Making a television commercial can be a very exciting and fun process. It can also challenge you to a breaking point and become a harsh experience. It is a chance to allow the creative nature from within to flow into a piece of visual art that captivates the audience, allowing them be filled with desire to purchase what is on the television screen.
Without going into great detail of the specific functions of each individual crew member, the process of making a TV commercial cannot be fully described. This is make a commercial from a producer's standpoint, giving a brief overview of how TV commercials are made, what jobs need to be filled and some of the planning that is involved in making a commercial. There are three different stages to making a commercial. They are pre-production, production, and post production.
Instructions
1. Begin planning. Pre-production is the planning process that takes place before the actual commercial shooting. During this time, the budget is formed, the crew is hired, locations are scouted, permits are obtained, the talent is hired, the script is revised, the shooting schedule is established and all possible planning for the commercial is done. It is creating an essential game plan. The better prepared you are, the easier it will be to have the production and post-production go as smoothly as possible.
2. Hire people for these positions: producer, director, first assistant director, second assistant director, director of photography, art director, key grip, best boy electric, grips, sound mixer, boom operator, cable utility, camera operator, first assistant camera operator, second assistant camera operator, script supervisor, dolly grip, location scout, editor, assistant editor, sound designer, music editor/composer, craft services, production assistants and a writer.
3. Convene at the shooting site. Production is the shooting of the commercial itself. If you have hired a professional crew, then expect that everyone will know what they're doing. If this is the case, then it is within the trust of the professional hierarchy that people will know what to do and take and delegate orders that are required to shoot the commercial. Normally, before the actual filming begins, there will be principal photography, which is pretending to shoot the commercial, performing everything that is scheduled to happen, but without pressing the record button. This is done as practice to avoid costly mistakes and to see if there should be any last minute changes made.
4. Add finishing touches. The last process before commercial completion is the post-production process. During this process, the editors work in conjunction with the audio post-production department to edit the video, sound and music together. During this process, you will truly discover whether what was filmed is of good quality.
Editors and sound designers are the real miracle workers in the creative process of TV commercial making. They can truly make or break a commercial, so it is always best from a managerial point-of-view to keep an eye on what they are producing. That does not mean stand over their shoulders while they edit, but check in on them occasionally to see how they are progressing to avoid having a bad edit of a commercial that you know will not meet the client's expectations.
5. Deliver the commercial. When the post-production is finished and you have your final product, you will often just hand it over to the client who paid for the commercial. The client will then work with their marketing department to have the commercial aired. If all is well and everything goes smoothly once they have completed working with the cable and satellite companies to determine the air dates. You will be notified with the date and time of when the commercial premiers on television.
