May 'The Force' Be With Commercials

[Gregg Lengling]

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Most movies are shot on film. So are most commercials. Even music videos are mainly shot on film. But that's changing. One of last summer's biggest hit films, "Star Wars: Episode 2" was shot on a new breed of video championed by the film's creator George Lucas. The format is called 24p and it's now generating interest among filmmakers. Even the people who make TV commercials -- sticklers for quality and look -- are trying it.

"When you talk about film versus video, you're talking chemistry versus physics," said Greg Pruitt, a director with the commercial production company +H20 in New York. "Film is organic -- there's a softness to it. Video is electronic -- fast and versatile, but hard looking. 24p is the best of both, soft and flexible," said Pruitt who just shot two commercials on 24p for the outdoor furniture company Brown Jordan International.

Standard video records and plays back at 30 frames per second. 24p, like film, records and plays back at 24 frames per second. Because it's slower, 24p captured what the camera sees less often, which partially accounts for the softer look. And because 24p is a high definition format, it records twice as much information as standard video. That adds crispness. When used in combination with the best lenses, 24p looks a lot like film.

"It looks great and it's relatively cheap," said Joe DeFilipps, Executive Producer at +H20. With film, you're paying for film and processing. You also have to transfer to video and that's really expensive. The 24p stock is cheap and there's just one step after you shoot. That keeps the price down."

"If we had shot on film, we wouldn't have gotten more then a few takes per scene," said Pruitt. "Because 24p is still tape, we shot nearly four hours worth of footage for a total of one minute of screen time. I like that. So did the editors." "So did the client," added DeFilipps.

The Brown Jordan International commercials begin airing in November. And all four networks are currently working with 24p. So viewers will be exposed to the new format in the weeks and months ahead. Whether anybody notices a difference, remains to be seen.

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