The look of an infomercial..

Aaron M

Aaron M

Hey, so I'm about to do an infomercial spoof in a few weeks and before I jump in to the deep end (of the old google search) in research, I thought I'd ask around here if anyone had any pointers, experience, advice (or direction to information) about how these infomercials are created..

Off the top of my head (this going strictly from memory..) I'm thinking:
bright almost clinical lighting..
The graphic overlays have a lot to do with the look..
And a certain full body framing..

Anyone ever work on one of these? Know what kind of cameras they use (I guess consumer/pro range wise)? Anything else useful?

And if you're not strictly knowledgeable or experienced with it -
from memory - what are the defining visual elements of an infomercial?

(the spoof will be of a floor cleaning product, if that helps.)

I'll elaborate a little, the product is a harness that you put on your cat so you can attach a pole and (literally) mop the floor with him/her. There will be sample swatches of flooring that I'll be pouring ketchup and coffee on and mopping up with the cat.. The tone i'm going for is pure SNL, so I'd like it to look as much like an authentic infomercial as possible..
 
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Some real infomercials get pretty funny.. I like where they show the "old way of doing it" for example, the housewife putting the mop in the toilet and over acting wiping her forehead. etc..
Struggling to put on big rubber gloves.. Id ham that up, make the old way of doing it before the cat pole, like have a woman struggling to work a broom, make it look ridiculously difficult, the funny bit is that everyone knows that sweeping a floor inst that hard.. .

And the VO of funny copy is critical. If you have an extra $30 get the VO done professionally, it will really sell it. (speedyspots.com)

"Tired of slaving hour after hour sweeping your floor only to have the kids, the dogs, the neighbors, and the NBA track in dirt and grime.

Well never again! With the Kitty Kruiser, cleaning up after the Mongol Hordes is easy.
In 28 simple steps you can put that lazy non interactive throw pillow with legs to work making your home shine!

sorry.. too fun..
 
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I've made a lot of infomercials, it's one of the easiest ways to make money in video.
We shot them in Betacam. The key thing in an infomercial is the product demo. The other thing is the testimonial, most of which are fake. Let me know if you have any questions.
Here's one I wrote and produced a few years ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wogOR1ZNGGM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wogOR1ZNGGM?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wogOR1ZNGGM?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
 
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Hey thanks, great suggestions.
(I hadn't thought of the DOF but immediately visualized it when I read it.)

Well never again! With the Kitty Kruiser, cleaning up after the Mongol Hordes is easy.
In 28 simple steps you can put that lazy non interactive throw pillow with legs to work making your home shine!
Click to expand...

That's really good, do you want to help me write it?
The announcer having a thinly veiled hatred for cats might be something fun to run with.
(thanks for the link too by the way, I've looked for something like that in the past to no avail!)

Brianluce - great spot. I'm going for the sparkling kitchen look, but I'll definitely remember the fade to white cuts, those were good. The look of the tape is great too, but I'm picturing a lot cleaner, sharper image.. (though now I'm questioning weather that's how they look or not..
I'll need to research it a bit more.)


One thing I keep going back to is the Requiem for a dream DVD menu screen. I remember actually thinking for a second that I had the wrong DVD when I put that in for the first time..

Anyway.. good starting points. Thanks.

Searching for local talent to help with a prop cat stand-in now..
 
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Aaron M said:
Brianluce - great spot. I'm going for the sparkling kitchen look, but I'll definitely remember the fade to white cuts, those were good. The look of the tape is great too, but I'm picturing a lot cleaner, sharper image.. (though now I'm questioning weather that's how they look or not..
I'll need to research it a bit more.)
Click to expand...

That's actually a clip from a longform show. It was #1 in Hungary!
 
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And the VO of funny copy is critical. If you have an extra $30 get the VO done professionally, it will really sell it.
Unintentionally hilarious line, and in actual fact, truthful too! DRTV's idea of Pro V/O is someone you can get for $30.
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking about this.. looking at it from the point of view someone really producing one. Where the money would go, the standards set, etc. How the kitchen sets are idealized kitchens and a real kitchen would look too real, and thus.. fake. hah.
 
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It would be funny to see a graphic in small print "No animals were harmed in the making of this production." whilst the person is mopping with the cat, and perhaps a little cat "rrrrreeeow!" at the same time.
 
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