Writing Center Shoot:

This week we are shooting a commercial for the University Writing Center, a group of students working out of the library's basement who edit papers for their peers and try to instill better writing in our campuses students. 


We plan to shoot the commercial against a black curtain, the subjects facing away from the camera to recite their lines. These shots will be interspersed with shots of a "title card" which will ask a "student" question about the Writing Center.


The biggest hurdle in dealing with a shoot like this is that we won't be dealing with actors, we'll be working with people. Everyday people who aren't practiced in making what is fake (a scripted conversation) look like what is real (an actual conversation). The pros of this type of commercial (the black background with our subjects looking off camera) are that it masks the awkwardness of non-actors, it is also simple and not difficult to edit.


But I'm not quite sure it conveys the tone of our message properly. 

What's great about the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials is that they convey information lightly and simply but clearly. The feel of the commercial is upbeat. This commercial doesn't talk down to it's viewers but it does help viewers understand the key differences between these products. 


And, to top it all off, it's a studio shoot - which means it's doable for our class. Pedagogically it offers us the same reward as the other shoot would; simply, we'll learn the same stuff. I think the darkness of the shoot that we are doing is inappropriate for the subject matter - it almost takes itself too seriously. Though it would be difficult for our non-actor actors to appear as relaxed and natural as the actors in this commercial I think that this type of set up would be the most fitting way to have a discussion about the writing center. The writing center wants to get their basic information out - this would be the perfect way to do that.


Or there is this route:

This commercial is very similar in that it shows two people just talking. This video however uses stylizied cuts to keep the viewer from being bored by sitting and watching two people just standing and talking. It gets the message across - that eHarmony works - but the viewer isn't subjected to the drone of some non-actor (which supposedly these two people are) sitting in a too serious setting,looking too serious.


My biggest reservation about the shoot we are scheduled to shoot is how uncomfortable we will be making the very people we should be putting at ease. Their script recitations should sound natural and sincere and instead of letting them be expressive we are sitting them in a chair, facing them to the wall, and lighting them against a dreary black curtain. 


If it were me I'd freak and I suspect the people who walk into our studio on Thursday will as well. It may be a harsh judgement but I think our proposed shoot goes against everything that the writing center would want to represent.