Self-Produced Chevy Commercial
The objective of this passion project was to create a Chevrolet commercial utilizing the minimal resources and equipment I had as a low-budget videographer. This was my first commercial-like video as an aspiring videographer, and it was a delightful challenge. A huge shoutout to my parents for assisting me with this project, especially my father, since this is his Chevy Colorado.
The Process
Production rolled for roughly 2 weeks. One week consisted of the more stationary shots of the vehicle and its features inside and out, along with establishing shots of the location and the subject. The second week focused on getting the moving shots of the vehicle on the road, shifting reflections in the side or rearview mirror, and even drive-by shots of the truck from another moving vehicle (thanks, Mom). During the last video session, I recorded a voice-over of my dad saying Chevy’s tagline on a LAV mic.
Post-Production was completed through Adobe Premiere Pro and took a little over a week to complete. The transitions made were minimal, as I wanted more attention to the shots I captured. For color grading, I wanted to give it a slightly vintage, rugged feel of Chevy commercials, but keep it complementary to the desert environment and the vehicle’s color. For the voiceover at the end, I just slowed down the speed of the audio, which in turn affected the pitch of my dad’s voice, and I think it was pretty effective in setting the tough tone for Chevy’s branding.
Preproduction consisted of two stages: the first, very rough sketches of different shots when it came to details of the truck, along with establishing a storyline with the truck’s features (interior & exterior) and desert environment while incorporating Chevrolet’s “infamous” branding; the second, a photographed storyboard (images below) to physically visualize shots sketched during the first stage of the preproduction process, scout the location, as well as pinpoint the focus of the commercial without losing the established storyline.
The Final Deliverable
