Car Dealership Commercial

[Michael Frymus]

I'm not doing a car dealership commercial at the moment, but Id like to.
I've always wanted to do one of those epic car commercials, but Ive been thinking about starting off with doing a commercial for local car dealerships whether it would be; Porsche, BMW, Jaguar, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Honda, etc.
These are all local dealerships.

Would this be a great way to start and get better known?
Visit these dealerships and ask if they would be interested in a commercial?
Now, were not talking about those lame mini dv camera commercials you actually see often on tv with people yelling out things. LOL!
But one that looks like its advertising its new brand of cars. More EPIC looking.

A few questions about this;
- Do I just go there and ask the owner if they'd be interested in a commercial just like that or should I try a different approach and with a solid plan?

- In car commercials, I always see tinted windows but the car is still shiny. How is this achieved?
I thought POL filters, but then again wouldn't that remove the shininess from the car itself too? and would that tint the windows enough?

- I would like to ask if you could offer any tips on doing car commercials in general and with lighting.

 

[Björn Benckert]

Sadly the difference between really fat car commercials and the yelling out loud DV films is skills and budget. Having a good camera is one tiny tiny bit of the equation. Ofcourse it's possbile to make something nice without all the gear that goes into making car films, like presuit vehicles, russian arms, gyro stabbed technocranes, tracking dollys, car mounts and all that. But all the car commercials I worked on that came out epic had all that and pretty much all the car commercials that I worked on that did not come out as epic was the once that did not have the budget or the gear.

So I'm not saying that it's impossible to make a nice car film without a big budget but it's for sure much harder and everyone will compare what you do with the big stuff they seen on TV. Beating them with no budget is quite a trick.

Another thing is that car dealerships usually have access to high quality stock shots from the brands that they are selling so it's not that they can not get hold of epic looking material. It's more like they really like the idea of yelling out low prices in front of TV cameras. So it's quite a hard sell as well.

But it would not hurt to try I guess. So go for it.

 

[Paul Hazlett]

I also would never discourage anyone from trying but I think you should know that many times the Broadcaster or cable company practically give away the production to sell the ad time.

Now if you went in a with killer concept that gets the dealer excited, they just might spend the extra money to have you do it.

Good luck in your endeavor and have fun!

 

[Dominick Pietrzak]

Maybe Greg will chime in... he's shot quite a few on his Scarlet: www.vispol.tv

 

[Jimmy Gilmore]

The car dealership space in the US is a pretty complicated market - but yes it's possible to do great work. You should know what tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 means before you start pitching. I'm trying to be helpful but I realize I may be coming off as glib.

Over a decade ago, in a very rare and isolated market and situation I was part of a team that did some great stuff in Portland, OR in the tier 3. A market that is now home to the Trunk Monkey. But previously, Thomason was King. I won an International Automotive Gold, Shoot recognition and regional awards working on his account - beating out the big boys like Mercedes and Chevy. Yes, there were better than average budgets being spent, we shot 35 but it was mainly about selling the client good creative rather than what cameras were brought to the shoot. Don't expect this to happen for you, but it is possible.

Your questions:
Dealers are a cynical bunch. Yes, ask them up front but have something to offer them. You should know they're likely getting free production included in their media buy. How will you beat that?

I'd suggest posting a still of a specific car shot and ask how that lighting is achieved. Your question is a little vague. So yeah, polarizers a cool.

As far as how to shoot cars and make them look awesome. First, there's an industry of people who prep the cars. There are a ton of tricks to the trade as far as angles, location, type of studio and time of day. With brand spots, budgets are large so it's no uncommon for giant banks of lights to be used. And don't forget post.

Being a great car shooter is a career path and really has nothing to do with shooting dealer spots. The best in the business shoot brand spots for cars. If you want to learn it I'd suggest volunteering to work on productions for a tier 1 brand spots.

The brand spots that look epic are shot with million dollar budgets and hundreds off thousand spent in post.

 

[Michael Frymus]

You should know what tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 means before you start pitching.

Ummm....?