Re-editing your old TV advert is possible

It’s not uncommon for tv adverts to be reworked at a later stage, as we did for the JamJar TV Advert. This can happen due to not having enough budget or not liking the previous advert some company did.

Depending on your budget and requirements, TV Adverts can be very expensive to produce.

But as the client of a TV advert, it’s always important to request the base files for a project and the individual elements, as these can be used again by a different agency to re-edit and rework your tv advert a year or so after its first broadcast.

Depending on the contract you have with your TV Ad agency you can send a hard drive and have a complete backup for all the files.

This will include:

  • The advert is on an edited timeline
  • All the recorded footage, including good, bad and alternative takes
  • Sound files
  • Voice over file
  • Backing track

The Brief of the TV Advert

Jam Jar is a website dedicated to comparing the value of different types of cars. To promote their business, they had previously worked with a reputable UK TV Advert company in London.

However, they asked us at Impress to work on their finished advert (TVC) and change a couple of things they wanted. These being:

  • Show the smartphone version of their advert – being this the main motivator!
  • Include titles
  • Add an extra scene
  • Change the voiceover
  • Add a memorable jungle at the end of their TVC

The Edit

To bring the advert under 30secs we shortened the current clips down by removing prolonged footage such as small sequence shots or a few frames from either the start or end of a clip – it worked.

The Filming of the TV Advert

We then filmed the owner of Jam Jar – Andy, sitting in a van, using the Jam Jar website on his phone, swiping up and seeing the options.

Someone comaring the car price
JamJar TV Advert – person comparing car prices on mobile phone

We used After Effects to overlay graphics on the phone to emphasise the ease of use of the Jam Jar mobile website.

Comparing car prices in the JamJar TV Advert
JamJar TV Advert – car price comparison

The Crew

We used a skeleton crew to keep costs down and this consisted of a Camera op/Director of Photography and myself directing the advert.

We filmed using a RED Komodo with a set of Prime Cinematic lenses. This would ensure the new footage blended in with what was previously filmed for consistency.

Using RED Komodo with a set of Prime Cinematic lenses

After the filming, we put a casting call out for the new voice-over artist. As over 200 voice-over artists applied for this role, our team selected their top ten favourites after which the client picked their favourite voice. Then, this artist was responsible for recording the voice-over for the advert along with the jingle at the end of the TVC.

The JamJar TV advert flowed and worked out great! We got the TVC down to 30secs, along with the new shots, voice-over and music.

Clearances

We worked closely with ClearCast and got the clearances through, the advert was aired namely on ITV for 3 weeks.

We also updated Jam Jars’ social media channels with the updated TV advert. All in all the re-editing and re-filming of their old TV advert worked a treat. This is just one case study which demonstrates the possibility of repurposing existing TV Adverts, for future use.

 

We hope you found this blog interesting and educational. And thank you for taking the time to read it,

Gurmit Samra.

 

Contact Impress Video now 

If you would like to do a TV Advert with video production and marketing professionals, or any other type of video, we can help you at Impress Video. We make video production for businesses, the ones that impress. Don’t hesitate to contact us here!