a local agency called Wise & Time. They were great to work with. Hoping to do a full length animated spot in the future

COOL!
And good luck on the broadcast, I'll be looking for it!

 

[Cooknn]

COOL!
And good luck on the broadcast, I'll be looking for it!

Thanks It's only going to air in SW Florida unfortunately!

 

[MovieCutter]

Controlled chaos my friend, controlled chaos. Now, just imagine that with hundreds of people shooting 10-12 hours a day, 6 days a week for weeks or months and you have yerself a movie set.


Lethal

No kidding, but the food on a Hollywood film set is SOOOOOO goooooooooooooooood

 

[Flying Llama]

Thanks It's only going to air in SW Florida unfortunately!

Aww man, but cool nonetheless!

llama

 

[illegalprelude]

Controlled chaos my friend, controlled chaos. Now, just imagine that with hundreds of people shooting 10-12 hours a day, 6 days a week for weeks or months and you have yerself a movie set.


Lethal

hahaha I didnt believe it till I moved out here and being on film sets, I agree with you 100%. Sucks when the DP or AD's are complete dicks

 

[king2101]

It's Done!

It's finally done, just in time to air locally this Saturday during the MLB Playoffs on FOX A little history - we've been pummeling the viewing (and listening) audience with our Jingle for about the last ten years. We are in Southwest Florida and our paint is formulated for the semi-tropical climate so we played up the island sound. This is what is always playing in the background for all of our TV and radio stuff: Flex Bon Jingle (1.18MB).

What we did with the new TV spot was to basically massacre that song with a cute female while she was painting - and having fun doing it. She's singing along but because she has her iPod on she can't hear herself For a look at my first commercial spot you can click here: Flex Bon "One Coat" (8.73MB). We used a local agency called Wise & Time. They were great to work with. Hoping to do a full length animated spot in the future

Do you think you could post the Flex Bon Jingle Please!