Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

FILM COMMERCIALS 305
mercial. Both technical picture quality as well as story content are
most important. If the last act was a tender love scene building
up through an increasing air of dramatic tension to the triumph
be a few
of love over the rest of the world, there will probably
moist eyes in the audience. These are people who, because of their
identification with the players on the screen, may be more im-
pressed with the sales message if it is properly presented. But
if an animated or stop motion film of any kind comes on immedi-
ately following, the transition will be too abrupt, and instead of
receptiveness there will be nothing but dislike for the product and
sponsor. That is a problem for the agency and sponsor to work
on, but a producer worth his salt will never let such a thing occur
except over his dead body.
Then, too, if the show was live, there will be a very noticeable
jump and change in tonal values which will immediately tip off
the viewers to the fact that film is being used unless the light
values of the last scene are matched to those of the film commer-
cial. In fact, it may necessitate the adjustment of receivers, either
necessary or imagined, owing to the changed appearance
of the
screen. In either case resentment will be aroused and it will find
an outlet in a dislike of film and, of course,
this will be reflected
by association with the product.
This means that greater care must be used in making com-
mercials for use on television by ensuring that the contrast range
is right when the film is made and that the processing is done
to produce a proper television print. It also entails the exercise of
great
care in the choice of colors used in the costumes and set
colors. Attention to details like this should not result in any in-
crease in the cost of film production since it only means using
different colors and arrangements of lights.
For a product that must be demonstrated perfectly the first
time, and especially a type which is subjected to suspicion because
it has been the butt of jokes for years, film is a must. Such things
are objects which once, perhaps many years ago, were regarded
as gadgets and thus became fair game for humorists and are now
household and daily life necessities such as fountain pens which