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Filed under: Cameras •Lighting •Post Production •Production •Tips •

Low-Budget PSA’s, Shot on RED, Prove that Budget is Not a Barrier to Excellence

“Dad has a barn and mom can sew—let’s put on a show!” Production budgets aren’t what they used to be, but that doesn’t excuse sloppiness. There’s almost always a way to do good work as long as your creativity extends beyond lighting and framing into the realm of “making do.”

Director Ian McCamey, with whom I did my Porsche, http://www.artadams.net”>Lego and Facebook spots, called me back in October and asked if I was game for a couple of low budget PSA’s. They were to be produced by a local post facility, Rough House, that had a relationship with the ad agency. Years ago Ian had interned at Rough House, and after losing his job as a VFX editor when The Orphanage shut down early last year, he got back in touch with them and let them know he was building a directing reel. This is an example of a long-term relationship paying off.

These spots are currently on the air in the Sacramento area, although there’s some talk that they may go national on ESPN.

Ian wasn’t terribly optimistic, though, when he called to gauge my interest. “We have a budget of $7,000,” he said, “and a lot of actors. How do we make that work?”

With a little help from our friends, as it turned out. I contacted my friend Adam Wilt at Meets the Eye Studios in San Carlos, and asked if he and his employer, Meets the Eye Studios, were willing to help us out with equipment and space. Luckily enough, they were—and we became their last official clients of 2009.

Let’s take a look at the spots as they are airing now:

(They’re also on Youtube.)

Adam’s primary concern was that his company’s sound stages weren’t ready for prime time. In fact, they were about to be demolished and rebuilt. Fortunately we had only a couple of shots that were large enough to require shooting in the sound stage area. The rest we shot either in front of the facility or in various rooms scattered throughout the building.

We shot with a RED ONE and either an 18-85mm RED zoom lens (for “Perp,” the first spot) and a set of Zeiss Ultra Primes for the second spot (also known as “Lineup”). Turn the page for shot-by-shot behind-the-scenes action…

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The Best of Stunning Good Looks Art Adams | 08/30 A directory of my best articles, sorted by topic. This entry is a guide to my best articles, sorted by topic. Enjoy!

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Nice work Art!  Love the grades!

Posted by mikeburton  on  01/21  at  01:20 PM

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Hi Art!

Very nice article as all you usually write. Beautifull and simple photography.
I have a question regarding the first set up:  why did you use the 1/2 CTB Schneider filter on the lens? Why not just set de Vista Beam with the 5600 tubes, if the idea was to fully expose the blue channel and avoid noise?
Was it an aesthetic or technical decision?

I´d like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the things that I have learnt from you. I always follow you here and on CML.
Truly thanks for your didactic way of explaning..
Regards,
Marco Mora,
Starting to DPing some stuff,
Caracas, Venezuela

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  03/24  at  11:58 AM

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