My First Commercial on the Pyxis (And I Screwed it Up)

[@dennivisuals]

That commercial looks like a 10 hour day. Great stuff Kof. I appreciate your transparency and also it’s a lesson to even myself that client work is client work and not everything you shoot will have the best lighting, the ideal amount of time or even the right amount of gear. Sometimes we get in our heads as creatives too much when delivering a product. But at least we care that much about our work which is a good thing.

[@KofiYeboah]

That’s exactly the point, sometimes you just gotta get it done! But also I WISH we had more time lol

[@MadefromJava]

7:33 I have this thought every time I have a project/gig. Just shot my first doc style interview as a solo crew recently and these thoughts kept racing through my head. Might channel in my inner Kofi and make a video about it lol

[@KofiYeboah]

Ahaha it’s kinda thereputic

[@JasonMorrisphotocinema]

Tom is the guy

[@KofiYeboah]

They say he one wheeles across the country

[@calumlaurence]

That’s the craft really! Shooting for perfection but always somehow just missing it. Kicking myself about something almost every shoot. So refreshing to hear you say it though as most creatives will definitely feel the same way. It came out looking awesome though! Gotta be proud of it

[@KofiYeboah]

Thank you man !!

[@wadfasfsdfdsfsf]

Big Kof...great work as always!! rolling shutter where?

[@KofiYeboah]

Thanks homie Honestly, I didn’t notice any RS, nor did the client, even when zac did vfx (he comped out all the UOfB logos)

[@davidalanmedia]

How refresing to see someone so brutually honest! I think it turned out fine Kofi!

[@KofiYeboah]

I live 10 toes down in my own head lol 😂 thanks homie !

[@mittaw]

Thanks for sharing man! 3 hours, 3 locations. That is very stressful, especially if you are with a crew and a lot of equipment. Many production companies, including myself, would've dialed back the amount of shots or locations to keep the quality and flexibility as high as possible. One thing I always do is test and set the camera up the day before, I hate doing that on the day itself. On the plus side, you gave the customer what they asked for and showed flexibility under a time restriction, and now they will give you more work. The next video job you'll do for them it will go better!!

[@KofiYeboah]

I usually opt for a prep day, hard part is we couldn’t really prep on location (UofB facilities were closed outside of our call time) we ended up scaling back a ton, and even that wasn’t enough , the 3 locations were the university only gave us so much time for location (we had hard outs extractly an hour apart) but Jheeze was that stressful lol

[@LuisCruz-yg6rs]

The commercial was among the best sport related commercial that I have seen recently. The editing was clean, and electrifying, and it match the energy of a performance supplement. I also love the shutter visual fxs. I wish it has more sound realistic sound fxs regarding the action of the hero, like when he was wearing/interacting with the gloves, it would have being nice to hear the sound the actual gloves rubbing sounds. At time 0:28 [hero close up] it looks a bit blurry or not sharp enough, was that intentional?

[@KofiYeboah]

We had a time constraint on release so we did the best we could , 0:28 wasn’t on purpose, we only had so many shots with a time constraint so I’m pretty sure we missed sharps for a sec and there’s not another good take 😅

[@LuisCruz-yg6rs]

@@KofiYeboah Gotcha!

[@chipwillis]

Looks pretty sweet! Having something haunt you even with happy client is good. Means you aren't complacent! Kudos man and thanks for sharing as always!

[@KofiYeboah]

This comment section has proved that I’m WAYYY far in my own head about my work 😅thank you man !

[@AYJudah]

love the honesty man with all that said still great work. We learn every day

[@KofiYeboah]

Appreciate you bro!

[@AYJudah]

@@KofiYeboah likewise man

[@the-creative-block]

This is such a great breakdown. Fantastic way to pull back the curtain. More of this, please!

[@KofiYeboah]

I appreciate it, I think this is a part of production I don't see enough of but also most of the time people don’t tune into this stuff, but I’ll have more !

[@racemode]

My Sunday morning today consists of watching you and Terry in the desert and this run down of a crazy tight shoot. This is better than selling used Hellcats.

[@KofiYeboah]

It’s like fox kids but for adults

[@ragadrop]

Hey! Nice shots man. I got the feeling about not having enough footage. I had that feeling when I began editing my short movie. But once you start to manage clips on the NLE you realize how much footage you actually have.

[@FlashFocused]

somehow the final edit will always comes together, good video brother

[@KofiYeboah]

Ayyy that’s all Zac man, I would of crumbled

[@danmayers3023]

I have been in this place before (though smaller clients). I wondered what you would do under the same constraints differently. Would it have been a larger crew to have all sets more on point quicker, More gear for sets, or..... Just wondering after the fact knowing we always get shorted on time how you see to solve it as best as possible.

[@KofiYeboah]

I would have had time for more lighting set ups , multiple takes for shots, and probably better coverage with more time !!

[@mdotcarruth]

We are our harshest critics. I totally understand that I could have done better. Honesty, I had one time I did a photoshoot for my client and I thought the photos weren't that great. I was disappointed in myself, after I alerted them, my rep message me back said wow these are great! And yup, I sat there and said to myself really? But hey like you said at the end of the day it's what the client likes. Great video bro!

[@victormoroianu4397]

What did you think of the SP3s? Used them on a music video and honestly was blown away by what they pack in such a small package 😅

[@KofiYeboah]

I think they were unreal, just pricey , I put a full video up a lil while ago!

