DV for spots - Editor's Note - Editorial

Post, May, 2003 by Randi Altman

Just as producers are starting to get ad agencies to think about shooting on HD, a New York City company is asking them to consider another format... DV. Double Wide Media (www.doublewidemedia.c0m) and its post division Double Wide Post recently completed the Lens Campaign for Miller Lite, out of Schupp Company St. Louis. It was shot on DV and edited at Double Wide by Christos Pathiakis on a Media Composer. It's not as if the shooters only know DV. Brian Jackson and Nate Crooker of the directing team GoodGuys, within Double Wide, used to shoot on film all the time. But now they are touting the lower cost, more flexible DV format. While these Miller Lite spots do have a real-people feel to them, Double Wide executive producer Don Faller, who is partnered with Crooker, Jackson and editor Steve Covello, believes that DV will be accepted for other types of commercial work such as those featuring chase scenes or spots with a fun feel.

Now it's not that Double Wide is saying all spots should be shot on DV; they take it on a case-by-case basis. They realize DV has its limitations -- it's not great for slow motion or for highly emotional scenes -- but they would like agencies to know the benefits of this video format.

And one of the biggest benefits is the ability to be highly creative in terms of capturing the footage. The GoodGuys point to the small size of the camera and the immediacy of the format. "With DV, we shoot with a certain look in mind," says Crooker, "While we're shooting, if you were looking at the monitors, it might look a little odd, but when we get back into the editing room, we manipulate it. There are certain things we do while we're shooting, and when we come back we'll crush the blacks and add things."

Adds Jackson, "In that sense, it's sort of borrowing from traditional filmmaking because you would never shoot a spot on film and not go to telecine for a one-light to cut off of. We look at it the same way when we are shooting DV, we shoot for a color correction and look we will get later."

Crooker feels that due to DV's low cost of entry, people don't realize the looks they can achieve in post "It's seems everybody that's shooting DV is just putting it right down to tape, cutting it and sending it back out," he explains. "Nobody's taking the time to make it look good. They think it's this little medium that Joe-Bob can shoot out of his house, and they treat it like that"

"They can try to hide from it, but it's happening and if they keep their eyes closed, then they're fooling themselves," declares Jackson.