Promo Clip with cute girls.

A quick promo I did for my old watering hole I used to hang out at when I lived in Atlanta.

As always, thanks for watching!! And of course c&c always welcome.

http://vimeo.com/29193​536

Watchable but not one of your best Mr P, if I may be so bold. It would be exceptional for many of us but your work is generally of such high standard.

I liked some of the pulled focus from blur but it might have been used a bit much IMHO. Also some to the hand held stuff seemed a little arbitrary as what the intended subject was, most notable with the girl with the sign.

Being really picky here but, as I said, your work has been sooooo good and I am jealous that you get to film so many good looking girls

John Sims wrote in post #13336248
Watchable but not one of your best Mr P, if I may be so bold. It would be exceptional for many of us but your work is generally of such high standard.

I liked some of the pulled focus from blur but it might have been used a bit much IMHO. Also some to the hand held stuff seemed a little arbitrary as what the intended subject was, most notable with the girl with the sign.

Being really picky here but, as I said, your work has been sooooo good and I am jealous that you get to film so many good looking girls

No, please BE PICKY! I love picky and bold! It makes me better, John.

I get what you're saying with the excessive pulled focus stuff...thinking about it, I can see why it's done (NO EXCUSES EVER FROM ME EVER SO YOU'RE NOT GONNA GET ONE!)

And that's funny, I loved the shot of the girls with the sign. The goal was to grab your eye with the pretty ladies so you would see what they were promoting. Didn't work, huh?

Well thank you, sir. I'll have to attempt to redeem myself... Hmmm?

Nice Job, im afraid I agree, Too myuch out of focus stuff. Cut it a little tighter, do a real GFX over the girlwith the sign and work the tag into the spot somehow and you have a real nice spot. Good rough cut.

Great stuff you have here, after reading the comments I expected something, well, not quite as good as it was. That said: I was actually impressed with how good of a video it is!

People love to share critique, I get it, but the truth is people advance naturally and artistically without all the descending voices online sharing their 'opinions' about what's wrong. I get it, I do, but at the same time all I want to say is that you're doing good work, and you should keep doing it. I can critique anything to some degree, I can inject myself personally into anyones work and insist changes should be made, but, at what point do I just allow you the elbow room to make artistic decisions on your own account?

It wasn't difficult to watch, it was easy on the eyes and chances are your next video will be even better.

Keep up the good work!

lecherro wrote in post #13337592
Nice Job, im afraid I agree, Too myuch out of focus stuff. Cut it a little tighter, do a real GFX over the girlwith the sign and work the tag into the spot somehow and you have a real nice spot. Good rough cut.

Thanks!! Appreciate your feedback and for watching my stuff!

Mancry wrote in post #13337721
Great stuff you have here, after reading the comments I expected something, well, not quite as good as it was. That said: I was actually impressed with how good of a video it is!

People love to share critique, I get it, but the truth is people advance naturally and artistically without all the descending voices online sharing their 'opinions' about what's wrong. I get it, I do, but at the same time all I want to say is that you're doing good work, and you should keep doing it. I can critique anything to some degree, I can inject myself personally into anyones work and insist changes should be made, but, at what point do I just allow you the elbow room to make artistic decisions on your own account?

It wasn't difficult to watch, it was easy on the eyes and chances are your next video will be even better.

Keep up the good work!

Well I will definitely continue to do more videos, that's for sure.

Definitely appreciate your words...thanks!!

Cetre, Got to agree with John and lecherro, the sign part was "odd." The dip down to the sign and cutting the frame across her face didn't work as well as I think it might have. The focus on the cute girls is a winner of course, that always works in ads. And I assume thats what this was was, an ad for the bar/restaurant. It is so close. Just trimming some of the slower parts, maybe faster cuts. and getting the girl to raise that sign higher so you wouldn't have to dip so low to read the info on it are my only real suggestions.

