Thanks again Mike:
I am still curious, how long does it take to film one of the episodes you do for TV?
Short answer
Great question and each TV Production Crew I've worked with is a little different and the short answer is a range from 1 hour to 2 hours to film a 5 minute segment.
Long answer
Normally we start at 9:00am, that would be for My Classic Car, Two Guys Garage, Truck U, Motorhead Garage and all the TV work we do here.
First... and this is key... when we worked with all of these groups the first time they were not aware of what we do,
at least not specifically. By this I mean, while the stars are bona-fide car guys, that doesn't automatically mean the camera people, producer, director, etc. are serious car guys let alone... experts at "Car Detailing".
So our first time we had to invest some time showing what it is we do and what we want to get across. The hardest part was getting the
before and after shots that really show what we want the audience to see. If you were to watch all the machine polishing videos we've made the first ones were kind of week showing
- Swirls in the before side
- No swirls in the after side
Watch this video with Dennis Gage and you can see the Camera guys figured it out and then figured how to position the cameras and the lights to "capture" the money shot and they get better at this each time we work with them.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MsZL72VAk&hd=1]My Classic Car with Dennis Gage and Mike Phillip - Removing Swirls - YouTube[/video]
Most of the sponsors and guests on these shows are showing product that you bolt on, which is pretty straight forward.
So after a little bit of a learning curve to learning what it is we want to show and then how to best capture that with a camera then the rest is pretty much setting up, shooting and the tearing down. That would look like this,
Choose a car for segment and then move and position car for best angles for camera guys and for the talent to work on, this goes for all car guy shows with a car on the set. Here's an example from Two Guys Garage and "yes" that's Max's Corvette...
Here's the studio all set-up for shooting High Definition Video...
Note that the word "talent" is the term used by
all these TV production company as a generic term to mean "whoever is on the set". You'll see it as a section on all the shot lists and all the e-mails that are sent. It doesn't mean
personal talent... LOL
Next we match pad, products and tools to the car and these products must be arranged on the set to do two things,
- Showcase the products
- Make it easy for the talent to access and use the products without fumbling. This is where a lot of bloopers happen.
Here's a shot of Dennis and I arranging Pinnacle XMT products along with pads and buffers.... Dennis is actually VERY good at creating a display. Our very own Yancy is a total expert at it, just look at any of the video work Yancy and I do or any of the "Product Group Shots" seen in any of Autogeek's websites or other touch points.
Setting up a display...
There's little thing to do too like
removing the safety seal out of the cap before filming, I can tell you first-hand it's happened to me where we're shooting a scene, I go to pour some product out on a pad and nothing comes out of the bottle. Right then and there you
STOP filming.
Now days I'm very good at checking all my bottle caps before we start filming. Other little things too like tags removed off Microfiber towels or if you're using anything with a sprayer, first have the nozzle turned to the
fan spray setting and also
PRIMING the sprayer so you don't struggle on film spraying fast and furious to get product to start spraying out the nozzle.
After the studio set is all set-up then the talent talks through their lines. On my part I usually type up bullet points with either product information or topics we want to share. Talking through the scene takes a few minutes because keep in mind, Dennis, Bryan, Matt, Bruno, Sam and Dave are not experts about
our products so we take a few minutes to talk shop.
After we talk through the scene next is get everything quite on the set, this can mean turning fans or the air conditioning off, basically anything the producer, engineer or camera guys can hear in their headsets. Most of the studios I've worked in get pretty hot with all the lights plus hot weather, so when you turn the air conditioning off you can get hot and start to sweat.
High definition cameras can make your skin look oily and sweaty even if it's not, so that's where the make-up artist comes in, they are responsible for making sure you don't look oily or sweaty and they also do thing like fix your hair, etc.
In-between scenes they are also responsible to check on you and touch you up if needed... like this,
New Autogeek TV Commercials
When shooting High Definition, every little detail shows up so here's Matt getting a little make-up and patting before shooting begins... we shoot High Definition here at the Autogeek's Show Car Garage Studio too and make-up is just part of the job.
Then we roll film... when I'm the guest on another show the host starts talking first by introducing the segment. If we're shooting here then I start the segment.
Here's an example where I introduce the guests...
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhJYFLgIjhE&hd=1]Autogeek.net - New Meguiars Microfiber DA System - YouTube[/video]
The goal is to make it through a scene without any mistakes. Easier said than done but usually 1-2 takes are shot, sometimes 3 and from this they can pick the one they like and also edit it and use both video footage and dialog from any of the shots to make a complete segment.
Then we shoot the next scene. Most 5 minute segments are made from 1-5 scenes, it just depends upon where there are hard breaks. One thing for sure, it's easier to do lots of short scenes because there's less chance for mistakes. The longer the scene, the greater the chance for a mistake. If a mistake is made then sometimes you can pick up from somewhere in the scene but sometimes you'll shoot the scene completely over again.
Time is money... so the goal is no mistakes and since shorter scenes usually means less mistakes, segments are broken up into smaller scenes.
After the meat of a segment is shot then there's the "close", again the host usually does this and if the producer likes it and everything else that was shot that's a wrap.
After shooting one segment then there's a flurry of activity as all the products on the set for that segment are moved off and usually put away to some degree and then the car is then moved off the set.
If you're shooting another segment then you repeat all of the above.
If everything goes smooth and correctly, it takes at least an hour to shoot a 5 minute segment including setting up, shooting the actual segment and then tearing down.
During my last visit to My Classic Car we arrived at 9:00am and watched as two other guests shot their segments, I document that all here,
4 New Autogeek TV Episodes with Dennis Gage for My Classic Car
Jerry from Corvette Central is working with Dennis who you can't see as a camera man is standing in front of him.
Ron from Flaming River working with Dennis
The above is the majority of what takes place at the studio. Besides what takes place at the studio there's a lot of time, work and money that goes into a show that no one sees but I've previously documented this here,
Autogeek's How-To Features on My Classic Car with Dennis Gage
On the first page of the above thread you'll see pictures of getting the set ready and then the different segments we shot the last time we were with Dennis Gage.
On page 2 of the above thread I actually took pictures and documented some of the behind the scenes work that I do for any of our TV work...
Below I'll include a portion from both page 1 and 2 that explains and shows what we doo...
rops:
