View Full Version : Commercial "Need Ink?"


Joshua Clarke
May 29th, 2007, 09:16 PM
Hey all,

We recently shot a commercial for a local client spoofing the HP photo frame ad campaign. If you'd like to view it, you can go here:

https://webftp.dreamhost.com/index.php?ftpserver=merkur.dreamhost.com&ftpserverport=21&username=joshuaclarke&password_encrypted=5A65466838523437&language=en&skin=blue&ftpmode=binary&passivemode=yes&sslconnect=no&viewmode=list&sort=&sortorder=&directory=/actcommercial&entry=needink_hi.wmv&state=downloadfile

I apologize for the obnoxiously long URL. Our website is in something of a limbo right now and I'm trying to figure out FTP stuff.

I hope you enjoy the commercial.

Paolo Ciccone
May 29th, 2007, 10:11 PM
That's really funny Joshua. Congratulations.

George David
May 29th, 2007, 10:33 PM
I absolutely love it. Your commercial just gave me an idea for my documentary :-) Great job on that fading ink stuff.

Ben Lynn
May 30th, 2007, 05:59 AM
That was a great piece. Nice job.

Ben

Joshua Clarke
May 30th, 2007, 07:42 AM
I also need to apologize for the splash screen at the end. The client did not get the proper logo, which was much cleaner and legible, to me in time before we went to the presses. So I had to use that rather unfortunate .pdf of the van. Excuses excuses... I really should change it.

Dennis Robinson
May 30th, 2007, 08:09 AM
I love it too! Very clever,... but I cant understand how it is done. Is it with layers freeze framed or how?

Ted Ramasola
May 30th, 2007, 09:46 AM
Hahaha! your model made the board work! congrats! its funny!

Joshua Clarke
May 30th, 2007, 11:00 AM
I love it too! Very clever,... but I cant understand how it is done. Is it with layers freeze framed or how?

Dennis,

My initial thought was that there would be a way to do it in After Effects or with Motion or some other program I'm not entirely familiar with. We settled with a rather lo-tech process through CS2. We exported the take as lossless PNGs and extracted a still of her as a layer, and just moved it along with the frame, keeping it attached to the inside corners of the matte with Distort. I'm not entirely happy with this process, as I'm sure there was a much easier, less time-consuming, and more accurate way of doing it.

For those interested, here are some stats.

Camera: JVC HD100u
Lens: Fujinon Th16 x 5.5 at ~15mm, f/2.8
Frame rate: HDV 30p
Scene File: Tim Dashwood's Warm
AE Shift: +2
Lighting: Arri 650 Fresnel through homemade diffusion frame, Arri 300 Fresnel with Chimera Softbox for the 650 jury-rigged on, 2 Arri 150s, and bead board.

Unfortunately, this is all the lighting that was available to me as we're a small outfit and had no budget. Therefore, I ran out of lights and wasn't able to model our actress as I would have liked. I also erroneously took the advice of others on this board and turned the detail down to -7. While it looks great on an HD display, it's far too soft for it's SD broadcast, and the local Comcast channel here in Charleston has horrible standards as it is. I'm sure -7 works great for the higher priced Fujinon lenses and the 35mm adaptors, but not for the stock lens. I'm sure this has been stated before, but I think I need to make the mistake myself to figure it out.

Tim Dashwood
May 30th, 2007, 11:35 AM
I also erroneously took the advice of others on this board and turned the detail down to -7. While it looks great on an HD display, it's far too soft for it's SD broadcast, and the local Comcast channel here in Charleston has horrible standards as it is. I'm sure -7 works great for the higher priced Fujinon lenses and the 35mm adaptors, but not for the stock lens. I'm sure this has been stated before, but I think I need to make the mistake myself to figure it out.

Joshua,

You didn't make a mistake, you did exactly the right thing and have given yourself options. You now have a great looking HD master, and can add sharpening back in very easily for the SD version.

If you are working in FCP, just apply the "unsharp mask" filter to a SD nest of your HD sequence. Make sure you are watching a live downconverted feed to a broadcast monitor or TV. You can adjust it anyway you'd like, but I'd suggest a tolerance of around 10, a radius of about 5, and then adjust the intensity until you are happy.

This is exactly what the sharpen control in the camera's DSP would have done for you, but at least you now have full control over how you want to sharpen the image.

Joshua Clarke
May 30th, 2007, 02:57 PM
Joshua,

You didn't make a mistake, you did exactly the right thing and have given yourself options. You now have a great looking HD master, and can add sharpening back in very easily for the SD version.

If you are working in FCP, just apply the "unsharp mask" filter to a SD nest of your HD sequence. Make sure you are watching a live downconverted feed to a broadcast monitor or TV. You can adjust it anyway you'd like, but I'd suggest a tolerance of around 10, a radius of about 5, and then adjust the intensity until you are happy.

This is exactly what the sharpen control in the camera's DSP would have done for you, but at least you now have full control over how you want to sharpen the image.

Tim,

You're completely right. That's a solution I never even thought of. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until if and when the client asks for changes to sharpen it up. I can still do this for the web version though. Thanks for your help, Tim.

Steve Oakley
May 31st, 2007, 12:30 AM
the problem with sharpening is that it WILL bring out EVERY compression artifact in the image. been there done that. it looks horrendous on a large 16ft screen. it jumps right out bad enough anyone can see it. bad bad bad ! you might get away with it for SD only delivery, but if its going to a large screen, it will not be good.

