Vans Commercial - ID# 43

Glenbrook South

Division: A

Commercial

Entry Description

This Vans commercial showcases the lifestyle behind the Vans culture. You can rock Vans from wintery Chicago to Southern California!

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/20 11:47 am - Music is very fitting for the type of product. I like that the commercial takes us to the different climates, although I feel like there was bit too much skateboarding footage. The skateboarding scenes work very well at the beginning, I wish it didn’t go back to more of them after the ocean views. It seemed to lose the focus of the shoe and turn more into a skateboarding video. The composition of the shots was great and the pacing of the edit worked well. The Vans logo was a bit hard to read at the end. Overall, the video was great!
• 3/8 7:32 pm - SOUND Music was a good fit for that younger target audience STORY Loved the first part of this video you had great balance of product placement and action. However I feel like it started losing steam when you got to about 30 seconds where it was just more of the skateboarding, the coat and the van. It seemed to slow at that point. I think this would have been an excellent 30 second spot, instead of stretching it to 60. CAMERA/VISUALS You had some amazing shots of the shoes in the middle of all the action. Inspite of the great skateboarding (first 30 seconds) it wasn’t about the skateboarding I felt like the focus was always on the shoe. Loved the beach shots too. EDITING Great pace up front, like I said the last half started becoming repetitive and didn’t come across as fresh as the first half. I liked the creativity of the van at the end, but by changing the angle and maybe having him sit on the side door and putting the logo on the side of the van would have been more effective for the logo, it was hard to read at the back. SUMMARY Generally a great commercial. Remember that sometimes less is more.
• 3/8 10:30 am - I like your use of color value and light. There's a very 90's vibe to this with the 4:3. It is stretched though elongating some shots. This is an easy fix. Re-examine your last shot with the van. Does it distract from the overall message of the shoes? I think you could have outlined the text or put in a drop shadow to have stand away from the van. Nice job though.

Judge 1

Positives: 1. Great editing - I like the fx and the lighting of the film. 2. Great music choice - I like the pacing and the energy, matches the film & the content

Improvements: 1. I would have liked a bit more of a story 2. I would have liked a better transition from Chicago to LA. It seemed a bit abrupt.

Judge 2

Positives: Awesome music track - really nice choice. Beautifully shot film, lighting, use of multiple speeds. Nice to see the product in multiple environments/climates.

Improvements: Storytelling is lacking. Another approach here might have been to have people individually living the Vans lifestyle, that meet towards the end of the edit - and just 'click' because they are fans of Van culture. (That can be as simple as making eye contact and a smile - doesn't have to be anything more overt. Could be a romantic thing, or could just be friendship - i.e., the brotherhood of Vans.) Don't be afraid to mix a little ambient sound in with the music track - it adds a little realism and presence and in this case would help convey more of a story vs. silent vignettes over music.

Judge 3

Positives: great product placement shots---best I've seen.. music was a cool choice. nice light leaks on second shot good slo-mo footage of skateboarding Overall, really solid cinematography

Improvements: don't really understand the VAN being a part of this except for the name of the shoes? Coulda rocked the final screen better...kinda fizzled there. Website? anything... One thing consistently missing is no real messaging throughout the "narrative" telling me what/why i'm watching. Just a couple words here and there-- "for every season" (snow)--"for every lifestyle" (the beach shots)...then you get to the end and you can put a bow on it--"for everyone everywhere...VANS".

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: