Nike Spec Spot!

[Christopher Donaldson]

Hi, Red users...

Here is a Spec spot I directed for Nike. We shot on the RED ONE at 24FPS and 120FPS.

Director: Christopher Donaldson
DP: Randy Che
Producer: Navid Soofi

http://vimeo.com/17866322

Love to hear your thoughts.

'best

-Chris

[paulherrin]

very cool man!

who did your vfx?

all on the stage i presume? any chance of seeing some original, ungraded footage, or shot breakdowns?

[Christopher Donaldson]

Here's a quick pic of the small stage in our office. My desk is actually like 2 feet to the right of this... haha!



We used one guy for the FX-- Cory Bradshaw, did it in his basement. We only had a grand to shoot and post this whole spot so we couldn't go to any of the big boys for help.

Paul, I'll look for pics, vid and images for you.

'best

-Chris

[paulherrin]

ah thanks man! haha, love it - i've got my own little setup in the basement, even smaller than this (though i usually don't have to resort to it, luckily) but it comes in handy. i was really wanting to see that treadmill :) and cory did a great job!

oh, and welcome! come on in and make yourself at home around here.

[Christopher Donaldson]

Thanks for the kind words Paul-- I intend to stick around for a long time to come.

[Jose Alvarez]

I was going to post a longer response, but after I saw a pic of the stage, I understand the physical limitations. But you ask for opinions so here is mine:

Unfortunately, the live action is the week link of the spot. One aspect is technical the other performance direction. The actress wasn't running fast enough to portray the performance effort the spot was trying to convey. A few more rps on the treadmill would have improved the actress performance.

Also the live-action footage was not graded as consistently as it could have been to match the FX color palette.

Minor quibbles, but overall a very impressive spot considering the budget.

[Rudi Herbert]

Yeah, the grading could be a bit more uniform, color casts that repeat from shot to shot in spots like this really help sell the illusion. Other than that, the speed of the runner does not bother me that much, although yes, it could benefit from looking faster, and if your intention was for her to speed up towards the end, then it should become more obvious. All these things could be cured with a quick color pass and perhaps a few recuts here and there, but having said that, that is one of the best uses of $1000 I've seen, and moreover, the spot feels right, it has the right energy and the right look, I would not be ashamed of showing this anywhere really. And that is more than you can wish for nowadays...

[Rudi Herbert]

well, now that I looked at it with the audio turned on, then yes, she definitely needs to run faster/stronger/with more effort than that. You can't utter those words and run so peacefully :-) also, a sound of steps and/or breathing mixed in the background would help as well, but that's what I do MYSELF, it is your baby in the end.

[Christopher Donaldson]

A pic of my amazing DP Mister Randy Che and his RED ONE at work on set.