One of the many fascinating things about :30 storytelling is that every project is a different experience with unique challenges. I recently collaborated with director Tim Damon of Damon Live Action on the production of 100,000 feet of running footage for national, regional and local spots that will be used to help introduce 54 General Motors automobiles and trucks. The footage will also be used for other purposes, including video displays at dealerships and on DVDs shown to individual prospects.
I have shot hundreds of commercials during the past 25-plus years, but this was my most ambitious endeavor to date. It was my eighth co-venture with Tim at the helm during the past 18 months. There was a close collaboration with creative directors from Campbell-Ewald (Chevrolet), Deutsch, Inc. (Saturn) and Leo Burnett (BPG).
Our eight-day production schedule was as precisely choreographed as a ballet. We had four camera crews working simultaneously at practical locations in Denver and Salt Lake City.
Some 120 people were involved in this grand venture, including Teamsters who used 14 trailers to haul the vehicles to the right places at the right times. Both cities have new, attractive, high-density, residential and retail neighborhoods in urban settings, as well as country roads with farms, trees and lush green grass for backgrounds.
A decision was made upfront to produce the running footage in four-perf Super 35 film format with images composed in 4:3 aspect ratio and protected for 16:9. Our goal was to give the editors flexibility to use the same images in HD format composed in 16:9 and in standard definition format in a 4:3 frame without compromising.
The clients wanted footage in bright sunlight with blue skies and green grass in the backgrounds. We shot scenes during mid-mornings and afternoons when the sun was low in the sky and above the horizon, using Kodak VISION2 5205 film. The 250-speed, daylight film enabled us to use longer and slower lenses when needed, sometimes at faster frame rates for slow-motion effects.
When filming cars in city lights at night, my preference is Kodak VISION3 500T 5219 stock, combined with Zeiss Master Prime lenses at stop T1.3. I often have the lab “push” the process one stop to get lush images with true colors and rich black tones. This amazing new emulsion “sees” the night the way the human eye does.
There were no storyboards. We had “shopping lists” in the form of still images of exterior and interior shots and angles . The agencies didn’t want features of people in the cars visible in interior or exterior shots, so we tinted the windows with a gel which made images of drivers into silhouettes.
All four crews had the same instructions regarding exposing the negative, using filtration, comprising composition, creating movement, etc., so footage intercuts seamlessly. I was generally with the first crew filming beauty shots. Sometimes the car was stationary, and other times we were filming a moving vehicle with an ARRIFLEX 435 Xtreme camera and Angenieux 17-102 mm zoom lens on a Technocrane with a Flight Head. I also supervised rig shots filmed by the fourth unit. The spots are showing in their various formats now.
William (Bill) F. Bennett, ASC has compiled 1,000+ TV spot credits.
