American TV Ad Production

[Jonnie Lewis]

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

Well 4.2.2 is the colour space and I would be very surprised if a DSLR shoots in 4.2.2 and most HD camera's are 4.2.0 GOP is down to the codec and once again this is relevant to shooting spec as well as just delivery spec as it can affect things a great deal.

As for audio levels there are now laws in the USA that you have to stick to regarding maximum perceived loudness and your ad will need to be dubbed to comply with those as well as broadcast audio levels.

BTW the line up levels for audio are different for the USA to europe as they tend to use -20dbfs as their line up with a max of -12dbfs, europe is -18dbfs with a max of -10dbfs.

The colour bars before the clock will also be different for the USA so best to get a delivery spec from the network.

I would be surprised if the FCC handle all the compliance as their equivalent here is OFCOM and they just handle broadcast licencing and contentious programming issues rather than tech specs and delivery for commercials, Clearcast do that here as well as other agencies and that includes script submissions and captions sizes and styles etc!

Looks like DSLRs do only record in 4:2:0. Another person pointed me in the direction of this great resource for info on colour subsampling:

The Video Road – Color Subsampling, or What is 4:4:4 or 4:2:2??

It doesn't seem like there's any point in converting 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 because the colour information isn't there in the first place. If I did want to convert from 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 (or even 4:2:2 to 4:2:0) how would I go about doing it?

Am I just going to have to avoid using footage shot in anything other than 4:2:2?

I've been in touch with the companies who will record the voice-overs for me and they said they can provide the audio in formats that the broadcasters ask for. Though apparently Audition (which I didn't actually realise I have) is also good for tweaking audio and there's some great info here:

MANAGING AUDIO LEVELS | Audio content from Broadcast Engineering

and here:

How to Get Perfect Audio in Adobe Premiere and Audition

As far as colour bars and tones go... Does everyone that produces TV ads create their own? Or are there colour bar clips that I can download from somewhere? Same question for the clock - do I have to make my own or can I use a pre-made clock?

Originally Posted by David Heath

One approach may be to produce the video, then turn it over to a third party to make sure it meets EXACTLY the criteria needed by the end user. It's conceivable that may differ from broadcaster to broadcaster. Please don't take this the wrong way, but hearing you say "I'm unsure of what 4:2:2 and GOP mean....." makes me think you shouldn't be trying to do this all yourself. We all have to start and learn somewhere, but it shouldn't be on an important job unless you are very sure of what you're doing.

There is no precise meaning, and it would be foolish for anybody to attempt such. The closest you'll get is from the EBU: EBU Technology & Innovation - News - Are your cameras tiered enough for HD? which gives very good recommendations tiered for different types of work. (R118 is the one of most relevance for you.) So "broadcast standard" for drama doesn't mean the same as broadcast standard for news, and different organisations set the bar differently. Note that any minimum standard isn't governed by codec or camera alone - rather a combination of many factors.

As for "What makes the 1080p footage from a broadcast camera different to that of a DSLR?", then take at look at an answer I wrote a few days ago to a similar question - http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/general-...ml#post1770720 - especially the third paragraph.

In the context of what you are interested in, then "broadcast standard" is more about how well it will stand up to the broadcast chain, than the look of the original picture. You may have two sets of images which may look similar in quality straight from their cameras, but by the time they get to the end viewers set, one may still look fairly good, the other will show severe degradation. Artifacts unseen on the original can disturb processing on the transmission path. That's why shooting something and saying "looks good enough to me" isn't enough in the broadcast world.

Best analogy I've heard compares it to food poisoning!! :-) You may have two meals which look, taste and smell the same - but only one may send you to hospital for a nasty few days! Just looking/tasting/smelling food won't neccessarily tell you if it's safe to eat. Think of video aliases like salmonella bugs!

And that's why broadcasters tend to be picky. Why they would prefer not to be given material shot on such as DSLRs. It may be OK, but........

No offence taken - I'm of a similar opinion! I'm in a situation where I just have to try my hardest not to screw up. It would be nice to be in a position where I learn from someone else and help out with the job rather than try to tackle it all from myself, but unfortunately that's not the situation I'm in, which is why I really appreciate all the input I've had across forums so far.

Thanks again for all the great advice I've received - sorry for having so many questions!

[Gary Nattrass]

Sorry and don't take offence but you are way out of your league here if you don't have the basics like clocks and know what colour bars and audio formats are involved etc, the format for the V/O is irrelevant to the delivery format and as this is the USA for delivery you will have to DUB the commercial to their legal loudness standards.

Producing commercials and broadcast quality content involves far more than can be advised on forums such as this and besides if it was that easy all the DSLR brigade would be taking even more work away from the pro companies that do such work.

I appreciate that people may have to learn but you are dealing with pro commercial production here and not just a clip for vimeo or you tube or a DVD release.

As said I did a commercial once in my 33 years broadcast career as a favour to a friend but I will respectfully leave it to the people who do it for a living and have the expertise and knowledge to tick all the boxes that are required in this country never mind the USA.

My basic broadcast clock is here as an example if it helps but as stated before you need to find out the spec that is required for delivery of the commercial as there will be a coding system to be added to the basic clock, the times for line up and colour bars and tone will also be specified and you can not get this information from forums as they will change from network or delivery agencies like clearcast etc:

HDPS Clock Test 720p 5mbs - YouTube

[Jeff Pulera]

In Premiere -

File > New > Bars and Tone

I do wish you the best of luck with this project, but it does seem you are getting in deep.

Use care

[Gary Nattrass]

OK just to show some goodwill and learning here is the advert I did last year as delivered to the client with clocks and line up's as specified by clearcast.

Note absolutely everything from the font size and style, the clock and file identification, the time each caption is on-screen and where they are placed in the frame (14x9 safe FYI) the pacing of the voiceover which lasts exactly 19 seconds (there are around 20 edits in it) with 12 frames mute audio top and tail, the mix of the voice to the background music and if you can do it look at the levels on a proper broadcast and LEQ meter. Also note the 10 sec black at the end and how the commercial also holds last frame for 10 secs too.

The actors??? were friends of the client and the car and smoke machine were mine with the set being the clients home so have a guess what the total budget was?

This was edit number six and as stated before this shows three days work and frustration to get to this point, I suspect the commercial was dropped due to the scandal of such payday loans interest rates and possible legalities from the premiership football league but even though every shot and caption was scripted and every word was cleared the end captions I suspect will still not be on screen for long enough to satisfy clearcast.

And that is for the UK doing a similar for the USA will bring new challenges and you may even have to provide liability insurance for any compliance issues, the colour bars and line up tone levels will be different for a start and it would probably be rejected in the USA as you can see the apple logo on the i-fone being used in shot or even for the t-shirt logo!

PFR PLF001 020 - YouTube

Note this is just an i-phone level copy for viewing only but the full delivery was Pro Res 4.2.2 HQ 1920x1080 25np at around 100 mbs which was the native bit rate it was shot in, more importantly even though this has been compressed down to i-phone level the colour space is still valid and there is no picture break up. That is why high bit rate and colour space shooting is essential, a lot of commercials are still shot on 35mm type cameras as the quality needs to be the best available.

Oh and I forgot it has passed broadcast safe levels for video as well!

[Gary Nattrass]

As further example here is another commercial that was shot using my camera but edited and produced by someone else, I don't think this one got on-air either but not sure why:

British Beef Jerky - YouTube

The music bed was done by me in apple garage band and I recall I dubbed it to broadcast spec as well.

[Rick L. Allen]

Jonnie, ask the networks (or your agency partner) that will be airing your commercial for their commercial delivery specs (the FCC won't be any help). No disrespect intended but as others have said if you don't understand the info they send and the answers you've been given on this forum then you are in over your head. I've produced, shot & edited documentaries, news pieces and commercials for broadcast TV and delivering to network specs is a job all by itself. From the questions you have asked it's clear you lack a basic understanding of broadcast conventions and you are in for a world of pain if you proceed.

[Jonnie Lewis]

Thanks again for all the replies. There's a lot I need to get my head around.

