When HD first hit the market, those of us who had already drunk the DV revolution cool-aid were chomping at the bit to follow in Lucas's footsteps, and use a real 24 fps camera. We were all anxious to shed the less than auspicious NTSC standard that our affordable PD-150's and XL1's could muster, but getting ahold of a Sony HDW-F900 was financially out of reach. Stealing one was an option, I suppose, but the Sony HDW-F900 was a rather large camera and wouldn't easily fit down your pants.
Then SC Johnson called. Actually their agency, Draft-FCB called.
"Ziplock spot. Want it?"
"Sure! Can't say no to a Ziplock spot. Can we shoot on the HDW-F900?"
"HDW-F900, sounds fancy. Never heard of it."
"Lucas is using it as we speak, to ruin the Star Wars trilogy."
"Oh yeah. I heard about that. How's it going?"
"He's ruining the franchise fabulously with it."
"Awesome, lets do it!"
And thus, the production company that I was working with got their hands on the super-duper Sony HDW-F900.
When renting such a camera for a job such as this, the production company will customarily budget in a day or two to prep the camera. If the production company really has it's ducks lined up, it will pick up equipment on a Wednesday for a 3 day week rental, and not have to return the equipment until the following Monday. For the uninitiated this is called, "good producing".
To young eager filmmakers, who don't own watches, and don't go to church, this means there will be a super-duper camera sitting at the studio just waiting to be played with. A camera that quite possibly sat next to, or near the very camera that George-Freakin-Lucas was shooting with right now! Imagine that.
So we borrowed it. What? It was a camera test for Ziplock!
There will always be side projects happening at a busy production company in the process of inventing itself. We were no exception. Several young Lucas wannabes knew exactly how this new camera would elevate their careers overnight, but I wasn't one of them. I wanted to be more like Kubrick instead, and if you know Kubrick you know that he likes to do things 300 times, and with lovely long takes. None of my ideas would fit the borrowed-camera bill. I had feature length aspirations.
"Any of you creative types down at Agency X have any brilliant ideas for a spec commercial?"
"Two cars, race down a road, swerving through traffic, yelling to each other through open windows..."
"No, no, no. We have an expensive camera but we ain't got no money."
"What do mean?"
"I mean, It would be great if this idea took place in a single room, with one, maybe two actors, and no props."
"oh."
"Yeah, and it should be really, really funny."
"Right. How about a spot for a fictitious online dating website extolling the virtues of lascivious liaisons?"
"Does it take place in one room?"
"Yes, and there's lots of sex in it."
"Perfect. Send me the script."
This is how the spec spot entitled "Couples" ended up on my reel. We found two actors who saw the humor in it, and extinguished concerns of nudity by creatively covering the action, while hiding fleshy bits and pubic hair with expertly manipulated sheets. It took only an hour to shoot. Mood lighting and pictures on the walls seemed frivolous, so I just bounced a 1k light into the white ceiling overhead. We had rented a 1k light for the Ziplock shoot as well, and was roundly applauded for giving it a thorough testing before the shoot.
Unfortunately the "Couples" spot didn't last long on my commercial reel. It was deemed too risque for our Midwestern clients to bare the sight of, and would surely scare them all away.
Enjoy :)
written by: Edward Seaton
