clapper

Earlier this month I worked as Video Split Operator on a 4 day television commercial(TVC) shoot: a Medibank Private ad with high production values and an action adventure script. No dialogue/talking head. Given the size of the crew and the cost of the content I’m estimating that this thirty second ad, with a probable shelf-life of 2-3 months, cost four to five hundred thousand dollars. Which is more than that of many an independant feature. Still, the budget pales against Singleton Ogilvy and Mather’s 10 million dollar Qantas ad, which drips with jingoistic patriotism and has hardly been aired. From a content perspective, TVC advertising is the great imitator: it borrows shot concepts from cinema, takes .. appropriates…
On this shoot examples are the helicopter tracking shot(Apocalypse Now), and extensive use of staight or curved track, car, track and even a grip-rigged monobike track. The camera kept moving except for the occasional fixed longshot, in which the focus puller tracked a precision driving stunt.

TVC’s also feed a great deal of Australia’s feature film production talent, allowing to keep their eye in, skills up between major projects.

Flinders Location, Day 1 & 2