First off let me quickly apologize for the lack of posting in the past couple weeks, but I've been out of town for the Holidays - and just got back to the city Saturday night.
However on the way back (I drove - from KY ... nice little 5 hour jaunt) I got a phone call that really was too good to be true. A good friend of mine who I've known since college works for a very large Ad agency up here in Chicago (I won't name drop ... because knowing my luck some exec over there searches the companies name on google every day just hoping to find something like this). He called me up as I was an hour or so into the journey and asked if I was going to be in Chicago the next day (Sunday) and if I was busy. I of course said yes and no (in that order) and so he laid out what I thought was a dream opportunity.
An Executive VP at his firm was in desperate need of a Cameraman/Editor to film a short ad for him on Sunday and then edit it together ASAP - presumably by Monday morning and apparently my friend had suggested me.
I tell him I'm absolutely interested and he let's me know he's passing along my number to the head guy. At this point I probably should have been more skeptical - as really a VP of this company would have access to tons of far more proven people than myself to film something like this - but I blame the hypnotic nature of interstate driving and the fact that the turn around time was so super fast.
Anyway The VP called me asked a bit about my credentials, equipment I had, editing software, etc - asked my availability for Sunday - and then told me he'd get back to me in a couple hours to let me know. This all increased my assumption that this was going to rock - hell there was some sort of screening process - it had to be legit right?
He calls me back and tells me that if I'm interested the shoot starts at 10am and he'll shoot me an e-mail with his ideas for the ad, a few more details, and the address. So I'm super pumped when I hang up the phone - I have what could be a very lucrative job waiting for me when I get back to the city and also something that might provide me with a great in with this company and even something cool to add to my reel (win win right?).
The rest of the drive seems to fly by and when I get home the first thing I do is check my e-mail. There it is: He give me a break down of what we'll be shooting: One or Two 30 second ad spots on Cyber bullying and lists two detailed ideas of the direction the ads might go - as well as the warning there will be a lot of ad-libbing (which is doubly great, and makes more sense as ad libbing is my speciality and I have a lot of experience filming improvised pieces).
Here are the descriptions:
A. Faceless.
Maybe we dial out the color and go for Black and White.
In an idea world, you pan a bus -- faces. An old woman... a tattooed goth chick... a scruffy unshaven badman... a kid with his father... person after person... until there a guy who has a pixelated face.
(IF WE CAN'T PIXELATE THE FACE IN EDIT... I will get a little post house help...)
The pixelated face dude walks out of the bus. Maybe we do this in a market place or where ever but you get the idea of "clear faces" and a pixelated one. Hopefully it looks weird (and arresting). We follow the kid walking to his house. He goes inside. He sits at a computer and types the word: Hate.
We cut to a girl at her computer. She reads the note on it BUT it's actually supers directing her on where to get help.
AVO: (During these visuals) Cyberbullying is a faceless crime. But now, you can help put a face on it. Dial 1-800-No-Bully. Now. And see what you can do.
Sounds cool enough for what it is - and I'll get to mess around with using the Cops effect (hooray motion tracking and key frames). So far so good nothing I can't handle.
B. Yelling Kid.
Infinitely "brighter tone" but could also be black and white. A kid yells in the same parking lot. I hate you. You are bad. You are an idiot. You are stupid. (Maybe, gimme your lunch money.) To passerbys. Very simple and rough and Jackass meets the Man Show.
In the end, he follows a lady to her car yelling.
(Now we probably cut to the pixelated dude from above and then to the girl from the above spot).
AVO: You can see most bullies coming. The problem with cyber bully-ing is it's a faceless crime. But you can put a face on it -- and help put a stop to it by calling 800-No Bully. Today.
Ok a lot simple to edit - and probably shoot, but in the end it kind of sounds like we'd be doing both. Fair enough just means that once it'll be a bit of a sleepless night as I edit these to get them ready by the next day.
Anyway Sunday rolls around - I hop up at 8am (the location is out in the burbs and I want to make sure I'm on time) - pack up my equipment, cameras, laptop, mics, and head out the door.
I follow the directions to this nice suburb - pull up in front of a very nice house ... a little confused - I don;t see any other crew yet .. maybe it's just me and the talent .. though I expected more cars for the talent (of course this might just be the staging area ... a lot of possibilities).
I walk up to the front door, juggling my equipment, ready to rock. The door slowly opens to reveal the VP in a robe and slippers, with a mug of coffee in hand. He invites me in and breaks down exactly what we;ll be shooting.
A 30 second ad......for his kid's high school film class.
I inquire about the Bus full of kids .... oh just and idea ...besides he has a better idea.
He leads me into the kitchen where an incredibly old mac is set up on the kitchen table and sitting in front of it is.......his dog.
I spend the morning filming his dog sitting at a computer looking at the word HATE on screen. Positioning his paw to make it look like he's moving the mouse, and to spice things up - convincing his daughter to sit in front of the computer just in case we want to juxtapose it.
But it gets better. The VP also wants me to edit the ad there - on my lap top while he watches...awesome.
So six hours later (we got a lot of different angles on the dog, he wanted extra coverage) I hand him a 30 second ad spot (with multiple back up copies on DVD & Mini-DV tapes ... along with the raw footage in case his son wants to re cut things for his class) starring his dog, and head back to my apartment.... my ego riding shotgun in a tiny box of woe.
