Corona Interrogation

[Raji Barbir]

I found it interesting that early on, there was so much confusion about a virus as to scare people away from a beer that happens to have the same name, so I created this fake 15-second ad.

This was a fantastic way for me to slow down and light a single scene, and I had all the time I needed to get it done. I had originally intended to do a slow dolly pull, but when I realized I was gonna have to do all of it on my own, I opted to do a simple post-production zoom out. It’s not what I would have preferred, but given my restraints, that’s all I could do to at least create some subtle movement.

I shot this on an Epic MX with a Canon 16-35mm f2.8 at 35mm and 3 Quasars with lots of cinefoil and a single flag to try and minimize spill. Post-production was relatively simple, although the color grade was challenging whenever I pass in front of the bottle (I had to cut my body parts out of the grade for the bottle frame by frame - not sure if there’s a better way to do this, as Resolve was grading some of my hand/sleeve even though the mask was targeting specific colors).

I’ve never done product cinematography before, so I’d love some feedback on how I might do things better in the future!

 

[Clint Lealos]

Love the concept and well executed! The lighting is perfect for the spot and the subtle move works really well despite not being an actual dolly move. The place for improvement lies in the product preparation. The bottle doesn't look cold and refreshing despite the water droplets meant to simulate a cold beer. If it was a cold beer, the droplets would be formed from condensation and would start where the beer line is and not above it like in your shot. Also, it would be frosty not just wet. Getting a drop or two to form and run down the side of the bottle would have been a nice touch. Usually there is a whole team dedicated to the product preparation, so I'd say you did great all by yourself Thanks for sharing!

 

[Raji Barbir]

If it was a cold beer, the droplets would be formed from condensation and would start where the beer line is and not above it like in your shot. Also, it would be frosty not just wet. Getting a drop or two to form and run down the side of the bottle would have been a nice touch.

Thanks for the awesome feedback, Clint!

It's such a silly mistake on the water droplets... I don't know why I didn't think of that on the shoot! I'll definitely have to keep that in mind for the future. I also made the mistake of being lazy and not doing the water and glycerin mix to keep the water droplets in place. There's a big water droplet on the left, towards the bottom, that actually moved UP on the last light change (because I filmed the flickering lights last, and delivered the line first), so I had to do my best to move that droplet back up for the parts where the bottle is barely illuminated. You can still see it "morph" weirdly between the last time the light flickers and when the light is continuous.

As for the frost, I tried doing that on a photography gig for work a few months ago, and could only make it work in post in Photoshop, so I didn't dare touch that in video... I have much to learn in terms of product prep!

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

According to someone I know who has a lot of beer related sales and demographic stats at their fingertips, Corona beer sales are now up. While originally down as people seemed to relate it to the virus, it has shifted the other way. Apparently people are now drinking it as if it were a vaccine. Or as a way to say, “Corona isn’t going to kill me!” LOL...

Other than that, I agree with Clint’s comments. I can see the goofs you mention, but only after re-watching. All things considered, it looks good. Nice lighting setup.

 

[Raji Barbir]

According to someone I know who has a lot of beer related sales and demographic stats at their fingertips, Corona beer sales are now up. While originally down as people seemed to relate it to the virus, it has shifted the other way. Apparently people are now drinking it as if it were a vaccine. Or as a way to say, “Corona isn’t going to kill me!” LOL...

Other than that, I agree with Clint’s comments. I can see the goofs you mention, but only after re-watching. All things considered, it looks good. Nice lighting setup.

Sales are up??? haha, I hadn't heard that! Last I heard, they'd shut down production... I thought their sales would tank from there. Good for them. I've seen a decent number of people post pictures of themselves on social media with a Corona beer, sort of as a statement that "I understand that there's a difference between the virus and this beer".

Anyway, thank you for the compliments! It's nice to have made those mistakes on such a small scale so I can avoid them in the future on bigger productions.