Rack Room Shoes :30 Ad

In my non-linear post production class, all are assignments are given to us with all the footage, and it is up to us to turn it into something useful. These projects are "tests" that are given to prospective editors to assess their skill level and creativity.

For this project we had to create a 30 second ad (which of course means 29 seconds and 29 frames - that last frame is used to signal the next commercial). The add could not be any longer or we would lose points (makes sense to me). We were only told to use 3 computer graphics: "Smart Shoes" "Dumb Boyfriend" and "Rack Room Shoes" (The shoe company for which the commercial was made for in the mid 90's)

The premise: a daughter invites her new boyfriend out to lunch with her parents at a diner. The father is skeptical of the new guy, and the mom is trying to play peace keeper and just have a nice family outing. Meanwhile, the new boyfriend (Judd) engages the girl in some good ol' fashioned footsie. She gets up and leaves (probably cause she was getting too excited...) and Judd realizes that he was just feeling up Dad.

The difficult part came from culling together the right "scenes" of the commercial from literally hundreds of takes. The project was headed by a first-time director, and he didn't quite know what he wanted. So there were no less than 20 takes of the boyfriend walking into frame. It's kinda nice not having to go out and shoot once in a while...but at the same time, it was super frustrating knowing that these shots could have very easily been gotten without all this hassle. There were also entire sequences and lines that would have been impossible to include in the 30 seconds.

I chose the Black Keys' tune "Howlin' For You" (off of their latest album, Brothers) because the commercial was intended for girls in the south. The southern-blues song has the right mix of sexy and playful moods and has a fun sing-songy chorus. I made the graphics in Photoshop because I thought it would be a good idea to manipulate a single image of text and the arrow instead of using Avid's title tool and then creating another arrow. I also grabbed the Rack Room logo (thanks Google) and threw a light glow around the .png. I thought it turned out pretty good.

Keep in mind...this was shot in the mid 90's...so don't go blaming me for non-HD and whatnot.

Summer Albums That Didn't Suck: The Black Keys, Danger Mouse, and Devo

I spent my whole summer avoiding the radio with whatever kids are listening to thee days - the Beibers, Gagas, and Ke$has. Yeah, I may be a bit of a musical curmudgeon…but I know I’m not the only one uninterested in how many floosies come out of the state of california. (I’m talking to you Katy Perry! And the other five people it took to write that awful song!)

That being said, there was actually some great music released this summer. Here are my three favorite albums of the summer.

The Black Keys: Brothers

Release date: May 18th

Certainly the most accessible album on the list, a few tunes from the Black Keys sixth studio album have already gotten some serious attention. The first single, “Tighten Up” had an award-wining video that has gotten airplay on MTV, and can also be heard in the commercial for the new season of House.

The attention is well-earned, and this may be one of the best albums to date. Each song contributes well to the overall theme of the album, without being an actual “concept” album. It has all the great hooks you can expect on songs like “Tighten Up” and “Next Girl”. All the familiar Black Keys song elements and structures are there, and the album is truly cohesive in mood.

Everything is kinda dark, a little melancholy, and it all sounds comfortably fuzzy. It is a straight-forward and soulful tribute to the blues of old, but maintains its catchy rock riffs to make one real cool album.

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse: Dark Night of the Soul

Release date: July 12th

I could have potentially written about this album last year…but under very different circumstances. Auteur producer/Gnarles Barkley member Danger Mouse had an idea for a concept album some time ago. He got together some top-notch collaborators, like Julian Casablancas, Wayne Coyne, and Iggy Pop. Together, they created an album dedicated to celebrating the gritty human condition, with songs like “Daddy’s Gone”, “Revenge” and “Pain”. Most of the tracks deal with some pretty dark subject matter, but all are simply beautiful – due to Danger Mouse’s characteristic dreamy ambience.

Along with a book of photography by David Lynch (who also appears on two tracks) the super album was semi-released last summer. What does that mean? The CD contained was blank. Written on the disk was this: “For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will”. It was an interesting stunt, but still left many potential listeners out in the dark.

It was nice to see the album get fully released this summer, and any indie fan can appreciate its catchy hooks, R&B beats, and the absolute best ensemble of artists you could hope for.

Devo: Something For Everybody

Release date: June 15

I’m just as surprised as anybody to find that the first Devo album in 20 years is fantastic. I wasn’t exactly a Devo fan prior to the album, but like any fan of music, I thought 1980’s “Whip It” was awesome. My mom, knowing this, TiVo’d the band playing on Regis and Kelly over the summer. They played “Whip It” and their first new single, “Fresh”. I was blown away and got the album shortly after.

First of all, you gotta remember that Devo has been playing music since 1973…so these guys are old. But knowing that, you cannot help noticing how cool they are. These guys are playing synth-based satirical songs that rock harder than a lot of stuff out there now. When a song like “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” has a repeated chorus of “Don’t taze me bro” it is hard not appreciating the charm of these hip 60-somethings.

The album is a blast to listen to, and I dare you not to fall in love with at least one track.