‘Calvin Klein style’ spec TVC
“I kept thinking about perfume commercials. Could one person direct, shoot, color grade and edit this style of commercial? Loads of folk on my YouTube Channel, really wanted to see if it was possible. And so I purchased a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K so that I could shoot a Calvin Klein-style of TV shoot in full 6K resolution.”
“To keep the whole process as real as possible, I used professional talent and developed a script with a friend of mine. And so I basically decided to shoot something solo; other than my wife who helped change lenses and a BTS guy to document the whole process.”
“In terms of gear, I had the BMPCC 6K with Tilta cage and handle, V mount plate, Tilta matt box with six stops of NiSi 4 x 5.65 ND filter and a Black Pro-Mist 1/4 filter. Using the NiSi NDs meant that I could shoot wide open into the sunset at f2.8 on my 19mm Leica R lens for greater depth of field.”
“We shot this in Orange County, Dana Point in winter. On the first day of shooting we arrived just before 4pm and shot until sunset at 6.30pm. We then came back the next morning at 5.30am for sunrise, and shot again until 7.30am. So it was a fast shoot of five hours all up, over two days.”
“So in DaVinci I first edited and graded with the BUTTERY Natural and I actually uploaded that first version in color. But then I wanted to try out the black and white look and so I used my B&W Buttery LUT. The whole grading process took only 20mins so it wasn’t a big deal.”
“When I finished shooting, I started sending stills of the shoot to some of my friends for their feedback. I couldn’t decide whether to keep the footage in color or B&W, because the sunsets looked so beautiful against her skin. The skin tones and sunlight was so rich and natural, it seemed a shame to exclude all of that color detail. But in the end, this was to be a perfume commercial, and so it really needed to be black and white. At the end I uploaded both versions on my channel because I really liked them and they were very different. That’s the beauty of spec ads. You can do whatever you want and upload as many versions as you like!”
“The primary thing with this commercial, was not to have the actors seem fake and their movements to be overly directed. I wanted it to seem natural and playful, which is why I chose to hire a real couple and to shoot this spot on my BMPCC 6K. The smaller camera body allowed to capture as many shots as possible, which it was very important considering the very limited time we had.”
“The idea was to have them playing and running along the beach with me basically chasing them, or trying to run alongside of them! As anyone who has tried this technique of shooting will tell you, it can be super hard, especially handheld with bigger body cameras. Having a super light weight rig with the BMPCC 6K made this the perfect camera for this style of shooting. Especially since I was shooting with all of the 6K sensor resolution. Which meant that I had plenty of image to punch into during the edit if I wanted to. I gotta say, that is one of the big advantages of shooting in 6K and then finishing in 4K.”
“Given this was all handheld and without an AC, I had to pull my own focus. It was tricky, but I know my Leica R so well that I was able to get some very sharp moments! For these shots into the sun, I was shooting f3.5 or f4 with the NiSi ND filter to cut down the light to where I wanted the exposure. Fortunately, I don’t have to got too wide on the BMPCC 6K because of the S35 crop factor, so all of these shots worked out really well.”
“I also had the Black Pro-Mist filter plus the ND to help smooth some of the highlights coming from the setting sun. This was really important, given the reflections coming off the sand and the ocean. With all that was going on and that fact that I was running while shooting, I wasn’t very sure about what I was getting until we finished each take.”
“I was shooting everything at ISO 400. And when shooting straight into the sunset with the ND, it kept pushing me a bit towards 800, but most of the time it was 400. Shooting with the BMPCC 6K at these ISOs I found all of my shots were all super clean.”
“Where I had those longer scenes, of course there was some stuff that was a little out of focus and a bit shaky. But that all adds to the realness of the footage. You can tell I didn’t use any image stabilization leaving the footage more authentic and real. Which is what I wanted for this spot.”
“The shot where she looks straight into the camera is probably one my most favorite ones because it looks so commercial. It was a tricky shot with the sun coming up right behind. But by using false color for exposure, I nailed it. The highlight roll off was amazing especially around her hair and down the base of her neck and body. I had super controlled lens flares which all looked beautiful on my Leica R lens.”
“She was lying on a rock that was above the level of where I was on the sand, so I had the perfect camera angle. I was able to have the lens at her eye-line. And then I did the slightest push-in while she blinked at the camera. So it was perfect timing for sure. I wanted that super personal moment. When you look at the frame of this scene, which was shot at 24fps it’s super sharp.This was really the first thing I had shot with my BMPCC 6K in full 6K resolution. So when I got home and first looked at this footage, I just kept thinking how beautiful it looks.”
“With the 19mm Leica there is an insane amount of depth of field that you get with the foreground, and where the background is almost completely soft. I love close up shots on a wide angle lens, because you can feel so much closer to the subject.”
“If I was shooting this sort of shot on any other mirrorless camera, it would have been pitch black. With this shot, I pushed the contrast quite a bit and went down with the levels on the BMPCC 6K. And when you open the frame, everything is perfectly clean with nothing clipping. Which is kind of unbelievable when you think about it, given the intense back-lighting.”
“I find shooting with the Blackmagic pocket cameras and Blackmagic URSAs make such a big difference, because they have so much dynamic range. Especially when you are shooting with Blackmagic RAW. When I would shoot with a Panasonic or Sony camera, shots like these ones would be clipped or underexposed with much less useable information. Whenever I shoot on the Blackmagic cameras, I find they seem to have more useable dynamic range which makes shooting easier. It means I don’t need to rely on external lights or someone else to assist with bouncing light and fill.”
“Right now some clients know me for being able to do these types of productions solo. I get jobs for doing solo commercials and jobs with a larger production crew. So I think doing these sorts of projects shows what you are capable of on your own. Clients are now seeing you can get high quality cinematography without needing a large crew and director.”
“I was interviewing Michael Sugar on my YouTube channel last year. Michael is a really famous producer for films like Spotlight, 13 Reasons Why, The Knick, Dickinson and The Laundromat. During the interview he started talking about this brand new platform he created, where basically they put in touch filmmakers and brands. The filmmaker upload his spec ad or unbranded content and they try to find the best brand for it that could be interested in purchasing it.”
“He was talking about creating unbranded content that could be branded for use on social media, like Facebook ads. Michael got into a lot of detail about making spec ads and you can watch the video on my Youtube channel. It’s called ‘Talking filmmaking and spec ads with Oscar winner Michael Sugar!’”
“And so I think shooting spec ads commercials like this Calvin Klein-style spot, is becoming a real thing in our industry. I am not too sure how many spec ads are shot solo though! I truly believe that shooting spec commercials like this one, really show what you can do handheld with a Blackmagic camera and no crew. It’s something I wanted to see for myself, and whether it was possible to shoot something this complicated on your own.”
