You know what I haven’t done on this blog in a long, long while? I haven’t shared any of my commercial work. Book stuff has kept me busy (still on sale at Alliance Community Pharmacy, BBGH Gift Box, and KCOW!).
Ahem….where was I?
Oh! Commercials. Most of the commercials you hear on the radio, and most of the ones I produce, are what we call a “straight read”. One voice, a little music underneath the voice, bada boom bada bing. Straight reads dominate for a multitude of reasons. They are easily written and produced on a tight deadline; they are all business, which most clients like; and in many cases a straight read is the most sensible approach to use. (For example. a funeral home client isn’t going to want humor, in-your-face sound effects or the like.)
But sometimes, you can have fun with a commercial! Those are my favorite times.
Kalin and I have started using a new character named Ralph Angus. He’s a grumpy older gentleman. He made his debut in this Dairy Queen commercial:
In another Dairy Queen commercial we promote their “fan favorites”, with a slight miscommunication…
Next: promos! These are commercials for the radio station, letting our listeners know about programming, contests, etc.
Many, many moons have gone by since the days when Pat Adriance and I could sing “Helllo Deli” to the tune of “Hello Dolly” for a supermarket commercial. In the years since, we’ve been schooled on the dangers of using copyrighted music in commercials. It’s a big legal cold sore. We don’t want to get sued, and we don’t want our clients to get sued. But we do like to have silly (and completely legal) fun with this whole topic, as exhibited in our latest donut contest promo:
Boy, was I surprised to see that Scarborough Fair is in the public domain. That means neither Simon nor Garfunkel got any songwriters residuals from that! If I had written this a year or two ago I probably would not have used the phrase “public domain”. But with all the news stories in recent months about characters like Steamboat Mickey and Popeye having expired copyrights, it seemed like something people will understand.
Also, I think it’s very nice that Kalin Krohe– a professional singer-songwriter–is willing to present his professional vocal skills next to my heinous caterwaling.
One more promo, and this one features the aforementioned Ralph Angus. He’s trying to do some fishing while a radio doofus interviews him. I like how this one turned out, particularly the lake and fishing SFX.
So there you go. Some commercials and promos from my fevered brain.