I Created a Fake Coca-Cola Commercial for FUN!

Hey y'all!

Yea, I know it's been a while since I have posted anything video related. However, I do not come empty handed! Over the last few months I have been planning, producing, and editing this Coca-Cola video as a fun side project. The reason for the project in the first place was to test and refresh my video making and editing skills since I haven't done a video since Quinn's last music video in October 2020! Can you believe that?! Here's a recap of that video in case anyone didn't get a chance to check that out:

I can't believe it had been over a year since this project. ANYWAY! I teamed up with my friend Jordan to create this awesome fake Coke commercial to put our skills to the test; let me tell you we hit some road blocks. If you haven't seen Jordan's channel, SwiftSloth, on Youtube, make sure to give him a follow for Adobe software editing tutorials, video game reviews and more!

Also, if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to my channel, there's some changes coming and a lot more videos planned to be released this year from tutorial videos to music videos or maybe a short film, but that is still in the works. I have also started a brand, Sara the Editing Nerd. My hope for this channel to create tutorials with the easy step by step process I take to create little edits or big edits in my videos, or anything you all want to learn.

Okay, here's is what you all are waiting for... how did I make this coke commercial? Oh, did I mention I made this AT HOME? Yes, this video was made entirely from my at home, makeshift studio. Make sure to keep reading to find some links to products I used for this video and products I highly recommend regardless.

Pre Production Planning:

Pre production planning can include, but is everything you would need to do before actually picking up the camera to film. Although, there are some methods of pre production planning called, proof of concept, that require filming test footage; however these are some of the usual things that happen during this stage of a video project:

1. you have an idea.

Big shocker there! Someone would have needed to have an idea at some point in time to be at the pre production stage. You'll want to make sure to write it down in as much detail as possible. It doesn't have to be a complete idea, just as long as you're able to piece it together later is all that matters. I tend to get a couple shot ideas and write them out. After scrolling through TikTok, I had found a video posted by a videographer I follow who created a Sprite commercial for fun. Ding! The light bulb went off!

From there, it rolled into the next point:

2. research

Scroll through YouTube and find some inspiration videos and see if anyone has how-to videos or tips and tricks for filming a project similar to your idea. It's not the greatest idea to do EXACTLY like the other creator's videos, but sometimes they may have an idea for a camera angle, or a cool shot, or sequence you might want to add along with your own ideas.

For my Coca-Cola video, I watched Daniel Schiffer's videos about how he created his product videos from his at-home studio. One thing I had to look past while in this stage was most people will have a better camera than me. I have a Nikon D750. It’s an upgrade from my previous D3100, but it’s not up there will the fancy cameras. I had to remind myself that although my camera isn't one of the fancy 4K cameras, it would still produce a great video and I needed to trust that I have (or would learn) the knowledge for completing this project to the best of my ability. It is okay.

3. sketch it out

If you know me outside of Vocal or outside of the photography/videography world, you will know that I have many years of art experience in drawing, painting, digital graphics, and a few other things. All I will say is, don't make it too complex that it makes you think harder about it that you forget where you were going with your idea.

Simple sketches, arrows, and side notes are the best solution. As long as you can read it and translate it to someone else, you're all good. I like to use storyboard templates like the one below to sketch out my camera angles, movements, and blocking; again keeping the sketches as uncomplex as possible while keeping an understanding of your thoughts.

4. Proof of concept

This is where you should test anything new to you; editing techniques, camera angles, blocking, transitions, etc. There's nothing more disappointing than the project you've poured all your energy into to not turning out the way you've envisioned because of lack of ability.

I used a plastic lazy susan with a string attached to the edge to be able to do a spin on the can, but it wouldn't spin smoothly for the whole take. This is an example of something you would want to do a proof of concept on. Equipment, especially at home equipment, that are DIY and not something you would use in a normal video studio such as remote controlled turntables.

Let me tell you... dropping the coke into the ice water was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. After this experience, I probably had more proof of concept videos than "real" footage because I knew what I was looking for; however, I will let you in on a little secret... I had to reshoot it a couple weeks after the initial film date. BECAUSE, I initially didn't film it in the right frame rate so when I would slow it down it got choppy. Although it was a great shot and the water splashed perfectly, it was stuttering.

When you feel like you're ready to start filming, GO FOR IT!

Production:

Here comes the fun part and also the most stressful part, but if you do enough proof of concept then you should be able to know more or less what you're going for.

For this video, we filmed all of the non water shots before laying out a plastic table cloth and dropping coke cans into ice water. It splashed on the lens a couple times too.

Production isn't the time to "get through it as soon as possible". Take you time, get your shot right, tweak it from your proof of concept if you need to; but don't rush filming. Mistakes will happen the quicker you try to get through a scene.

I hope you enjoy the video! I am hoping to do more videos this year. Be on the lookout for a new music video, filmed by yours truly, form Quinn Dorian coming later this month!