Making Drive In food look edible

Marty Hamrick · August 17, 2004

Gonna be shooting an ad for the one surviving drive in in town,very low budget,we're talking freebie here.Few instruments,studio stuff and some location.Been a while since I've shot food before and I don't think there will be money for a food stylist.Here are some of the items we're looking at shooting.Hot dogs on a rotissary,sausage dogs on a grill with peppers and onions,hamburgers (completely fixed with all the stuff,lazy susan shot) and fountain sodas(Unilux strobe lighting would be nice here,but I know that ain't happening).The drive in also serves as a flea market during the daymso Im gonna need some shots of that too.

The target audience here is very working class,probably going to use some Hip Hop style music in the background and one of the local DJ's for voice over from the Hip Hop station.Looking for ideas here.Think about the old drive in ads some of you old timers grew up with updated for today's audience.

Marty

Alvin Pingol · August 17, 2004

>>Hot dogs on a rotissary,

Blast the hot dogs with a hard, punchy light source, and use mild diffusion. Employ medium to extreme closeups. People tend to like seeing the texture on foods. Keep the overall color pallette warm (use a background that has a similar color to the hot dogs themselves. You don't want them to appear "isolated," if that makes any sense).

>>sausage dogs on a grill with peppers and onions

Hopefully a charcoal grill? Flame-ups and glowing embers are attractive. If possible, get a closeup on the grill foods without using telephoto (actually place the camera near the food itself), and sort of "fly" around the food. Have someone roll or flip the sausages and peppers as you float above and around the food. Again, food texture is what you should be going for, and the camera actually being close to it will help. I saw an ad on television of somebody putting a steak on a grill, and they used that close-camera technique. It looked very delicious.

>>hamburgers (completely fixed with all the stuff,lazy susan shot)

Show steam. No one likes a cold burger. I've heard of people dipping the foods in liquid nitrogen before shooting, so that it looks like steam, but it is heavier than air so you'd probably need some sort of fan system if you did that to make it rise up. If the liquid nitro is a no-go, make sure the burger is hot and try shooting in a really cold room. Use a dark background and maybe backlights to enhance steam appearance. Use soft lights to light the sandwich from the front. Things like lettuce or bacon extended off the sides should not create shadows.

>>and fountain sodas

MCU and ECU's of the carbonation bubbles popping and "jumping" on the top of the glass after the soda has been poured over ice.

Hope this helps! :)

Rob Belics · August 17, 2004

I don't know how many locally produced spots done on vidjo for TV that have the most horrible looking, green tinted, gray, washed out food. They are, otherwise, nicely done considering they may have been produced cheap or free but God, the food looks horrible. And I don't know how they do it or why they accept it.

Marty Hamrick · August 17, 2004

Thanks,Alvin.The liquid nitro sounds intriguing,but I don't see how you could dip a burger in nitro without turning it into a block that wouldn't just turn into a frostbitten mess and crumble.I used dry ice in water off camera for a frozen food spot once.

I forgot to mention popcorn and pizza.Thinking about showing the popcorn in the popper quick cut to it being dowsed in butter.Any suggestions?

Actually for drive in food it's not bad.Better than the fare you find at the walk in cinemas at about half the price.Probably forgot to mention popcorn because I loathe the stuff!

Since this will be shown on the drive in screen,I'll be shooting 35mm,any suggestions on stock?

Marty

Alvin Pingol · August 17, 2004

>>Thanks,Alvin.The liquid nitro sounds intriguing,but I don't see how you could dip

>>a burger in nitro without turning it into a block that wouldn't just turn into a

>>frostbitten mess and crumble.

I think you're not supposed to leave it in so long that it completely solidifies. Just long enough for the stuff to seep into the crevices, so that when you remove it, the excess just rolls away. But you'd need to be quick... I'm pretty sure the entire burger would turn rock solid in the liquid nitro, in just a few seconds. If you can't get steam or the nitrogen to work, just heavily garnish the burger - put fresh lettuce leaves, tomatoes, onions, pickles, next to the burger on a plate. Spray these with a fine mist so tiny water droplets form on the surfaces. Makes it look more fresh.

>>I forgot to mention popcorn and pizza.Thinking about showing the popcorn in

>>the popper quick cut to it being dowsed in butter.

Sounds good. Make sure the popcorn is very yellow. Even though some people don't like heavy butter, I always find pictures of white/light popcorn to look bland and unappetizing. As for the pizza, surround it in fresh ingredients and use soft lights. Show blocks of cheeze, pepperoni, salami, tomatoes, etc. around the pizza, and if possible, slide the pizza into place so that it ends up right in the center of the frame. Closeups on the toppings.

>>Probably forgot to mention popcorn because I loathe the stuff!

Heh - I can only eat it in small doses. It gets old fast.

>>Since this will be shown on the drive in screen,I'll be shooting 35mm,any

>>suggestions on stock?

Use something with heavy saturation and print on a high contrast stock. I'm guessing maybe 5248, and Vision Premier print stock.

oscar jimenez · August 17, 2004

HI, JUST TO ADD MY 10 CENTS. TO MAKE THE BURGER STEAMY YOU CAN DO THAT WITH CIGARRETE SMOKE BLOWN TROUGH A STRAW GENTLY INTO THE BACK OF THE BURGER SANDWICH.

HAVE BBQ MARKS DONE WITH A WIRE, IT'S EASIER AND FINER TO DO IT THAT WAY, MAKE SURE TO HAVE OIL AND GLICERINE AND PAINT A LITTLE BIT OF THAT INTO THE HOTDOGS TO MAKE THEM ALIVE AND SHINY. AS FOR ONIONS ALSO.

