TV

We’ve finished our new spot for J. Alane’s Fine Lingerie.

The commercial was shot entirely on mini DV and edited in Final Cut Express.

Credits:

Director & Editor: Hal Goodtree
Media: Leslie Huffman
Music: Fool With Time

Thanks to:

Julie Hendricks
Mary Beth
Ashley
Dana
Emily

The spot is now running on What Not to Wear and elsewhere on Time Warner Cable in the Raleigh area.

StreetStyleTV is our new web channel about fashion. The week, we learned all about sunglasses from eyewear designer and entrepreneur Wick Morgan of the Spectacle.

Thanks to:

Wick Morgan
The Spectacle
Raleigh, NC

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The new television isn’t made in Hollywood. The new television doesn’t need Time Warner or NBC.

From a viral Trader Joe’s ad that’s had 340,000 views on YouTube to TateShots from the venerable British museum, people are watching TV in a new way. Read the rest of this entry »

For a couple of years, we’ve been struggling to transfer our experience making broadcast television into a lower-cost web video model. TV commercials can cost $10,000 per second to produce. But shouldn’t real filmmakers be able to make quality content with just a camera and a laptop?

In our new video for Luxe Apothecary, a lot of techniques we’d explored came together in one perfect No-Budget Video (NBV) project. Our experience may be a model for others and has already inspired interesting discussions and new assignments.

The development of an effective No-Budget technique can bring television-quality web video to businesses and content producers of all sizes. Here’s what we learned. Read the rest of this entry »

Once upon a time, I unleashed a live buffalo in Malibu State Park.

• Producer: Hal Goodtree
• Director: Neil Tardio, Jr.
• Production Co: Bedford Falls
• CD/Art Director: Ron Thomson
• CD/Writer: Tom Daniels
• Agency: Siquis
• Music: tomandandy

Brilliant fun when we chain the knives and forks to the dinner table to protect the new floor:

Producer: Hal Goodtree
Director: Kevin Smith
Art Direction: Scott Skaggs

One of the kids in this picture doesn’t know what his own mother does for a living. Read the rest of this entry »

Just finished a new TV commercial in which I get the talent to wash my truck. Read the rest of this entry »

This came up just today. For the record:

There are 70-75 words in a :30 TV commercial

80 is too many and 6o words feels too loose.

Although a writer may be able to read 85 words in half a minute, that hectic pace doesn’t allow for nuance, meaning or emphasis. Tighten it up and give the copy room to breathe.

After all, it’s the meaning the audience takes away, not how many words you can cram in.