Geico Spoof 1 day shoot and Edit. at DVinfo.net

Mike Watkins · February 1st, 2009, 10:28 PM

Commercial some friends of mine and I made for our church Missions Month.

Shot on XHA1 edited on FCP6. No Color Correction and no adapter.

This was my first go at an acted scene. All set up shot and cut in one day.

Looking for any critiques and comments. I've spotted couple of continuity issues in the editing phase. Won't reshoot for this commercial. A written script would probably have helped.

See it here...Oh yeah, I'll be posting a new version with some cosmetic touch up on one of the actors(has a large blemish, I'm working on it in Shake4.1)

Anyway:

Missions Geico Spoof on Vimeo

Thanks,

Mike Watkins

Bill Thesken · February 2nd, 2009, 11:39 PM

Maybe a tad too short. Any clips left over to add to it, a shift in speed and POV, like closeups of the players eyes, arched eyebrows etc., slow motion sweat from the tension sliding off the chin prior to the wife walking in? Otherwise, very nice, my teenager was looking over my shoulder while I listened on headphones, and he's bugging me to see the Geico commercial, so good job.

Mike Watkins · February 3rd, 2009, 06:00 PM

Thanks for the reply Bill and taking the time to post. Unfortunately, most of the other shots are redundant. This was one of those "Hey wanna come over tomorrow and put together an idea I have" type of moments. Pretty rushed, but overall captured the idea I had.

Next time I'll have the shots a bit more planned and not so on the fly.

Hope your son liked it!

Thanks again.

Anyone else? Critique me, it'll only make me better...

Mike Watkins

Dale Guthormsen · February 3rd, 2009, 07:27 PM

I watched in and had a good laugh.

The guy's retort in quick defens, "Oh, whoever wins will donate tomissions and get the receipt!""

good job. Gets the point across.

Mike Watkins · February 3rd, 2009, 08:35 PM

Thanks Dale. We had a fun time shooting it as well. We've got a few more knock-off ideas we'll be shooting and I'll post them on here.

Mike Watkins

Danny Aldaca · February 5th, 2009, 12:11 PM

Nicely done. Can you tell me what preset you use?

Mike Watkins · February 5th, 2009, 05:45 PM

Thanks Danny.

I've been using a slightly modified True Color preset. I'll have to go into the camera later tonight to write down the modifications that were made to the preset.

Camera was set at 24f, and the scene was lit with 2- 1k softboxes placed opposing each other. Some ambient light bled in from the windows in the adjacent room.

Other than that, there was no color correction done in post. I really have to watch white balance in our home because of all of the orange tones in our walls/decor.

thanks for watching.

anyone else?

Mike Watkins · February 7th, 2009, 06:10 PM

Basically I adjusted the true color preset as per Brandon Freeman's post below...

quoted:
Brandon Freeman

"I find that I still prefer leaving Gamma at CineGamma 2 for projects that I like to treat as film (I use Gamma 1 for "film footage" going to someone else for their project, as Gamma 2 does require some correction for tv viewing). I also leave the master pedestal at 0, as I don't want to risk clipping -- but do have the set-up level down to -4, and sharpening at -4.

However, what I glean from this preset is the colors themselves. I have never seen such great looking footage from this camera as I have when using these colors. True to form, no exaggeration -- I believe this IS the film look; natural colors. Video is infamous for exaggerating reds and blues, and this gets it just about right.

For me, that is the attraction of this preset. No need to tweak anything, because I want real colors in the first place. Any tweaks in color I want I'll achieve with color temperature adjustments in white balance and lighting."

This is the preset I use for most all that I shoot.

Thanks for viewing...

Mike Watkins

February 1st, 2009, 10:28 PM	#1
Mike Watkins Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Burleson, TX Posts: 131	Geico Spoof 1 day shoot and Edit. Commercial some friends of mine and I made for our church Missions Month. Shot on XHA1 edited on FCP6. No Color Correction and no adapter. This was my first go at an acted scene. All set up shot and cut in one day. Looking for any critiques and comments. I've spotted couple of continuity issues in the editing phase. Won't reshoot for this commercial. A written script would probably have helped. See it here...Oh yeah, I'll be posting a new version with some cosmetic touch up on one of the actors(has a large blemish, I'm working on it in Shake4.1) Anyway: Missions Geico Spoof on Vimeo Thanks, Mike Watkins

February 3rd, 2009, 06:00 PM	#3
Mike Watkins Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Burleson, TX Posts: 131	Thanks for the reply Bill and taking the time to post. Unfortunately, most of the other shots are redundant. This was one of those "Hey wanna come over tomorrow and put together an idea I have" type of moments. Pretty rushed, but overall captured the idea I had. Next time I'll have the shots a bit more planned and not so on the fly. Hope your son liked it! Thanks again. Anyone else? Critique me, it'll only make me better... Mike Watkins Last edited by Mike Watkins; February 3rd, 2009 at 08:38 PM.

February 3rd, 2009, 07:27 PM	#4
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	I watched in and had a good laugh. The guy's retort in quick defens, "Oh, whoever wins will donate tomissions and get the receipt!"" good job. Gets the point across. __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

February 7th, 2009, 06:10 PM	#8
Mike Watkins Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Burleson, TX Posts: 131	here are the preset changes I made... Basically I adjusted the true color preset as per Brandon Freeman's post below... quoted: Brandon Freeman "I find that I still prefer leaving Gamma at CineGamma 2 for projects that I like to treat as film (I use Gamma 1 for "film footage" going to someone else for their project, as Gamma 2 does require some correction for tv viewing). I also leave the master pedestal at 0, as I don't want to risk clipping -- but do have the set-up level down to -4, and sharpening at -4. However, what I glean from this preset is the colors themselves. I have never seen such great looking footage from this camera as I have when using these colors. True to form, no exaggeration -- I believe this IS the film look; natural colors. Video is infamous for exaggerating reds and blues, and this gets it just about right. For me, that is the attraction of this preset. No need to tweak anything, because I want real colors in the first place. Any tweaks in color I want I'll achieve with color temperature adjustments in white balance and lighting." This is the preset I use for most all that I shoot. Thanks for viewing... Mike Watkins

February 2nd, 2009, 11:39 PM	#2
Bill Thesken Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: HI, USA Posts: 622	Maybe a tad too short. Any clips left over to add to it, a shift in speed and POV, like closeups of the players eyes, arched eyebrows etc., slow motion sweat from the tension sliding off the chin prior to the wife walking in? Otherwise, very nice, my teenager was looking over my shoulder while I listened on headphones, and he's bugging me to see the Geico commercial, so good job.

February 3rd, 2009, 08:35 PM	#5
Mike Watkins Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Burleson, TX Posts: 131	Thanks Dale. We had a fun time shooting it as well. We've got a few more knock-off ideas we'll be shooting and I'll post them on here. Mike Watkins

February 5th, 2009, 12:11 PM	#6
Danny Aldaca New Boot Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 9	Nicely done. Can you tell me what preset you use?

February 5th, 2009, 05:45 PM	#7
Mike Watkins Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Burleson, TX Posts: 131	Thanks Danny. I've been using a slightly modified True Color preset. I'll have to go into the camera later tonight to write down the modifications that were made to the preset. Camera was set at 24f, and the scene was lit with 2- 1k softboxes placed opposing each other. Some ambient light bled in from the windows in the adjacent room. Other than that, there was no color correction done in post. I really have to watch white balance in our home because of all of the orange tones in our walls/decor. thanks for watching. anyone else?