Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

MONDAY MEMO ' ■ ' " ' ; ; ' ; • ; " from PAUL G. GUMBINNER, vice 'president and radio-tv director, Lawrence C. Gumbinner Agency THERE'S INSPIRING FRUSTRATION IN CREATING COMMERCIALS Once there was an author who wrote a book, had it published, and was wholeheartedly satisfied as he read the first bound copy. He was equally pleased when he re-read it a year later. That's why he never was able to write a second book fit for publication. Pity the creative man who is genuinely satisfied with his creative work. An ad may look good in final proof form . . . the answer print of a commercial may be fine ... a finished pressing of a radio spot may sound great. But when he sees it in print or catches it on the air weeks later — he generally finds it could have been better. There's one thing about it that's not right — and that one thing becomes progressively worse to him each time he sees it. Frustrating? Sure! But these are the things on which he builds — the flaws of his own making that he must avoid in the future. Avoid them he will, only to discover new ones. And, as long as he's in the business, he had better squirm at the human, mechanical and electronic errors that inevitably crop up in broadcasting. Take radio. You create a certain type of effect on paper, in the mind, in the "inner ear." You "hear" it mentally — describe it enthusiastically. But to make it audible to others, you must work with a producer, a composer, an arranger, a sound-effects man, a group of musicians, singers, announcers and an engineer. Each of them "hears" it differently than you do. But with enough time, patience and money, you finally get what you're after. And it sometimes isn't until weeks of repeated hearings on the air that you feel it has too much bass. So from then on you're acutely conscious of an excess of booming accompaniment. TV BREEDS ITS DISCONTENT, TOO Take television. Live commercials aren't so bad unless the announcer fluffs, the technical director pushes a wrong button, or a prop misbehaves on camera (in a tight close-up, of course). But at least its creator sees it just once and retains only a memory (or a kinescope). It may haunt him in retrospect, but it won't be constantly rubbed under his nose. Not so film. Every time he views a commercial, one little something is very apt to take over in prominence, like the proverbial sore thumb. For instance, he dislikes increasingly the angle at which a room scene was shot. It would have been better off the other wall, more interesting, with more free area for the cast. But he hadn't been able to see it in camera until pretty late. To move the camera and re-light would have taken the best part of an hour. And with so much stuff still to shoot, that would have meant overtime and who'd pay for it? They were right up to the budget. In fact, the matter of budget had caused a change in the whole opening sequence, long before production started. He had visualized opening black, with widely-separated cones of light coming on one after the other, to reveal three different people — "Something like Durante's exit." But that required a really big stage, and a camera mounted on a crane (Item: crane, $200 per day) and a scaled down matching set for a transition from people to product close-ups. It would have been great, but the producer screamed about the cost. So did the client. They finally worked out a single shot dollying along the three people, then the three packages. It was effective all right — but the original idea . . . that would have been a knockout! And how about that "testimonial" film by Magda Glamor of Hollywood? Every time he watched it, he was hypnotized by her eyes darting from lens to cue-card. The b (for beauty!) refused to bother memorizing four short takes for 30 seconds of script. Nice, cooperative girl. And that after sitting around for the extra hours it took the make-up man to remove the bags under those famous eyes. Frustrating? Sure, but look at the things he has learned, painfully, through the years. PRE-PLANNING PREVENTS HEADACHES It's wise to explore camera angles in advance via a really comprehensive story board. Experiment on the board. It's cheaper per sketch than per hour on the set. Or have the sets up a day in advance when possible. Take a few Polaroid shots from the planned camera positions, with people standing in where the cast will do its stuff. You'll learn a lot. Avoid tricks, unless the sky's the limit in a production budget. When a special effect is highly essential, work with the producer in advance, before the idea is so cemented in your mind that you'll never be able to pry it out. Together, you can get that idea, or a reasonable facsimile, immortalized. Be sure of the cast. That corking good announcer may look fine on camera full face, but go chinless in profile. The pretty girl may audition well, but freeze up on the set. The celebrities' quirks of working (and they do have them!) should be ferreted out beforehand, and planned for. When you're frustrated in your private fife, you can learn to live with it. But in the creative broadcasting business, your frustrations should be stepping stones that carry you ever onwards and upward. Excelsior! And if you ever achieve a commercial that's absolutely irrefutably, in-every-way perfect — man, you'd better quit! (Note: As this article is finished, I think it's pretty good. But when I re-read it in Broadcasting, I'm sure I'll like it a lot less. . . .) Paul G. Gumbinner, b. Feb. 4, 1905, New ^JtwQlk. York. One of four founding members o) f 1 Gumbinner agency in 1923, starting as Tj^iF; "general office boy" and copywriter, now , -J. v'ce president unci radio-tv director. First active in broadcasting in 1927 as agency f&i, director of a radio show for Webster cigars, mm$ki$^EM identified later with Norwich Pharmacol Co's Fat Man series on ABC Radio and with Joan Davis for American Tobacco Co's Roi-Tan cigars. Currently in charge of heavy spot campaigns for such clients as Block Drug Co., Bourjois Inc., Chap Stick Co., Q-Tips Inc., Manischewitz wines, Sutton Cosmetics and American Tobacco Co's Herbert Tareyton cigarettes. Broadcasting November 18, 1957 • Page 141