TASK :
To create a thirty-second advertisement for a product, service or place.
PRE-PRODUCTION
The project began with assigning our teams. I finally got to work with three people that I did not get the opportunity to work with for the rest of the projects and I was looking forward to it. Although at first, we had a differentiation in our ideas for an advertisement, in the end, we settled on the concept of doing an advertisement for our course. It would be completely vintage, in the form of a 1960s film, then transition gradually to a modern cinematic look. Going home after the day of discussion, we were all satisfied.
However, when hearing the initial ideas from other teams, I felt unsatisfied all of a sudden with our film concept. It seemed to bland, to express openly, and I voiced my opinion to the team who all understood the point and wanted to really make this advertisement great.
Sitting in Professor Daniela’s class one day during an intermission after watching the Weekly screening, I started to look at slogans for various companies and brands. As I felt like my research was going nowhere, I came across KFC’s classic slogan of “It’s finger lickin’ good”. I found the idea amusing if we could actually depict people licking their fingers and-
“Why not actually make it for McDonald’s and put ‘It’s finger lickin’ good too’ at the end?”
Before class started I rushed to my team and pitched the idea. At first, a couple of them didn’t quite understand it but as I explained it further they got the concept and were immediately on board. As we refined our idea and made it much more surprising or perhaps entertaining to watch, keeping both KFC, McDonald’s and rivalry advertising in mind, we were ready to pitch for the first time it in front of our module Professor, a nerve-wracking but exciting experience.
Equipment used: 1 BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, 1 Canon Lens, 1 Tripod, 2 ARRI Redhead Light and light stands
PRODUCTION
After collecting our equipment, we were looking forward to finishing of the production phase of our project. We had booked a room in block 19 in advance, gathered all the actors and appointed an assembly point: the film lab in block 16.
Since all acting were our classmates, casted for helping each other out and getting extra credits, they realised the possible hassles a team can go through during production. They were extremely cooperative, and in the end, they were getting a chance of eating free food!
As two members set up the lights, the other two helped the actors feel comfortable and get a little more acquainted with our concept and what they have to do without giving too much to the twist away. That was saved for screening day.
Each actor had to carry out a series of actions: Eat a sandwich wrap and fries, drink a fizzy drink, lick their fingers and whistle to ‘Don’t worry be happy’ by Bobby McFerrin.
We filmed each actor in one sitting so that we would not have continuity problems with their clothes, shot angles and light and shadows.
There were times when we were stressed about the lighting, there were moments when the backdrop didn’t seem to work and there were instances where the actors found it challenging to carry out of the actions. Nevertheless, there were a lot of laughs and tons of fun during production for this advertisement. While the actors enjoyed eating free food, the crew members had a great time filming.
It couldn’t have gone more smoothly.
POST-PRODUCTION
I was the editor for the project and since I have the editing software, DaVinci Resolve, at home, I stayed in the comfort of my house and edited the project.
Firstly, I made a rough cut and sent out a test video to the team to gain their feedback and opinions. I stayed in close contact with each of them, especially with the director, to make sure that I deliver a final product that the whole team is proud of and that it is what the director envisioned.
Although everything was going well and I was on the right track, in-sync with everyone’s visions, I worked closely on the colour to bring out the ‘red’ of the background and the brightness associated with the brands we were incorporating into the advertisement. Moreover, I scaled all the shots to make sure that all the subjects aligned in the centre.
Towards the end of the advertisement, there is a ‘text erasing’ sequence which consumed most of my time on this project and in this phase of production.
I used another editing software, Sony Vegas Pro, to create the animation since I felt more comfortable with it (having prior knowledge of it) and I did not want to waste time learning how to achieve the same result or even better in DaVinci Resolve.
It was a quiet post-production phase as I stayed in my bedroom for hours on end, clicking away on my computer and making everything satisfy the perfectionist inside me.
FINAL VIDEO:
McDonald’s vs. KFC – A Rivalry Advertisement –
Auteur Theory 