Project Review: Bud’s Tires (Spec Ad)

Camera: RED Scarlet-W
Lenses: Vazen FF 1.8x Anamorphic (50mm and 85mm)
Grip: c-stand, low boy combo, Matthews Road Rags kit with a third frame and custom 4x4 HI-LITE and ultra bounce rags.
Electric: 1.2 HMI Fresnel, 8x Titan Tube Kit

My frequent collaborator, Erik Reese, asked me to assist with shooting a spec tire ad. Since this is just a portfolio piece, we decided we wouldn’t hire any additional crew and shoot it on our own with some actor friends for talent.

The finished spec

Learnable Moments:

I had just received the 50mm Vazen lens earlier that week. While I had put it on my camera and done some tests inside, I confess that I failed to review it systematically; as a result, I didn’t actually test focusing further than 20 feet. If I had, I would have realized that the back focus on my camera was off. I didn’t notice any back focus issues prior to this shoot because my previous go to lens could focus past infinity. This is why the wide shot is soft. It looked pretty good on the 4" monitor — we didn’t find out until reviewing later that day that there was a back focus issue. The lesson: Always prep your gear.

Even though I had 85 pounds of sand on the c-stand with the 4x4 hi-lite, a gust of wind blew the c-stand over. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and no property was damaged. The HILITE rag got torn in the corner from landing on a post. Ideally, I would have had someone holding the stand, but there were no free hands. Some sash cord would have been a good idea.

Breakdowns of shots with lighting or modifiers:

Negative 4x4 fill on the left, 4x4 HILITE on the right to soften direct sun; notice the decreased contrast and increased softness in the quality of light compared to the two wider shots.

1.2K HMI Fresnel shining onto the table for rim + return bounce on the baby’s face.

We waited until blue hour so the sky wouldn’t go to black and titan tubes provided fill on the trailer.

I was hoping for direct sunlight for this shot, but it was partly cloudy. I still used 4x4 HILITE on the rim, 4x4 ultrabounce on cam left, and 4x4 negative fill on the right.