One of the more amusing/annoying things to observe in film school was all the anxiety of very bright students who just wanted to know "the rules" for making good movies. When it came to editing class, they would literally ask things like, "just tell us the rules for how to edit a montage." And over and over again USC would bring in famous editors who would explain that there are no hard fast rules. Yes, there are some general rules of thumb, like cutting on action, but as soon as you look at the work of truly brilliant editors, the first thing you see is them throwing out all the conventions and ... "the rules."
And so here's this fine gentleman at Slate talking about "the 12 Master Formats" for television commercials, identified years ago by an advertising guru. Well, the first problem is that 12 is too many to be of any use. If it was something like 3 to 6 that would be a powerful way to look at it. But when you get past 10, you're kind of starting to make a new class for about everything you see, and I guarantee you it wouldn't take long to find a commercial out there that doesn't fit into this dozen and needs a 13th group. He even concedes that one of the groups is the same as one of the other groups, but with a little difference.
But worst of all is when the narrator pauses in the middle to identify his favorite commercial--the Geico cavemen. That would be the same cavemen currently staring in the ABC sitcom, "Cavemen," that is in such a complete free fall at the the moment, taking with it one of ABC's only true hopes, "Carpoolers," that any hour now they will probably announce it's cancellation. Nice call.
Comments
I actually watched an episode of "Cavemen". I think its intended for ... cavemen.
Posted by: Peter | October 15, 2007 11:25 PM
That people in any school, let alone film school, are looking for simple rules isn't surprising.
It seems to me that Americans (broad generalization, mind you) are becoming too lazy to think creatively. They just want the rule book/cookbook of how to do something. Problem solving & creative thinking doesn't seem to be encouraged in America...mindless, rule-following drones are becoming the norm.
So the !#$!$# gentleman at Slate that is making rules will make the rule-followers more comfortable. Unfortunately, it'll probably result in more & more mundane crap.
Posted by: Jon | October 16, 2007 10:36 AM
Um, so it's not possible that something that is a great commercial makes for a crummy show?
Posted by: cephyn | October 16, 2007 2:38 PM