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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

cooking show

Best of luck with your project! I shoot a lot of food, and I know how tough it can be...
 
Nice lighting! Pay attention to the details though.. Butter on the knife, spatula, unpeeled carrots. It's the little things..

Also the low angle is odd. I kept feeling like this big guy was looking down on me.. Would be much more friendly at eye height..

Have him wipe his head without making a big deal about it or incorporate a bandana into his character.. It's not appetizing when you think of a sweaty towel.

You have 2 cameras, so make sure you have something to cut to when he bobbles a line or screws something up.. I have done probably 100 hrs of cooking shows and we usually take about a day to shoot a 30 min show.. Take your time..

Otherwise, you have a good thing going! I'm working on something similar, nice to know I'm not alone!

Looking forward to seeing more.
 
Justin Marx said:
Pay attention to the details though.. Butter on the knife, spatula, unpeeled carrots. It's the little things..

.
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I have two people on set who look after details - swapping out utensils (we have 6-8 of everything used on cam so we can swap out quickly), etc. Not to mention 2-3 people in the prep kitchen who do the heavy lifting of actually cooking, and a hair make-up person who scrutinizes the monitor for beads of sweat and is constantly jumping in to make the host look great.

But all that takes time and money, and the money won't come until you sell the project. As a test effort I thought it was great - have you ever seem the pilot of Emeril's first Food Network show?? It was waaaaaaay worse than this, on so many levels.
 
Glen Powell said:
I have two people on set who look after details - swapping out utensils (we have 6-8 of everything used on cam so we can swap out quickly), etc. Not to mention 2-3 people in the prep kitchen who do the heavy lifting of actually cooking, and a hair make-up person who scrutinizes the monitor for beads of sweat and is constantly jumping in to make the host look great.

But all that takes time and money, and the money won't come until you sell the project. As a test effort I thought it was great - have you ever seem the pilot of Emeril's first Food Network show?? It was waaaaaaay worse than this, on so many levels.
Click to expand...

I think you only get one chance to make a first impression, so make it the best first impression you can.. It doesn't take more money to stop the action for a few seconds while you wipe the knife and cut to a shot of the pan cooking or an insert shot of turning the stove on. I think you need to really get these things right when trying to sell a show, and I'm guessing that's why he posted here, for feedback, not just to blow smoke up his grill..
 
My full on real advice would be to take the footage you have, and cut it down to 5-6 minutes of the best footage that still get's the message across - and shows the personality of 'Uncle Zip'.

No-one who is in a position to buy this show will sit through the full half hour… they'll know in the first 5 minutes if they are interested. Their decision will be made on how Jeremiah makes his 'First Impression' at the meeting (will they want to work with him), What's he done in the past (can he pull off a series?), and the personality of the host.
The buyer will know that everything else is subject to change, and they will want to put their stamp on it.

Just saying what I've learned in a lifetime of producing / directing / shooting...
 
Glen Powell said:
My full on real advice would be to take the footage you have, and cut it down to 5-6 minutes of the best footage that still get's the message across - and shows the personality of 'Uncle Zip'.

No-one who is in a position to buy this show will sit through the full half hour… they'll know in the first 5 minutes if they are interested. Their decision will be made on how Jeremiah makes his 'First Impression' at the meeting (will they want to work with him), What's he done in the past (can he pull off a series?), and the personality of the host.
The buyer will know that everything else is subject to change, and they will want to put their stamp on it.

Just saying what I've learned in a lifetime of producing / directing / shooting...
Click to expand...

Listen to this man he speaks the truth.

Do a five minute highlight reel. Leave everything else up to the imagination.

Also, having those "commercials" within the show are unneeded.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys! Some good stuff there!

This video is something we've been wanting to do for a while...and it was done with $0 budget. (other than cost of the food)

We feel really good with the direction it's going.

The 5 minute piece is a great idea...we were actually talking about doing that.

The commercials are only in there because they wanted to see what it would look like with spots in there :/ ...more of a flow thing I guess.

Thanks again and keep the advice coming!


jeremiah
 
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