Learn how to shoot the perfect commercial with these simple steps!
Improve your filmmaking and find out how we created our own perfect promo — by Alex Banks.
We partnered with Lithic Brewing to create a commercial. They produce hoppy beers of all varieties that deserve to be shown-off. Read this step-by-step guide to find out how we made our advert and how you can dramatically improve your commercial filmmaking.
1 — Develop the concept. This is the most important step. You need to know what you’re advertising, how long your commercial will be, who will be watching it, what your budget will be and what your scope is. Nail these and the rest will be smooth sailing.
What we did.
As soon as we were contacted by Lithic, we began concept development. The brief was for a 15-second commercial and the focus had to be on the beer. 15 seconds isn’t a lot of time for complex dialogue or detailed storylines so the commercial would have to be direct and punchy.
Knowing we were shooting with the Panasonic GH5, we had the ability to shoot at 180 frames-per-second with beautiful clarity. Given that we wanted to incorporate movement into the shoot and focus on the beer, we started coming up with different ideas. But, sometimes the simplest idea is the best idea, so we decided to just film the beer being poured into a glass. Thus, the concept was born!
2 — Find a great location. With a great backdrop, the world is your oyster! No amount of editing or colour grading can truly correct a dingy or boring back-drop, so get it right when shooting and you’ll be set. When you visit, take a tape-measure and your light meter. You may feel like an idiot, but you’ll pat yourself on the back when you get home and realise your lighting gear and camera wouldn’t have suited the location!
What we did.
We asked the client whether they had any contacts in the beer world that would be able to score us a sweet location. Turns out they did know a few people, so we were lucky enough to secure a 2-hour slot (for free!) at SmallBAR in Cardiff.
3 — Plan your advert with scripts and storyboards. Do this step right and the commercial will be a doddle to make! If you can plot out what is being said and displayed during each frame, you’ll find yourself with a seamless and cohesive commercial. It can seem boring and laborious (especially when you want to get stuck-in!) but a well-thought storyboard can make all the difference.
What we did.
Normally we like to plan pretty comprehensively with a script and storyboard, but due to the absence of dialogue, only a storyboard was necessary. Sticking with a macro theme, we decided to use some product shots and an image of the bar to draft a simple storyboard. If your commercial has dialogue then we would recommend producing a detailed script as well.
4— Consider frame composition. Think about the colour schemes and the mood you’re trying to create. Try to avoid using too many items that are NOT what you’re trying to advertise — you don’t want your viewers getting confused about what they’re watching!
What we did.
We wanted to create colour contrast against the warm ambient lighting, so we decided to use a Lithic Wheat Beer in the shoot, which has a white can. It also had a light blue label, which really made the commercial pop.
5 — Nail the cinematography. This is essential for a great shoot! Make sure you have scouted out your location and figured-out whether you’ll need to hire a lighting-rig or will be using natural light. Avoid relying on natural light — you’ll curse yourself for the extra hours of work you’ll need to put in if the lighting in your frames are mismatched. If you want to learn more, Lewis Jelley (DP at Storm & Shelter) has some great articles on cinematography.
What we did.
The ambient colour temperature at SmallBAR was 3200K, which is extremely warm, but we liked the mood that it evoked so we decided to stick with that hue.
Having chosen our product, we then produced a simple set plan using Storyboarder — I would recommend doing this as it really helped to get the team on the same page going into the shoot.
We normally base our shoots on a simple three-point lighting setup, which will involve a key-light, fill-light and an edge-light. We always start with a key to set our exposure levels and then we use colour contrast and bokeh to create separation and depth between the subject and the background.
6 — Do it in-camera. Create as much of the final commercial in-camera as you can! If you’re not completely happy with a scene and you’re able to reshoot it, then reshoot it! Avoid the temptation to “fix it in post”, you can thank us later.
