I Don’t Like Them Apples

by Brian Barth

The talented guys over at Pro Video Coalition just posted an interesting story about a new commercial, “Apples”, shot on the iPhone.

While the technique behind the motion graphics is quite remarkable (see the behind the scenes on the PVC post), I found the acting totally sunk the spot.  Companies are desperate to reach out to our youtube generation – and I think it shows.  The woman’s delivery treads the line between sculpted narrative and improvised realism: the uncanny valley of cinema.

What bothers me is that the thought process is transparent.  As you watch “Apples”, you can see the filmmaker getting the shots but then thinking, “oh, youtube!” and then shaking it up. It’s a problem of self-consciousness and it happens in all kinds of films.  You can always tell, because it feels like you’re being baby-talked to.  Both the actress and the shooter are falling into the same trap as high-school actors: they are over-thinking their parts and missing the necessary details.

This got me thinking about how hard it is to pull of this kind of advertisement.  Do you remember this video from a while ago?

This is an ad for Gatorade.

However, this is the most realistic viral ad I’ve ever seen, and it’s all in the subtleties.  The simple fact that the video cuts out mid-sentence gives the short the feeling as if it were just grabbed from a DVR.  The setting of the baseball game gives you all the familiar tropes of sports footage – instant replay, scrolling text, fans waving in the background – to completely sell the illusion.  Now, it’s clear that Gatorade has a much larger budget, but I have a few pointers for any of you planning on making and pulling off a “youtube” style promotional piece.

  1. Act Natural: get a real amateur to shoot your footage – there’s no film school looking through the lens.
  2. Be Concise: let your subject be present but subtle (i.e. the Gatorade bottle underneath the ball girl’s chair, therefore Gatorade is a constant in the world of sports.)
  3. MacGuffin: provide a reason for filming – a skateboard trick, beatboxing, basically anything can get a camera rolling these days – use that to your advantage.  It’s much more believable than an actress explaining the subway route for no particular reason.

So let’s get out there and become the next Mad Men!  I’ve already bought the suspenders. You bring the bourbon.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 10:24 pm. It is filed under blog, Brian, writing and tagged with , , , , .

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