[@scotthayesproductions5715]

You killed that. love the editing. there was no doubt you could have done this on an FX30

[@KofiYeboah]

@@scotthayesproductions5715 probably! It wouldn’t have made the shoot faster so we went with this 😊

[@gregelgie]

Typically, we are our own worst critic. We overthink and over judge. I’m glad it worked out for you!

[@KofiYeboah]

It turned out okay! I can’t complain much !

[@rich-nixx]

Always got dope shoots going on but this one was sick! Even if it was super fast paced and short, squad came through 🤙🏼

[@KofiYeboah]

You killed this man thank you so much for coming through to help !

[@cogmission1]

Sweet intro commercial Kofi! Nicely done! Thanks for sharing!

[@KofiYeboah]

Thanks homie!

[@cogmission1]

@ of course!

[@12yfilms]

Good stuff! Thank you for sharing!

[@KofiYeboah]

Thanks man! I hope it helps someone!

[@AdamSzarmack]

Watched the whole video. Not sure exactly what it was that you screwed up. Don't know who among us would have gotten a better result given the restraints on crew and time.

[@KofiYeboah]

Yeah man I'm definitely way too hard on myself! 😂 But the screw up was putting what I wanted for the project and beating myself up about it in front of what the client wanted as that stuff didn’t matter end of the day Also, not prepping for a time constraint on the time constraint

[@TheJeanZamora]

Thanks for the insight man! Coming from someone that wants to get to where you are, believe me this info is invaluable! Great stuff!🙌🏼

[@KofiYeboah]

Hey i appreciate that !

[@BryantGrey]

bro that looks sick

[@KofiYeboah]

Thanks !!

[@ADivaForLife]

🔥🔥🔥

[@KofiYeboah]

🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@Shaiquille]

Sheesh 3 hours cut in half for 3 locations my hands started sweating hearing that 😂

[@KofiYeboah]

@@Shaiquille I was a TRACK STAR that day

[@deondriamichelle]

I didn’t see one woman on crew I say all that to say I’m available for hire just saying great video

[@KofiYeboah]

I do all the time! just not this one today! Thanks for watching!

[@deondriamichelle]

@ I’m available keep that in mind 💪🏾🎥🫡

[@memcrew1]

@@deondriamichelle So you gonna “guilt him” into hiring you?😳

[@juancarlosguzman8983]

congrats

[@XavierJordanMusic]

Yeah this looks good man

[@KofiYeboah]

My editor zac on this did the heavy lifiting I wouldn’t know what I was going to do lol

[@LonzosStudios]

is Blackmagic paying you to shoot with the Pyxis? Why risk so much when you have access to cameras like the Sony Venice? Hell I'll even loan you my canon C500 ii 😂 but Pyxis? Does look good though

[@KofiYeboah]

First, nope they’re not, second … what? What am I risking ?

[@LonzosStudios]

​@@KofiYeboah I feel like the Pyxis Is unproven, and you're a Sony guy right? I thought Sonys were overall better, I certainly got that impression from watching your videos. I think as a freelancer you're always being evaluated and compared to the competition...the end result looks great to me but do you think if you used say a Venice the process would have been better?

[@RayShunFilms]

@@LonzosStudiosnow a days. You can shoot on just about any camera system if you know what you’re doing. I’m a Sony guy myself. But black magic has always been a reliable camera brand themselves minus the short battery life of the older black magic pocket cameras which even that can be solved with a cage and a v mount battery. So imma assume there’s no risk to him using the pyxis

[@KofiYeboah]

@ I don’t know what proofing a camera is or what authority is involved with doing so, so I’m not sure what that means… I have had it for months, and quite a while before this shoot, so idk if I’d need a third party to tell me if it’s okay to use tbh, I have Sony cameras, but I also have and use other cameras (I have videos with Lumix, other Blackmagic cameras, and had Canon bodies before Sony) As a freelancer, I’m an “appropriate tool for the job” person, and compared to the Pyxis , the Venice is almost twice the size, so a one wheel op on turf would be dangerous, SXS card DIT workflow is slower than CF express B, and there’s already a time constraint, it would be irresponsible to bring the Venice in almost every way for this shoot. You are compared and contrasted by being competitive to other freelancers, but that’s weighed more on the result of your work, and less so the tools to get there

[@wadfasfsdfdsfsf]

respectfully, i mean this with zero malice but the "upmarket" canon footage on your page doesn't look half as good as this pyxis footage. It's all about the painter not the brush. I suggest listening to the latest talk by the Colorist Society: Colorist Society Mythbusting: Colour, Camera, Cinema

[@GabrielScindian]

Bro the shots you posted look amazing!!! Get out of your head. I do the same thing

[@KofiYeboah]

Appreciate the support bro! It’s hard not to be so critical of myself 😂

[@GabrielScindian]

@@KofiYeboah What were your favorite focal lengths to use on the cookies and how do they compare to the Arles. I've been rocking the Arles on my re-dragon and gfx and the image they produced floored me.

[@KofiYeboah]

@@GabrielScindianI was a fan of the 18,32&50! But to the Arles I wish I had them side by side, I will say the Arles is THICK

[@GabrielScindian]

@ they are BIG especially compared to my blazars and those Arles are heavy. I need to pick up an ezrig