Commercials a Thing of the Past?
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Like it or not, television advertising is a part of American life. Think of the cultural detritus floating around in our collective consciousness: "Where's the Beef?" "Like a Rock." "It's the Real Thing." And if one more person says to me, "Sorry, Charlie," I'll, I'll ... well, you see what I mean. Hitler knew all too well that if you tell somebody something 1000 times, they'll believe it. That's how commercials work, and good or evil, it's just too compelling for advertisers to give up this mind-control scheme. When entire industries are created just from TV advertising, it's just too sweet a deal to pass up. I mean, why on earth would SUVs exist unless people had been somehow convinced to buy an enormous vehicle they don't need, that's twice as heavy for 2.5 times the price? That's a pretty good racket. We can thank advertising for that goofy phenomenon, and many more like it.
That said, it's still going to be our job to make the commercials so compelling, so entertaining, that viewers will seek them out. We'll be charged with making viewers want to watch the ads more than the program material they surround. But how will these messages get to the viewers, if everyone is zipping through them, or automatically editing them out? I think this will require another one of our skills as editors: Compositing. We'll be placing products into shots inside the programs themselves, and then viewers will be able to click on these products, after which a commercial will play. Unless we edit together some whiz-bang spots behind those click-throughs, nobody will be compelled to click. It's up to us! Us, and the creative types, too, which in many cases, are also us. [an error occurred while processing this directive] We're ready for that challenge. Working with commercials is a fact of life for many, if not most, digital video editors. We've gotten good at it. Toward the beginning of my career, I loathed producing and editing commercials. Coming from a music video and business newscast directing background, I considered cranking out spots as hellish ditch digging. Then, my negative feelings were intensified when I moved to a commercial network affiliate where I had to edit hundreds and hundreds of awful local spots for years. But somewhere in there I changed my mind, and somehow discovered the fun of it. I worked with a talented and enthusiastic colleague, who one night over a few beers convinced me that editing spots and promos was high art. They're mini-novels, he said. They are a challenge compared to a full-length TV show, as writing a short story is more challenging to a writer than penning a full-length novel. Everything has to be tighter, compact, said-and-done in thirty seconds. After that, I saw promo production in a new light. Then, I moved on to public TV, where the promos I produced were allowed to be almost pure entertainment. I had almost complete freedom, and had fun with it. Heck, creating spots in that atmosphere was about the most creatively expressive job I could imagine.
But maybe producing spots is like playing drums -- it's more fun when you're the one doing it. I sometimes think about that when I see the awful claptrap that passes for advertising these days, especially during the local newscasts. If by some fluke these editors are having a ball producing these spots, I'm sure not having any fun watching them. Maybe ads really are on their way out. Maybe everybody will just get completely fed up with them, and all TV will be like HBO, where you'll pay by the month or per view and not ever have to watch an ad again. Maybe the new business model will turn into one like the BBC's, where each TV set is taxed with proceeds going toward producing some of the finest programming in all the world. But then the ads will start following us around. My cell phone will send out an identifying signal, and suddenly, a billboard will be blaring at me, "Sure would be a good time for a Guinness, huh Chazz?" I look over, and there's a beautifully edited segment, showing a Guinness bottle with its frothy liquid cascading out its opening and into a generous mug, ready to quench my thirst. Get me to the nearest pub, post haste! So, no matter what, there will still be room for advertising. And even if we're using the wristwatch-based nonlinear editing systems of the future, we will still be the ones at the controls.
Charlie White has been writing about new media and digital video since it was the laughingstock of the television industry. A technology journalist and columnist for the past eight years, White is also an Emmy-winning producer, video editor and shot-calling PBS TV director with 28 years broadcast experience. Talk back -- Send Chazz a note at cwhite@digitalmedianet.com.Prev 1 2
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