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

My basic broadcast clock is here as an example if it helps but as stated before you need to find out the spec that is required for delivery of the commercial as there will be a coding system to be added to the basic clock, the times for line up and colour bars and tone will also be specified and you can not get this information from forums as they will change from network or delivery agencies like clearcast etc:
HDPS Clock Test 720p 5mbs - YouTube

Thanks for posting that up.

According to Clearcast the clock number is made up by the advertiser or agency while Clearcast make up the agency code to be contained within it.

FAQ, Clearcast, Advertising Services

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

Note absolutely everything from the font size and style, the clock and file identification, the time each caption is on-screen and where they are placed in the frame (14x9 safe FYI) the pacing of the voiceover which lasts exactly 19 seconds (there are around 20 edits in it) with 12 frames mute audio top and tail, the mix of the voice to the background music and if you can do it look at the levels on a proper broadcast and LEQ meter. Also note the 10 sec black at the end and how the commercial also holds last frame for 10 secs too.

PFR PLF001 020 - YouTube

Thanks a lot for posting this as well - it gives me a much better idea of what the final delivery of the ad should look like. Please forgive my ignorance though as I still don't see how the clock relates to the contents of the ad that follows. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to reference the timings of the titles or the holding of the last frame/10 seconds of black.

What is the white frame and blip at the 10 second mark for? And why is there 5 seconds of "ident"?

Originally Posted by Jeff Pulera

In Premiere -

File > New > Bars and Tone

I'd never come across that menu item before - thanks! Hopefully if broadcasters have specifics about the bars and tones I'll be able to set them up through the options...

[quote=Rick L. Allen;1773402]Jonnie, ask the networks (or your agency partner) that will be airing your commercial for their commercial delivery specs (the FCC won't be any help)./QUOTE]

No offence taken, Rick. I'm definitely out of my league but I just have to try my hardest to get my head around this. My boss has an American-based film/TV producer contact that I may end up collaborating with, but I need to try and understand as much as possible myself (with the thanks to these replies!)

As I mentioned in my initial post, I've been in touch with a number of US networks. The ones who have come back are PBS, Fox, Azteca, NBC and ABC.

NBC pointed me in the direction of dgit.com which is the portal they use for having adverts submitted. I got in touch with them and they said, "The US don't have a body like Clearcast in the UK so there is no defined compliance rules. The stations regulate themselves and determine what they will or won't allow."

And they also said, "As long as the commercial meets our specifications it can apparently be filmed on this camera (5D MKIII).
Stock footage is also allowed, but again must meet the specs and the content must of course be legal. Also it is up to each individual broadcaster in the US to clear the commercials, so if they deem the footage is of significantly poor quality then they can reject it, however they are a lot more lenient than in the UK and I have seen ads air there that would never be allowed here.

They also pointed me to this page which contains all the NBC guidelines with regards to what the ad can and can't do in terms of content:

https://nbcuadstandards.com/guidelines.nbc

It doesn't have any mention of clocks, bars and tones, timings, ISCI or AD-IDs though.

I've also been forwarded a document from KCOY which details the following:

1 - Length should be an exact 5, 10, 20, 30, or 60 seconds (no black or slate)

2 - The file should be named using this convention:client name-spot title-format. e.g. Ford-Drive One-HD.mov
Format being: HD (high definition) or SD (standard definition).

3 - Video must meet FCC regulations:
Chroma level must not exceed 100 IRE or below -20 IRE Video level must not exceed 100 IRE
Black Level must not go below 7.5 IRE

4 - Format Specifications (Standard Definition (525i))
Container format: Quicktime Movie
Frame rate: 29.97fps
Video codec: H.264 (limit data rate to 25Mbps (24414 kbits/sec))
Acceptable frame sizes: 720x480(DV/D1 pixel aspect ratio), 720x486 (DV/D1 pixel aspect ratio), 640x480(square pixels), 720x540(square pixels)
Audio: uncompressed (.aiff) 48kHz 24-bit
AUDIO PEAK LEVEL MUST NOT EXCEED -12dB