Michael Nash · August 18, 2004

The basic rule of thumb I learned early on about shooting food is to use soft 3/4 backlight. The idea is to create some sheen on the glossy surfaces (to make the food look juicy) while simultaneously revealing texture and shape. The worst thing you can do to food is to use hard front light -- and I don't know how many times I've seen that on cheap cable commercials. If you need to use hard light, use it as backlight to pick up highlights and surface sheen (maybe hot dogs on the rotisserie?); if you need to use frontal fill light make sure it's soft and low-level.

"Corny" as it sounds (sorry), maybe take each food item as a character at light/shoot it in such a way that makes that item seem most appealing. What might look best for hot dogs might not look best for popcorn, and so on. it may sound like overkill for a drive-in spot, but the fact that you're asking about it her shows that you care about your work.

As for film stock, I would suggest something with decent color saturation and a neutral-to-warm color balance. Food usually looks best with warm orange tones, but you don't want the cooler colors and greens to fall flat. In close-up you can usually afford higher light levels, so a slow, fine grained stock should work. Maybe Kodak 5248 or 5274.

You don't need Unilux strobes for the soda fountain if you're not shooting slow-mo. You can use a smaller shutter angle to create stroboscopic motion in the soda pouring at 24fps.

Just out curiosity Marty, what Drive in would that be in Jax (smells of Orange Park)? I've been feeling nostalgic for Florida after a recent trip back home (St. Pete, but I have strong ties to Jax).

Phil Rhodes · August 18, 2004

Hi,

Never understand comments like "It's overkill for..." There's nothing worse than some commercial coming up which makes the advertised service look like exactly what it is - a local, extremely small-time outfit which can't afford anything decent. You're better off not doing it. Plus, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night....

I'm about to shoot the filmed inserts for a production of "Singin' in the Rain" (yes, it's still dragging on.) It's for a local drama group - almost any post beyond making it black and white could be criticised as "overkill," but jeez - if you're gonna do it....

Phil

Michael Nash · August 18, 2004

Never understand comments like "It's overkill for..." but jeez - if you're gonna do it....

I agree with your sentiment Phil, that if you're gonna do it you should do it right. It's just that each project has limits of how much prep and design you can afford to put into it, regardless of how nice you want the end result to come out. You always have to strike a balance between the ideal product and the real-world situation.

I used to fight this all the time with corporate video; trying to do topnotch work but end up short changed by the clients who didn't care about -- and didn't really want -- the best production. I eventually learned how to proportion my expectations to the job at hand. So "overkill" is where you attempt to do more than the time, budget, and client cooperation will realistically allow. If you go too far, you just end up creating more trouble for yourself and the production.

I wasn't suggesting that a drive-in spot isn't worthy of decent production value, or that Marty shouldn't try to do the best he can. But the budget (Marty said FREE) suggests the client can't afford (and likely doesn't expect) national-spot quality. I'm sure Marty will give it his best shot and deliver something beyond the client's expectations without exceeding the budget or schedule. ;)

Tony Brown · August 18, 2004

In my experience you are completely reliant on the home economist (does that translate? Food stylist? Food prep person......)

They can be fantastic, even I want a burger at the end of the day they do such a good job..... if they are good. You really cant shoot the stuff they actually serve, that would be a documentary not a commercial!

You can't polish a turd as they say.... though we try and try..... :D

John Pytlak RIP · August 18, 2004

The best "food artists" can even make a turd look tasty! :lol:

Tony Brown · August 18, 2004

The best "food artists" can even make a turd look tasty! :lol:

Had a drink John?

:D :P

Marty Hamrick · August 18, 2004

"

Just out curiosity Marty, what Drive in would that be (smells of Orange Park)? I've been feeling nostalgic for Florida after a recent trip back home (St. Pete, but I have strong ties to Jax).

Pretty close.It's the Playtime Drive In,located about3 miles north of 295.Only drive in left operating in Jax.The place is a dive,but successful nonetheless.Summers are busy with very packed weekends,so much so the manager has been cited by the cops for traffic back ups on Blanding.

During the 70's and 80's it was X rated and in 1980 the Baptists had hard core outlawed and only edited versions of Debby Does Dallas and the like could be run.That would've been the kiss of death except the flea market they run in the daytime kept it going.In the 90's they started running first run general release and made a family drive in out of it again and since then it's been very successful.

Currently we're running Collateral,The Village,The Bourne Supremacy,Yugio and Alien vs.Predator.It has 3 screens

Business has slacked off as kids went back to school but will pick up again around Christmas.

The crowd comes from all over but is for the most part very working class.We have regular customers who won't go anywhere else.

I'm doing this spot just so I don't get stale from shooting so much video.Purely an exercise,my gift to the owner.Probably going to use a friend's Moviecam (sold my Arri 2 C)or if I can't get that an old Mitchell NC.

If you come through Jax,let me know, a cold one's on me.

Michael Nash · August 18, 2004

If you come through Jax,let me know, a cold one's on me.

Great! I'll take you up on that. Can't say when it'll be, but sometime. My girlfriend's parents still live out at Jax Beach.

Good luck with the spot, and let us know how it comes out.

Phil Rhodes · August 18, 2004

Hi,

Hmm, this brings up the possibility of this winter's "get out of the cold greyness" outing.

- I've never been to Florida

- I've never been to a drive-in cinema.

Phil

Jason McKelvey · August 19, 2004

Start with one, soft source like a Arri 650 with Chimera positioned close to the subject. Most of the time, you won't need much else. 3 point lighting like you learn at community college always makes the food look greasy instead of juicy.

Jason