How to Bring a TV Commercial to Life
Top Production house kenya
Top Production house Kenya
Recently I ( Philippe Bresson ) received a storyboard that I thought was rather simple. So I had to figure out how to bring it to life and turn it into something that would get peoples’ attention in a pool of 30sec commercials. This article takes you through the mind of a Director and how to bring your TV commercial to life.
Spoiler Alert : I’ve attached some screengrabs from the final TVC that was shot in Nairobi, Kenya.
Here’s a snippet of the original storyboard
DIRECTORS APPROACH
So here are a few things that I adapted to make the commercial hot.
1 .GREAT LOCATION
- I’ve shot at the arboretum in Nairobi before and thought it would be the perfect location for this TVC. I also loved the fact that there are sections of arboretum that aren’t covered in shadows from trees. This meant that lighting wouldn’t be too much of a challenge, luckily though the weather gave us full cloud coverage on the day of the shoot.
2. START IT WITH A BANG
The initial storyboard begins with two people jogging,
So I thought it would be better to begin with the pre –jogging process. The couple tying the shoe laces, stretching, sky shots to establish time of day, my vision was to use these shots to create the anticipation for the build up for the jog.
3. USED DETAILED SHOTS
I chose to shoot a tight of the principals foot as they begun the run. Detail shots of hands, sweat etc build the intensity as the TVC runs, and gives you a more 3D experience. Keep in mind the storyboard indicated the ad begins with two principals jogging.
4. CLOSE UPS & MIDS
Finally it was time to reveal the talent in action and the brief from the client was to have the models ‘ look like they have ran a marathon.’ This was achieved with close ups (aided by sound effects of breathing hard etc), the close up and mids of the models captured the struggle endured from jogging which will lead to them being thirsty
5. STORYLINE SUMMARY
This is the moment we reveal the product and subject’s motivation to drinking the water. The storyboard called for both characters to be on the frame at the end of the commercial
Top Production house kenya
So I chose to show them drinking the water individually with emphasis on tight closeups of the product and the sweat dripping from their bodies.