By Stacey Jones, Executive of Long Format & Independent Film at Modern Digital, Seattle
Now that Pepsi is paving the way for commercial spots shown theatrically, the rest of the advertising pack won’t be far behind. Based on the increasing likelihood that a broadcast spot won’t live and die in the television realm, it’s important to consider all the potential uses for your spot. Is there any possibility that it will need to be re-purposed for theatrical release? If there is, then before you shoot one frame, there are a few things that should be taken into consideration.
First, are you shooting film or video? If you’re shooting film, you need to shoot Super 16 or above and in 16:9 frame. Why? Because you need to set yourself up to finish in approximately the same aspect ratio as a theater screen. If you shoot in the 4:3 aspect and later decide to go 16:9, you will end up spending valuable time and money either re-transferring your footage or letterboxing the project. Worst of all, you will sacrifice the original framing and creative control if you go the latter route. In other words, when you turn a square into a rectangle, you’re going to lose a little something.
Also, if you are shooting film, you need to consider finishing with the digital intermediate (DI) process. This method allows you to get the most out of your film in terms of both resolution and color information.
If you’re shooting video, you need to shoot HD. Anything less would require up-resing your spot to HD, forfeiting resolution and production value. There is a myth that in order to get your project into the HD realm, all you need to do is up-res. True, you can take any format and get it to HD, but you can only work with the resolution of the capture medium. Up-resing is essentially adding pixels that weren’t there to begin with, so you end up with a softer image, and you undoubtedly do a disservice to the client’s product. By shooting HD, you’ll have more control and flexibility should the broadcast medium change. Plus, you’re already in the 16:9 space–there’s no need to re-format. Lastly, if your spot is being shown in a theater that has digital (HD) projection, you’ll automatically be ready to go.
Color is huge, and when we say huge, we’re talking 50-foot-screen huge. You can prepare for the large screen by using a color grading facility that offers projected color correction. That way, you can grade for the environment in which your spot will be shown. Spots look very different when shown on a CRT monitor than when projected in a theater. If you didn’t shoot with a theatrical release in mind, go to your post house and find out what it will take to re-grade your spot.
If you plan ahead for a theatrical release, you prepare your spot for not only the movie theater, but for the home theater as well. These consumers are anxiously awaiting the experience of wide-screen content, and your 16:9 presentation is guaranteed to hold their attention.After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More