High Definition (1080i)
Container format: Quicktime Movie
Frame rate: 29.97fps
Video codec: H.264 (limit data rate to 25Mbps (24414 kbits/sec))
Acceptable frame sizes: 1920x1080(square pixels), 1280x1080(DVCProHD pixel aspect ratio), 1440x1080(HDV pixel aspect ratio)
Audio: uncompressed (.aiff) 48kHz 24-bit
AUDIO PEAK LEVEL MUST NOT EXCEED -12dB

6 – To deliver your file, you may visit kcoyftp.com and login with the credentials below, or connect directly to our ftp server using an ftp client such as filezilla:
server address: ftp.hdspots.cowlesca.com username: cowlesftp
password: Spots2353 (Note that “S” is in caps)

7 – Title Safe:
We only broadcast our signal in HD. On all the local providers (Charter, Comcast, Cox, Dish Network, and DirecTV) that signal is down-converted using the "center cut" method to create their SD channel. Please compose your graphics accordingly to avoid going outside the effective SD title safe.

It's all relatively straightforward, but again there are no mention of acquisition requirements (ie native video formats and bitrates) and there is also no mention of the timings of titles, clocks, bars and tones etc.

Thanks again!

[Gary Nattrass]

The clock does not contain detail of the AD only the client ref and the duration for their servers.

The timing of captions and voice over should be in the script that it submitted to clearcast etc but as said this advert changed six times even though it was all scripted and storyboarded before approval.

The Ident 5 secs is from old days when a verbal ident was put on each clock, it tends to be mute these days and the 1 frame white flash and tone blip at 10 secs on the clock is to show that sound and pic are in sync, it is optional but I prefer to have it in these days of digital uploading.

[Jonnie Lewis]

Originally Posted by Rick L. Allen

Jonnie, ask the networks (or your agency partner) that will be airing your commercial for their commercial delivery specs (the FCC won't be any help). No disrespect intended but as others have said if you don't understand the info they send and the answers you've been given on this forum then you are in over your head.

Thanks for the post, Rick.

From now on I'm going to refer to Acquisition/Delivery Specs (formats, frame rates, codecs etc.) Technical Specs (clocks, bars and tones, title timings and positioning) and Guidelines (rules that networks provide to ensure that an ad is scripted/stroryboarded in an acceptable way)

As in my post above, I've asked several networks for details. I've received guidelines from PBS and have been back in touch for further details.

NBC and Fox both seem to use DG Systems (DG | Experience the Power of the DG Network) to accept their ads once they've approved the script/storyboard. I don't have guidelines for producing an ad for Fox but there's a link in my previous post to those for NBC.

DG provided me with a delivery sheet that details the specifications for final delivery including information on the layout requirements (file structure, slate requirements and naming conventions). They still don't mention clocks or bars and tones however. I'm starting to think that maybe the US broadcast industry isn't so fussed with these?

If anyone can think of an easy way of me posting a link to the documents I have then I'd be happy to do so. It's a PDF.

Thanks again.

[Jonnie Lewis]

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

The clock does not contain detail of the AD only the client ref and the duration for their servers.

The Ident 5 secs is from old days when a verbal ident was put on each clock, it tends to be mute these days and the 1 frame white flash and tone blip at 10 secs on the clock is to show that sound and pic are in sync, it is optional but I prefer to have it in these days of digital uploading.

Hi Gary,

Thanks for clearing that up. I went about creating my own clock in After Effects and Premiere Pro CS6 - you'll notice that it's based heavily on yours so thanks a lot for posting it up. It really helped me out.

For the purpose of a test, I created this "30 sec ad template".

Bars and tone for 5 secs, clock for 28 secs, 2-pop and black screen for 2 secs, 30 sec ad, 5 secs of black frames at end. Obviously the slate info and timings could change depending on what each network wanted.

AdTemplate ClockSlate - YouTube

Do you think this sort of thing will be acceptable to broadcasters?

On another note - I didn't realise Ad-ID's had to be licensed to each agency until today. Do broadcasters always look for them or are they optional?

It looks like this first ad is going to be entirely animated which will eliminate some of my worries about acquisition requirements. I've had some great help understanding the delivery info in the attached spec sheet (from dgit.com) but I still have some concerns about making the audio broadcast-safe.