However I got paid baby. Booyah - though I doubt I'll be adding this to my reel.
However on the way back (I drove - from KY ... nice little 5 hour jaunt) I got a phone call that really was too good to be true. A good friend of mine who I've known since college works for a very large Ad agency up here in Chicago (I won't name drop ... because knowing my luck some exec over there searches the companies name on google every day just hoping to find something like this). He called me up as I was an hour or so into the journey and asked if I was going to be in Chicago the next day (Sunday) and if I was busy. I of course said yes and no (in that order) and so he laid out what I thought was a dream opportunity.
An Executive VP at his firm was in desperate need of a Cameraman/Editor to film a short ad for him on Sunday and then edit it together ASAP - presumably by Monday morning and apparently my friend had suggested me.
I tell him I'm absolutely interested and he let's me know he's passing along my number to the head guy. At this point I probably should have been more skeptical - as really a VP of this company would have access to tons of far more proven people than myself to film something like this - but I blame the hypnotic nature of interstate driving and the fact that the turn around time was so super fast.
Anyway The VP called me asked a bit about my credentials, equipment I had, editing software, etc - asked my availability for Sunday - and then told me he'd get back to me in a couple hours to let me know. This all increased my assumption that this was going to rock - hell there was some sort of screening process - it had to be legit right?
He calls me back and tells me that if I'm interested the shoot starts at 10am and he'll shoot me an e-mail with his ideas for the ad, a few more details, and the address. So I'm super pumped when I hang up the phone - I have what could be a very lucrative job waiting for me when I get back to the city and also something that might provide me with a great in with this company and even something cool to add to my reel (win win right?).
The rest of the drive seems to fly by and when I get home the first thing I do is check my e-mail. There it is: He give me a break down of what we'll be shooting: One or Two 30 second ad spots on Cyber bullying and lists two detailed ideas of the direction the ads might go - as well as the warning there will be a lot of ad-libbing (which is doubly great, and makes more sense as ad libbing is my speciality and I have a lot of experience filming improvised pieces).
Here are the descriptions:
A. Faceless.
Maybe we dial out the color and go for Black and White.
In an idea world, you pan a bus -- faces. An old woman... a tattooed goth chick... a scruffy unshaven badman... a kid with his father... person after person... until there a guy who has a pixelated face.
(IF WE CAN'T PIXELATE THE FACE IN EDIT... I will get a little post house help...)
The pixelated face dude walks out of the bus. Maybe we do this in a market place or where ever but you get the idea of "clear faces" and a pixelated one. Hopefully it looks weird (and arresting). We follow the kid walking to his house. He goes inside. He sits at a computer and types the word: Hate.
We cut to a girl at her computer. She reads the note on it BUT it's actually supers directing her on where to get help.
AVO: (During these visuals) Cyberbullying is a faceless crime. But now, you can help put a face on it. Dial 1-800-No-Bully. Now. And see what you can do.
Sounds cool enough for what it is - and I'll get to mess around with using the Cops effect (hooray motion tracking and key frames). So far so good nothing I can't handle.
B. Yelling Kid.
Infinitely "brighter tone" but could also be black and white. A kid yells in the same parking lot. I hate you. You are bad. You are an idiot. You are stupid. (Maybe, gimme your lunch money.) To passerbys. Very simple and rough and Jackass meets the Man Show.
In the end, he follows a lady to her car yelling.
(Now we probably cut to the pixelated dude from above and then to the girl from the above spot).
AVO: You can see most bullies coming. The problem with cyber bully-ing is it's a faceless crime. But you can put a face on it -- and help put a stop to it by calling 800-No Bully. Today.
Ok a lot simple to edit - and probably shoot, but in the end it kind of sounds like we'd be doing both. Fair enough just means that once it'll be a bit of a sleepless night as I edit these to get them ready by the next day.
Anyway Sunday rolls around - I hop up at 8am (the location is out in the burbs and I want to make sure I'm on time) - pack up my equipment, cameras, laptop, mics, and head out the door.
I follow the directions to this nice suburb - pull up in front of a very nice house ... a little confused - I don;t see any other crew yet .. maybe it's just me and the talent .. though I expected more cars for the talent (of course this might just be the staging area ... a lot of possibilities).
I walk up to the front door, juggling my equipment, ready to rock. The door slowly opens to reveal the VP in a robe and slippers, with a mug of coffee in hand. He invites me in and breaks down exactly what we;ll be shooting.
A 30 second ad......for his kid's high school film class.
I inquire about the Bus full of kids .... oh just and idea ...besides he has a better idea.
He leads me into the kitchen where an incredibly old mac is set up on the kitchen table and sitting in front of it is.......his dog.
I spend the morning filming his dog sitting at a computer looking at the word HATE on screen. Positioning his paw to make it look like he's moving the mouse, and to spice things up - convincing his daughter to sit in front of the computer just in case we want to juxtapose it.
But it gets better. The VP also wants me to edit the ad there - on my lap top while he watches...awesome.
So six hours later (we got a lot of different angles on the dog, he wanted extra coverage) I hand him a 30 second ad spot (with multiple back up copies on DVD & Mini-DV tapes ... along with the raw footage in case his son wants to re cut things for his class) starring his dog, and head back to my apartment.... my ego riding shotgun in a tiny box of woe.
However I got paid baby. Booyah - though I doubt I'll be adding this to my reel.
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