So if you are reading this, let me start of by welcoming you to our brand new website. Let’s be honest, the last one was ok and although it got the job done a lot of you weren’t really staying on for more than a few minutes (Yeah Google analytics Snitched on you lot). So we decided to rebrand the site and we came up with this all black themed site (Pretty Cool ei?). So make sure to bookmark this site because we are going to be sharing all the crazy and fun experiences from our video production work at Now On Media and you might also learn a thing or two about content creation, filmmaking and the likes.
So earlier this year (2021), we were approached to film and produce an advert for Travelbeta (A Travel agency in Nigeria) and it was going to be premiered on the latest season of the biggest reality TV show in Africa; Big Brother Nigeria Shine Ya Eye Season. You can imagine the millions of eyes that were going to see this commercial. Now the Big Brother Nigeria Platform has become something like the Super Bowl in America, where all the brands show off new adverts and the viewers do not hesitate to drag you on social media if your ad is wack (Trust Nigerians). No pressure, Its Now On Media Abi?
Luckily for us the script had already been developed and approved, however that meant we had to take someone else’s idea and not only deliver but deliver above their expectations. Trust our clients to have some difficult questions to ask us. Problem 1! “How do you film a travel agency ad without being able to travel to all these exotic locations due to Covid-19 restrictions and budget constraints”? Answer: Tv Commercial Shot on Green Screen Chroma . Problem 2! “Green screen shoots don’t look great especially when done locally, how will you ensure ours look fantastic?” Answer: “It’s a Now On Media Production; it has to come out great!!!” (Ok we didn’t say that part but you get the gist).
Anyways, we had limited time to film and edit this video in time for the Reality show premiere, this meant an accelerated pre-production to post-production window. I think we had 14 days to deliver and in video production that is not a lot of time. The video is out now so obviously we made it but there were a few sleepless nights and nail biting moments.
For example, getting the right shade of green to paint the studio. So in a green screen shoot, the color green can be an asset if done correctly and can also mess you up if you don’t get it right. The reason green or blue in some cases is used for such shoots is because it is the farthest from the human skin tone. So when we remove the green in the background (its called’ keying out’ by the way), all green in the footage disappears, so if there was any shade of green in our skin then the image would be patchy and unusable. That’s why we don’t use red because there is some red in brown skin types and even white skin types. Anyways finding the right shade of green, that won’t reflect too much light and will easily be distinct from the subject, was key. We couldn’t find the exact shade we wanted and ended up having to mix some white into the green we had, to get the perfect shade.
Now a lot of people don’t know why TV commercial green screen shoots don’t come out great (especially the ones done locally). The key reason is simple: LIGHTING. Lighting for green screen shoots are very critical. You have to light not just for the camera to see but with your intended look in mind. Simply put, if your video is supposed to be set in London, you need to have an idea of what the light in that London location looks like and then light your subject as close to it as possible. That way when you put the footage you recorded into the London background, it looks more natural and less CGI. Our Character in the advert was supposed to be in Dubai then South Africa then Kenya and then London and if you think about it these places are very different in terms of weather. So for instance when filming the Dubai scene we had more tungsten light (yellow light) to simulate what the look would be in reality and when filming the London scene the light wasn’t as bright because (apologies to all London readers) London weather can be quite dim. Another thing we did before we shot was to already find the stock footage we wanted to use for the edit, that way we could study it, look out for where the sun was in the footage and then ensure we lit our subject very similar to it and recorded from angles that worked perfectly with our intended footage. These are some of the little things that will help you pull off a convincing green screen shoot.
Last point I want to share is about postproduction. It is such an important aspect that I feel is always overlooked. You need to allocate the right resources to editing and animating a green screen shoot. Find an editor that understands the importance of details such as shadows, dust particles etc. These little details will add a lot of believability to your video. After releasing the behind-the-scenes video, we received positive comments like "So he wasn't really on a plane, or at the safari? Wow🔥!!!"Some people can’t get over the idea that it was a green screen shoot and the locations were recreated. This reemphasizes the need to pay attention to the tiniest detail.
All in all, our clients were extremely pleased with the final result of the TV commercial on green screen and from the comments on social media so are a lot of Nigerians (Thank God). Many thanks to the cast, crew and of course the referral agency for the trust and hardworking, it was indeed a team effort. The most effective video commercials are the ones that your viewers remember and apply to their real life purchasing decisions and it does also help that the Travelbeta advert song is a Jammm(Perks of being a video production company, we heard it a long time ago). You can see the Travelbeta Ad here and Look out for our new commercial coming to your TV screen pretty soon. Don’t worry I’ll share more behind the scenes from that one as well. Till next time, Remember you can subscribe for our blog posts notifications and video production newsletters by clicking here. Stay safe
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