This blog post shows how to use Audition to meet the ITU-R BS.1770-2 Loudness standard, but my spec sheet details levels between -16dBFS and -20dBFS with high peaks between -10dBFS and -12dBFS and a maximum of 3 peaks per second. That's still something that I need to learn how to control in Audition.

Many thanks again - I feel like I'm slowly getting there....

[Gary Nattrass]

In a word or two I don't know as the delivery is up to the broadcaster or compliance agency not me!

I would have thought 10secs of black at the end and I can't hear the line up tone (-20dbfs for USA) but as said you need the delivery spec not hearsay or advice from a forum if you are going to do this properly!

Don't forget to check what silence they want top and tail so a 30 sec visual will have 29 secs of audio, it also needs to be dubbed and compressed to their LEQ and delivery spec not just thrown through an audio package! The client will also have a say in this and it is not unheard of to spend a day with the creatives dubbing a full commercial with lots of voice over takes!

[Bill Davis]

Sorry I'm late to this but over my career, I've produced and aired quite a few TV spots.

FIrst. TV Advertising is a business. So while there are certainly technical standards that stations would prefer you adhere to strictly, if the ad doesn't run, then the station doesn't make money - so there's a compelling financial reason for them to make things work. The sales department takes precidence over the engineering department in every station I've ever been around. So I wouldn't overly fret about that stuff. Make a decent looking ad that conforms to the time slot you purchase and they'll find a way to take your money, Trust me.

As to stuff like bars and tone, that stuff is less important today than ever before. It's still used, but largely on content sent to distribution networks like DG Fastchannel and the like. Their specialty is to take the original spot and transcode or prep it for specific station standards. IF your timebuy is national, then spot packages with slates and bars and tone are common. If you're delivering to a single station, however, the standards are totally different. Most of them want a file based spot that's PRECISELY timed to 30 seconds and that has NO bars, tone or leading or following black. These spots get loaded to an automated spot playout system and they want NOTHING but the commercial itself.

Finally, if it's not too presumptuous, I feel a bit of an American Advertising reality check might be in order.

It's amazingly uncommon for someone risking a national media buy to hire someone to do their commercial who isn't a well experienced professional. Here's why.

TV Spot advertising on the level you're discussing (national network insertions) is a giagantic inverted pyramid of expenditure. The huge bulk of the costs at the upper mass of the pyramid is the money spent for the time buy. Media buying (the technical term for designing and executing an advertising schedule) is part science and part art, and is also a well established sales arena where a smart and well connected media buyer can leverage the media buy to be the most effective via their relationships.

The SPOT itself is the tiny TIP of all that money being spent. A small fraction of the money being risked. And I say risked because in essence, the advertiser is spending BIG money to excite waves from a broadcast tower or inject them into a cable connected to home TVs - with NO guarantee that anyone will be watching or even if they are - that they'll RESPOND to the ad with actual purchases. This makes advertising HUGELY risky.

To combat this harsh reality, Ad Agencies and media professionals virtually NEVER just hire a newcomer to produce an ad. There's simply too much money at risk. It's kinda like hiring the jogger next door to play professional baseball for a major league team. It's just not a good way to drive results. Instead, national media buys are balanced on ads that are painstakingly crafted, tested, revised, re-tested, focus-grouped, re-revised and finally, test marketed - before they're allowed to sit at the point of a pyramid of money focused on putting them in front of people.

If the spot is even a few percent less effective than it can possibly be - then you're decreasing the effectiveness of the MASSIVE amount of money being spent to broadcast it.

This view, by the way, comes from someone who once owned an ad agency and who's created many commercials including a few award winners over the years.

I'm not saying you can't do what you're implying here. You most certainly can. I"m just saying that from the very basic media questions you're asking it seems that you don't have a lot of experience in US media buying, production and distribution practices - and the industry kinda expects that anyone playing in these VERY big leagues - would arrive with most of the answers to the questions you're asking readily available, since they would have been long answered in your work with your local markets.

The NBC, CBS, ABC type schedules you're describing would be expected to cost at LEAST in the high hundreds of thousands of American Dollars if not Millions - and that kind of financial risk is rarely balanced atop someone's early tries at commercial production.

