Spotify
Our group chose to do a 60 second commercial for Spotify. Our concept was a three-piece story that showed Spotify's diverse use-case. I think this is clear in pre-production but got lost through production and post-production.
We started with the idea of a man running on a track early in the morning. We thought a neat way to kick off the commercial would be for him to slow down and skip to the next song, then the audio would change to the song for the rest of the commercial. This song would tie the whole commercial together. For our second scene we wrote a creator exporting and uploading his work to Spotify. This situation followed our concept and provided ample interesting visuals. Our third story was a friend group using Spotify while hanging out. We had an idea for a visually compelling tracking shot that ended up getting cut. We picked production roles: Cade as DP, Carter as Gaffer, Truman as Production Designer, Sean as Editor, and myself as Director. After scripting, I did the rest of preproduction like call sheets and shot lists, while Cade did the story boards.
Production kicked off in Cade's in-home music studio space. We filmed the studio scene and I would say it went well. We got all the shots to look pretty and I was happy with how the set's atmosphere and productivity was. Next, we headed over to the parking garage in Downtown Olathe for the end scene to our commercial. We ran into production issues with the Ronin which is my fault because I could've prepared better with it. We wrapped for the night and met back up early before seminar the next morning to shoot the track scene. We met early to make sure we could line the profile shot up with the sunrise. The issues with the Ronin persisted but I had done a little bit more preparation and we were able to mitigate the affects of the issue. I know now after what the problem was and know how to fix it in the future. I also learned a little bit of how to control a set, I was very laid back and didn't give too much direction but I learned I need to give a little bit more direction. It is a balance that will come with more project based learning.
Sean handled the bulk of post-production, but Cade and I met up to finish it off. Cade edited the audio and I polished it and brought it all together. I think we could have done a better job with sequencing and maybe cut it down to 30 seconds because our third story was largely unusable footage. I should have color corrected the video. A lot of the skies are very bleak and I could have made the footage more vibrant and it would have looked way better.
Next time around, I will work to better execute my carefully planned vision. I will work and get those extra takes on set to ensure the final product can be the best it can be. As a director, I will more clearly explain my vision to actors and crew while not overbearing and being overcontrolling. As an editor, I can learn to sequence and pace my work better. I can also color correct to ensure my DP's cinematography looks the best it can. I will continue to run my set with a laid-back atmosphere and closely work with my DP so they know exactly what I want the piece to look like.
In conclusion, this commercial took a lot of work in a small window. I might not be the happiest with the final product, but I enjoyed the process and had fun on set with my friends. I recognize that it is the first project of the year but that does not excuse the mistakes I made. I will improve as a director and editor for next time and improve my filmmaking.
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