I've worked on so many :30 TV spots over the years. It almost gets to be a forumla for some places. I'm glad to say that your :44 ad wasn't like that at all. Yes I have seen ads like that before and have worked on them too. Get a bunch of cute girls to drive the guys to your place, show people having fun and enjoying themselves, shoot the food, drinks and entertainment and you have a ad for a restaurant X or bar Y, but it works and what else are you going to show?

A good ad evokes a feeling in people, making them want to go to that business and experience what you shot. I think if it was tightened up a touch you'd be hitting this one out of the park just like your other vids and evoking those emotions.

A question though, why was it a 44 second ad? Where did this appear? Was it ment for web only? Just asking.

ChasWG wrote in post #13338859
Cetre, Got to agree with John and lecherro, the sign part was "odd." The dip down to the sign and cutting the frame across her face didn't work as well as I think it might have. The focus on the cute girls is a winner of course, that always works in ads. And I assume thats what this was was, an ad for the bar/restaurant. It is so close. Just trimming some of the slower parts, maybe faster cuts. and getting the girl to raise that sign higher so you wouldn't have to dip so low to read the info on it are my only real suggestions.

I've worked on so many :30 TV spots over the years. It almost gets to be a forumla for some places. I'm glad to say that your :44 ad wasn't like that at all. Yes I have seen ads like that before and have worked on them too. Get a bunch of cute girls to drive the guys to your place, show people having fun and enjoying themselves, shoot the food, drinks and entertainment and you have a ad for a restaurant X or bar Y, but it works and what else are you going to show?

A good ad evokes a feeling in people, making them want to go to that business and experience what you shot. I think if it was tightened up a touch you'd be hitting this one out of the park just like your other vids and evoking those emotions.

A question though, why was it a 44 second ad? Where did this appear? Was it ment for web only? Just asking.

Chas, thanks!!

This was a first-time kind of thing I did for this particular restaurant. I'd done photos for the menu a few months prior and (over a few beers) suggested to the owner "Hey, let's do a quick clip for your Restaurant's Facebook page?!" To which he slurred..."Hell, why not!" So I kind of had the freedom to shoot whatever I wanted and cut what I wanted...thus it didn't matter what the TRT was.

I actually liked doing the project and could see myself doing more of these...I guess you could say that this was the first one to see if I could do it??? Your suggestions are great...thanks!!!

Yeah, commercials are fun because you get to create your own reality of sorts. I've done all sorts of different types of video shoots over the years and I still love doing commercials because someone is paying you to be as creative as possible to sell a product, service or idea.

I used to be hired to shoot this group of car dealerships in the Denver area. I shot them as well as did the sound and directed the talent (car salesmen, service managers and sale managers). It was a kind of odd, one-off thing I did for a certain client. I usually stick to doing sound, but I know my way around cameras pretty good. So this car dealership had this idea for a sale they were running and the sales manager had a grandiose idea that there was no way that my grip and I could pull off. We didn't have enough people, time or equipment. I listened to his idea, mulled it over and then came up with something else that was completely do-able, but I would need a few sales guys to help out.

It's an old, old idea that usually isn't done much anymore. A very cheesy bit of TV magic. And it all depended on the sales manger delivering the lines to not move once he delivered the first half of his script.

Lock the camera down on a wide shot which included the sales manager and two or three cars and trucks around him. The sales manager delivers the first part of the script and then says, "And when they're gone..." (and he snaps his fingers), pause, pause, pause, stop rolling the camera and the sales manager can not move at all while three sales guys just off camera jump into the cars and drive them out of the shot. Once cleared I start the camera again and the sales manager delivers the rest of the sentence, "...they're gone!" It worked so well that the edit was almost done in camera perfectly. Maybe a we bit of a trim was done and it worked perfectly. A locked down camera jump cut that all depended on the sales manager not moving an inch.
yeah, a stupid old trick, but it worked in that situation and the client loved it. They loved it so much that word got out to the other two dealerships in that group and they wanted something just as cool but different. I was totally Fuc%ed!!!! Now I had to come up with something new for the other dealerships. CRAP!