If I'm miss-reading the situation, my apologies - but finding someone without YEARS of practical agency commercial production experience in creative control of a commercial with a truly national American ad budget at stake - is so rare as to be exceptional.

I'll be happy to help answer any direct questions you might have, but just understand the scale of the financial risk your discussing here.

It's quite possibly in the millions of dollars.

FWIW.

[Jonnie Lewis]

Thanks for taking the time to post such a lengthy reply, Bill. And Gary, thanks once again for your input. I'm STILL waiting to find out exactly what TV stations/networks the ad is going to be broadcast on so unfortunately I can't ask any questions that are specific to their exact requirements yet. I'm hoping I'll have details pretty soon...

Bill, it's actually local stations that the ad is being aimed at - it's just that I contacted ABC, NBC, CBS etc. to enquire about their locally owned stations. It won't be a nation-wide commercial and the financial risk won't be as big as you've described.

I really appreciate that you're happy to answer my further questions - as other problems/queries arise, I'll be sure to post up again. If anything - it should be interesting for you to see how this plays out...! :)

Many thanks again,
Jonnie.

[Gary Nattrass]

I agree with Bill and the one Ad I was asked to do on the cheap was never aired and I will now respectfully leave them to the pro's who are used to playing the game.

Mine was a local TV ad for the ITV Tyne Tees region but it would still have cost over £25k for the airtime package far more than the £500 I got paid to film it, edit it six times and deliver it!

I will stick to drama dubbing and my job this week of doing the live audio for Real Madrid V Man Utd for FOX TV USA soccer night.

[Bill Davis]

Originally Posted by Jonnie Lewis

Bill, it's actually local stations that the ad is being aimed at - it's just that I contacted ABC, NBC, CBS etc. to enquire about their locally owned stations. It won't be a nation-wide commercial and the financial risk won't be as big as you've described.

I really appreciate that you're happy to answer my further questions - as other problems/queries arise, I'll be sure to post up again. If anything - it should be interesting for you to see how this plays out...! :)

Many thanks again,
Jonnie.

Good to get a clearer look at your focus.

If you're just buying local avails (industry jargon for "non-widespread campaign" spots on a local station) then you need to literally ignore all the stuff about DG Fastchannel and using a distributor to prep your spots. That's bringing out a cannon to shoot mice.

But it also makes your job tougher.

Media buys DON'T start with the production of a commercial. That's near the END of the process. It starts with a product and marketing analysis. Who is likely to buy. What age? What demographic. What psychographic? Without that info, it's impossible for the media buyer to decide which stations are the most efficient at delivering that audience.

This is typically MONTHS of discussion and planning before the creative team ever sits down to design the ad. Again, you're eventually going to be paying for the POSSIBILITY that the message will reach buyers who can be prodded into buying action in order to generate financial results that justify the costs of the media buy. It's not easy nor a sure thing. Advertising is RISKY. At a simple level, if you have a product designed for 20 year olds, and you advertise it on a show who's audience is 90% 50 year olds - you'll lose money - not because the ad is bad, but because it's in front of the wrong audience. Thats why media buying is all about ratings, and measurement, and metrics like the "cost per thousand" (CPM) that a particular station can deliver compared to another.

On a small buy you'll also be dealing with local sales people who are trained professionals at interpreting their stations numbers in the most favorable light. And if you don't have any media buying experience, you'll be a bit at risk of spending inefficiently - precisely because you're new at the game and they're not.

Again this stuff isn't rocket science - but advertising is a long established business and while it LOOKS easy when you see an ad on TV and feel you could have done as well (or better!) - behind the scenes, lots and lots of money is being risked on every ad that's broadcast.

Broadcasting is also a mature industry that's under a whole lot of pressure from new technologies like webcasting and video over IP. So you're diving into a stream with a lot of turbulence at the moment. Just know that going in. IT's not easy to get good data that works today, because the game is changing so fast.

If you're interested in playing in this arena, by all means pursue it. It's a fascinating and potentially lucrative business. But it is NOT simple. Nor is it any easier to leverage profit out of advertising than any other business.

Good luck.