Chapter 13: Production Value The 1990’s brought many challenges to our department. We had limited resources and heavy demands. This is the story of the “Home Improvement” PSA’s. I was asked to produce public service announcements for our members dealing with a state program to provide low cost loans for home improvement. We had about twenty TV stations that I had to convince to air our spots. In those days, the FCC required them to air PSA’s. Their choice was to select from a group of very fine organizations or the “Assembly Politicians.” I have to compete. How do I do that? With production values. Production values make up what you see on the screen. It’s subtle, but the higher the quality of your backgrounds and set design, the more the viewer will pay attention to your message. Think of the set on the “Honeymooner’s.” Did you ever notice how the wall would shake when Ralph would slam the door? Did it ever distract you? It would be easy to stand a legislator in from of a nice government marble wall and let them say their lines. Who would watch, if it got aired? To give it a realistic look, I wanted to shoot at a real construction site. That would be extremely time consuming. The cost of moving a technical crew, on multiple occasions would be a terrible waste. The Air Force always taught me to make the most out of what you have. I decided to “make it happen.” Down the hall, from our studio, was an old print shop that was being remodeled for staff space. I asked our production team to decorate it like it was a basement in a home. We painted white patches on the wall to simulate nail holes on unpainted drywall. We wedged three 2”x4” studs to the ceiling so we could track the camera past them and make it look like we’re in a cramped basement. The project was very successful. The production values were high, the cost was very low and we aired all over the state. Picture’s: Gary directing Assemblyman Ron Tocci (New Rochelle, NY.)
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 23:57:09 +0000
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