FWIW, the HD100 is the first camera I have not had the urge to slap a 1/4 black promist on, and I've shot on everything.

also the link doesn't work, it produces an error message in safari.

Brian Luce
May 31st, 2007, 03:04 AM
.

also the link doesn't work, it produces an error message in safari.

ditto for firefox.

Also had issued with your website. Dunno whose end its on...

Stephen L. Noe
May 31st, 2007, 07:02 AM
Hey all,

We recently shot a commercial for a local client spoofing the HP photo frame ad campaign. If you'd like to view it, you can go here:

https://webftp.dreamhost.com/index.php?ftpserver=merkur.dreamhost.com&ftpserverport=21&username=joshuaclarke&password_encrypted=5A65466838523437&language=en&skin=blue&ftpmode=binary&passivemode=yes&sslconnect=no&viewmode=list&sort=&sortorder=&directory=/actcommercial&entry=needink_hi.wmv&state=downloadfile

I apologize for the obnoxiously long URL. Our website is in something of a limbo right now and I'm trying to figure out FTP stuff.

I hope you enjoy the commercial.

bad link...

Joshua Clarke
May 31st, 2007, 07:23 AM
Right, I'm sorry guys. I'm having to reupload everything onto our site. I'll let you know as soon as it gets back up.

Joshua Clarke
June 2nd, 2007, 11:06 PM
Back up and running:

http://www.sect1.com/files/act/needink_hi.wmv

Dennis Robinson
July 18th, 2007, 10:34 PM
Hey all,

We recently shot a commercial for a local client spoofing the HP photo frame ad campaign. If you'd like to view it, you can go here:

https://webftp.dreamhost.com/index.php?ftpserver=merkur.dreamhost.com&ftpserverport=21&username=joshuaclarke&password_encrypted=5A65466838523437&language=en&skin=blue&ftpmode=binary&passivemode=yes&sslconnect=no&viewmode=list&sort=&sortorder=&directory=/actcommercial&entry=needink_hi.wmv&state=downloadfile

I apologize for the obnoxiously long URL. Our website is in something of a limbo right now and I'm trying to figure out FTP stuff.

I hope you enjoy the commercial.

Hi Joshua,
I notice the commercial is not available anymore, Is there a way i can have a look at it again. My email is dennisrobinson1@bigpond.com
Regards,
Dennis

Uli Mors
July 19th, 2007, 02:07 AM
great job!

What I like as well is the transition of the letters Ink Toner Service -> ITīS

ULI

David Scattergood
July 19th, 2007, 04:10 AM
Hi Joshua,
I notice the commercial is not available anymore, Is there a way i can have a look at it again. My email is dennisrobinson1@bigpond.com
Regards,
Dennis

Dennis - it's been uploaded again at the bottom of page one (the WMV file).

Fantastic!

Dennis Robinson
July 31st, 2007, 04:11 AM
[QUOTE=Joshua Clarke;689050]Dennis,

My initial thought was that there would be a way to do it in After Effects or with Motion or some other program I'm not entirely familiar with. We settled with a rather lo-tech process through CS2. We exported the take as lossless PNGs and extracted a still of her as a layer, and just moved it along with the frame, keeping it attached to the inside corners of the matte with Distort. I'm not entirely happy with this process, as I'm sure there was a much easier, less time-consuming, and more accurate way of doing it.

Hi Joshua,
Can you please explain how you did this more thoroughly. I am not a novice but need to understand a lot more. If you can point me in the direction step by step it would be fantastic. I have already spent hours on this but havnt got it right. I really want to be able to do this. Thanks for your help.

Dennis Robinson
August 1st, 2007, 10:51 AM
[QUOTE=Joshua Clarke;689050]Dennis,

My initial thought was that there would be a way to do it in After Effects or with Motion or some other program I'm not entirely familiar with. We settled with a rather lo-tech process through CS2. We exported the take as lossless PNGs and extracted a still of her as a layer, and just moved it along with the frame, keeping it attached to the inside corners of the matte with Distort. I'm not entirely happy with this process, as I'm sure there was a much easier, less time-consuming, and more accurate way of doing it.

Hi Joshua,
Can you please explain how you did this more thoroughly. I am not a novice but need to understand a lot more. If you can point me in the direction step by step it would be fantastic. I have already spent hours on this but havnt got it right. I really want to be able to do this. Thanks for your help.

Hi, Is there anyone else who can chip in with ideas how this is done.?

Jordi Dusanek
August 5th, 2007, 02:47 AM
http://www.cmivfx.com/m/hp_style_cmivfx.mov

Here is a videotutorial that explains a very similar effect. It's done with Fusion but I think it can be made in any other VFX application (Shake, AE, Nuke...)

Dennis Robinson
August 5th, 2007, 03:30 AM
http://www.cmivfx.com/m/hp_style_cmivfx.mov

Here is a videotutorial that explains a very similar effect. It's done with Fusion but I think it can be made in any other VFX application (Shake, AE, Nuke...)

Thanks Jordi but i cant seem to open the movie. All I get is the Quicktime logo

Jordi Dusanek
August 5th, 2007, 03:36 AM
http://www.cmivfx.com/tutorials.asp

Try it from there. Is the tutorial number 23. Instead of clicking on it, use the right mouse button and Save as... . I've just tried it and works fine

Dennis Robinson
August 5th, 2007, 03:40 AM
http://www.cmivfx.com/tutorials.asp

Try it from there. Is the tutorial number 23. Instead of clicking on it, use the right mouse button and Save as... . I've just tried it and works fine

Thanks Jordi, downloading as we speak.