It was fun to do and play with and it actually worked well for them. They ran the piss out of that ad for a while. But the lesson is this: don't be too cool and creative all the time, people will only expect more, better stuff from you.

I think you're feeling some of that here on POTN with your work!

ChasWG wrote in post #13340126
Yeah, commercials are fun because you get to create your own reality of sorts. I've done all sorts of different types of video shoots over the years and I still love doing commercials because someone is paying you to be as creative as possible to sell a product, service or idea.

I used to be hired to shoot this group of car dealerships in the Denver area. I shot them as well as did the sound and directed the talent (car salesmen, service managers and sale managers). It was a kind of odd, one-off thing I did for a certain client. I usually stick to doing sound, but I know my way around cameras pretty good. So this car dealership had this idea for a sale they were running and the sales manager had a grandiose idea that there was no way that my grip and I could pull off. We didn't have enough people, time or equipment. I listened to his idea, mulled it over and then came up with something else that was completely do-able, but I would need a few sales guys to help out.

It's an old, old idea that usually isn't done much anymore. A very cheesy bit of TV magic. And it all depended on the sales manger delivering the lines to not move once he delivered the first half of his script.

Lock the camera down on a wide shot which included the sales manager and two or three cars and trucks around him. The sales manager delivers the first part of the script and then says, "And when they're gone..." (and he snaps his fingers), pause, pause, pause, stop rolling the camera and the sales manager can not move at all while three sales guys just off camera jump into the cars and drive them out of the shot. Once cleared I start the camera again and the sales manager delivers the rest of the sentence, "...they're gone!" It worked so well that the edit was almost done in camera perfectly. Maybe a we bit of a trim was done and it worked perfectly. A locked down camera jump cut that all depended on the sales manager not moving an inch.
yeah, a stupid old trick, but it worked in that situation and the client loved it. They loved it so much that word got out to the other two dealerships in that group and they wanted something just as cool but different. I was totally Fuc%ed!!!! Now I had to come up with something new for the other dealerships. CRAP!

It was fun to do and play with and it actually worked well for them. They ran the piss out of that ad for a while. But the lesson is this: don't be too cool and creative all the time, people will only expect more, better stuff from you.

I think you're feeling some of that here on POTN with your work!

Thanks! The crazy thing is that I'm one of those guys that WANTS to be pushed so that I do create better work. And I think I've been like that for some time and because of it I've been awarded some really grand opportunities (I directed an Oscar winner once), and have worked with some really incredible people. And I know that had I not pushed myself, taken the criticism (which I STILL welcome), I would have never gotten a lot of those opportunities. I appreciate all of your input, and enjoyed your story about your spot...which I'd love to see!!

It was just a 30 sec "commercial", I didn't take it for more or some really artistic peace. The previous comments made me think I was missing something LOL! I started questioning myself like "wait, was I supposed to gleam deep meaning and artistic quality??" I watched it and thought it was fine. Shows how good your work is when you get ridden a bit for your simple stuff. Hell of a compliment if you ask me!!

BrickR wrote in post #13340687
It was just a 30 sec "commercial", I didn't take it for more or some really artistic peace. The previous comments made me think I was missing something LOL! I started questioning myself like "wait, was I supposed to gleam deep meaning and artistic quality??" I watched it and thought it was fine. Shows how good your work is when you get ridden a bit for your simple stuff. Hell of a compliment if you ask me!!

A definite compliment that I appreciate a great deal!

Hahah nice!

Nice clip. The only thing I can add to what's already been said is I'd consider cutting the clip that's at about 3 seconds... the one that starts out of focus but then focuses on an outlet. Maybe you were going for the guitar playing guy, but my eyes are drawn to the outlet instead. Cutting that might help the "too much pulled focus" issue.