“Doorzza Rumors” is a commercial that I wrote, shot, and edited on my own. It is a commercial focused on promoting the local pizza restaurant Doorzza and their new location.
Pre-Production
Before anything else, I met with the owner of Doorzza to determine what kind of end product he wanted. We discussed our audience, the length of the commercial, the tone, and the style. This gave me a starting point to figure out the story in the commercial. This is what the pre-production phase consisted of:
- Creative Brief
- Script
- Storyboard
- Scheduling
Production
This phase involved a lot of scheduling with my actors and checking out lots of equipment multiple times. I had one main day of shooting in an apartment, followed by multiple days the weeks after of filming the shorter shots in different locations. While I had one or two people help me with some of the lighting, it was all done mostly by me.
Post-Production
I did all the editing for this commercial. I used DaVinci Resolve to edit it. This process included:
- Assembly
- Color correcting/grading
- Audio fine-tuning
Editing this commercial was a challenge, because my vision required some pretty tight editing, with carefully crafted pacing. This meant I had to assemble all the clips together to have a rhythm that slowly speeds up until it reaches a climax, then falls off. I also sped up the music over the course of the video, which helped give the video a frantic feel.
Take Aways
During this process, I had two main ways that this helped me gain experience for my future career.
First, I got experience working with a client. I had not had much experience working with a client before who had never made a video before. It was good learning how to understand his vision, and figure out how to translate that to a real product using my skills. Communication with him was important in making sure he was happy with the direction I was taking and where I was at in the process.
Second, doing every part of the process was a great way to strengthen my skills in all areas. I did all of the pre-production, production, and post-production. Because of this, I had good practice understanding every step of the process. This has made me a valuable asset with any potential video production company, as I have a well-rounded set of skills.